IO, Bandung – The Aksantara Student Activity Unit, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) won five titles at the 2020 Indonesian Flying Robot Contest (KRTI) held by the National Achievement Center of the Ministry of Education and Culture on 23-31 October 2020. The University of Lampung (Unila) was chosen as the host for this year’s competition, which was attended by 33 universities.
KRTI is an annual national flying robot contest, each competing division carries a different theme. The Fixed Wing Division raised the theme “Emergency Package Delivery in Quarantine Areas”, while the Technology Development Division took the theme of “Innovative UAV Technology”.
The ITB Aksantara team managed to win five titles from the six KRTI competition divisions, namely, 1st place in the Racing Plane division defeating 33 universities; 2nd place in the Fixed Wing division beating 20 universities; 3rd place in Technology Development division, Propulsion System Development subdivision, beating 7 universities; 3rd place in Technology Development division, Airframe Innovation subdivision, beating 13 universities; and the 2nd runner up in the Technology Development Division, Flight Controller Development subdivision.
According to Rafael, Chairman of Aksantara ITB 2019-2020, this team has been preparing for KRTI 2020 since early January, along with recruitment for new members and the formation of the KRTI Aksantara competition team. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, no participants competed in Lampung but were asked to demonstrate products that were demonstrated from their respective regions.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on race preparation. Initially, the campus had not allowed us to carry out special activities for the competition team in the campus area so we could not access the campus and workshop facilities that we usually use for competition preparation. Finally, the campus allowed us to find a place to work at the Sangkuriang ITB Dormitory. A place to demonstrate products was another obstacle because videos of product demonstrations were made from their respective regions. Finding a large place with official permits is not easy,” said Rafael as quoted by itb.ac.id, Friday (6/11/2020).
Running a race amid the COVID-19 pandemic situation is a large challenge. However, the Aksantara ITB team has proven that the limitations of the situation are not an obstacle to thinking creatively, adaptively, producing innovative and spectacular work. Rafael hopes that in the future this achievement will motivate Aksantara ITB to continue to maintain its performance and improve its achievements for coming competitions. Rafael also thanked the entire ITB Academic Community for supporting the decision of the ITB Aksantara team to take part in KRTI 2020.
Aksantara ITB is a student activity unit engaged in flying robotics, commonly called Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) or Drones. This unit was officially established in 2018, starting with a team that was formed to compete in the 2013 KRTI until finally, it became a unit to channel interest in the UAV field. (est)