SAE Aero: A Student-Built Unmanned Aircraft

SAE Aero was a robotics exhibit by the aeronautics enthusiasts of VJTI. They displayed an unmanned aerial vehicle built for the SAE Aero Design competition held in Texas in 2012.

What the archive says about the aircraft

• It was designed to lift a payload of 15 kilograms.
• It carried a data acquisition system to record flight data.
• The students described it as the first of its kind in Asia, which we cannot independently verify.

Why it mattered

University teams in these contests design, build and fly an aircraft against strict weight and payload rules, which teaches aerodynamics and structure while mirroring industry engineering. The exhibit was a way for visitors to meet the team and watch the planes.

See other displays in the festival overview or the floating airport exhibit.