The East New England Chapter hosted their first annual Drone Race on April 17 in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The event was sponsored in part by VFS Corporate Member Terrafugia, a leader in personal air transport that was founded by MIT graduates in the Boston, Massachusetts, area.
Thanks to the generous loan from Prof. Sertac Karaman’s laboratory at MIT, 15 first-time drone racers learned to fly on Parrot Rolling Spider and were soon zipping about a short course at MIT’s indoor track. The chapter also welcomed Glenn Davis, Director of Flight Operations and Safety at AiRXOS (a GE venture), who spoke on his work towards accelerating the safe, efficient, scalable integration of air and ground space for autonomous and manned vehicles.
Racers of all ages and backgrounds whooped and cheered as they tried to pass through all the gates without veering too far off course. They also enjoyed a flight demonstration by a semi-professional drone racer, and learned about the multiple applications of unmanned air vehicles both large and small. Photos and video are available on the chapter webpage www.EastNE.vtol.org.
