At the start of Easter Term, Durham University students from across disciplines took part in “EEOPS-D” (Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities using Drones). EEOPS-D is DIRDI’s very own drone competition that will become an annual event for students. With the vital support of DIRDI Fellow and senior academic at Durham University’s Engineering Department, Dr Oliver Vogt, the session was a roaring success for all involved.
EEOPS-D May 2022
The event began with a short series of introductory talks, including a presentation by Dr Patrick Stowell, whose experience with advanced drone technologies provided helpful inspiration. Then, with little deliberation, the students were plunged straight into the deep end, albeit with the occasional helping hand from the DIRDI team.
Engineering undergraduate, Matthew Lee, stated, “I found the programme to be concise and insightful. We managed drone basics to building, and finally programming and actual flight in a course of 3 days. The most enjoyable part of this experience was to work with teammates to debug and refine our drone model. Watching it finally manage flight was truly satisfying!”
The intensive, three day event saw teams of physicists, engineers, mathematicians, and computer scientists, most of whom had no prior experience in drones, competing to build, program, and fly their own drones. They even found the time to think about some interesting business cases, from search and rescue, to rollercoaster maintenance.
When it came to flying the drones, both manually and using pre-planned, automated flight missions, the teams were blessed with beautiful sunny weather. With the exception of a single crash, the flights went smoothly all round. Congratulations must go to the DU Spaceflight Team (pictured below): Fin Brown, Matthew Tomlinson, Isabelle Crossley, Timofey Zavileyskiy, and Daniel Worton, who were the ultimate victors.
EEOPS-D
This drone technology development ‘hackathon’ will be hosted annually by DIRDI at the North East Technology Park (NETPark), Sedgefield, County Durham. EEOPS-D aims to solve real-world challenges, while increasing students’ technological, entrepreneurial and commercial skills.
Over the course of the event, teams of students will compete to build, programme and fly their own drones. We will also challenge them to think about the potential end use of their drone and the variety of applications available to them. In line with the second of our five aims, this challenge encourages applied research which extends beyond a single discipline or application and it enables students to gain a valuable insight in to the processes of development and commercialisation.
Supported by Dr Oliver Vogt and our DIRDI members and fellows, the event will include a short introductory talk from an industry or academic leader in this field. Thereby allowing students to build interdisciplinary connections and challenge their perceptions.
No previous experience with drones is required, just an interest to learn more and develop their practical skills. Students can register their interest in the event here, or contact DIRDI to learn more.
The Durham Institute of Research, Development and Invention
DIRDI is a scientific research institute comprising undergraduates, postgraduates, academic staff at Durham University, and Coltraco Ultrasonics RDDE professionals with plans to expand membership in due course. DIRDI was established by Coltraco Ultrasonics in partnership with Durham University and is based at NETPark, Sedgefield.
DIRDI aim’s to mobilise the strengths of both Durham University and Coltraco Ultrasonics towards DIRDI’s five principal aims:
- To achieve “Newtonian Discovery”: fundamental research into the physical laws of the Universe, for the benefit of humankind.
- To achieve “Edisonian Commercialisation”: applied research in acoustics, electromagnetism, and information engineering, enabling technological diversification, the proceeds from which will fund Objective 1.
- To identify the “United Kingdom’s Next Newton” (whomever they may be)
- To create an environment at Durham University where future Nobel Laureates of Science may be identified early-stage in their undergraduate academic careers and nurtured through their postgraduate, post-doctoral, Associate Professor and Professorial careers. In time we may grow this into a national network of top Universities.
- To provide a gateway into academic research at Durham University for local people with inventions and inventive ideas, across the Northeast, so that their inventive ideas can be sifted, selected, realised and used to generate “economic hope” for many where there is currently so little for so few. In time we may also grow this nationally, since our belief is that inventive thought exists within everyone.
