A project to develop a universal scalable device for delivering and dropping payloads from UAVs has been launched at SSUGT

A team of students from the Siberian State University of Geosystems and Technologies has begun solving an engineering problem of designing and developing a universal cargo drop system for equipping unmanned aerial vehicles (multicopters) of various designs used by the Russian Emergencies Ministry.

Recall that SSUGIT has become a support center for training youth engineering teams within the framework of the Federal Project "Personnel for UAS". The customer of the development is the Federal State Budgetary Institution Research Institute of Fire Defense of the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters.

The project participants will have 1.5 months to develop a universal system for dropping small-sized cargo from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for prompt assistance in emergency situations. The system will allow for the delivery of rescue equipment and first aid to victims, transportation and dropping of primary fire extinguishing equipment to the source of the fire, delivery of the necessary emergency rescue tool to the work site of the Russian Emergencies Ministry.

Multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles are the most promising means of prompt delivery of small-sized cargo to remote and hard-to-reach places. To increase the efficiency of cargo placement and delivery, due to the wide variety of UAV models, it is necessary to unify the means of fastening and dropping installed on board.

A team of students has already developed a concept for solving the engineering problem and is programming servo drives and printing a dropping device on a 3D printer. Next, the entire model of the device will be assembled and the system will be tested in practice in real conditions. As a result, the quadcopter should hook the cargo and drop it in the right place.

“We are very lucky to be involved in such an interesting project. A team solution to a serious engineering problem is an excellent opportunity to gain additional competencies, apply knowledge in practice and observe the real result of the work, since our development will be used in the work of the units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia,” said one of the team members, Yana Vagaytseva.