June 2, 2025
Prairie View A&M, the college’s Drone Competitors Group, participated within the 2025 Raytheon Autonomous Automobile Problem.
In response to a Could 30 press launch issued by Prairie View A&M, the college’s Drone Competitors Group positioned fourth within the 2025 Raytheon Autonomous Automobile Problem, which is a nationwide competitors that prime engineering college students from throughout the nation take part in.
On this explicit problem, which occurred on April 11, scholar groups had been requested to construct and function self-driving drones which may determine and talk a touchdown zone to an autonomous automobile which was presupposed to ship a bundle into the designated zone.
Prairie View’s staff made it to the finals of the problem, the place they competed in opposition to 9 different schools, with a staff composed solely of first time members within the problem.
“This accomplishment displays the caliber of our college students, the power of our educational packages, and the worth of hands-on, experiential studying,” Dr. Pamela Obiomon, who’s the dean of the Roy G. Perry Faculty of Engineering, stated within the press launch. “Their success is a win for all of PVAMU and a shining instance of our mission in motion.”
The scholars, staff lead Jacob Vary, a senior within the mechanical engineering program, Khoa Tran, a junior within the electrical engineering program, Fawaz Abdulwahab, a junior within the pc engineering program, London Williams, a junior within the mechanical engineering program, Jyeshuah Swain, a freshman within the pc engineering program, David Falekulo, a freshman within the pc science program, and Isaiah Maxwell, a sophomore within the mechanical engineering program; all labored for months getting ready for the competitors, which has a navy software, which is acceptable, given Raytheon’s standing as a navy contractor with the Division of Protection.
Within the problem, the scholars had been tasked with delivering support to injured troopers on a battlefield and needed to design drones able to surveying a 30×30 space, finding a visible marker which signifies the touchdown zone, and speaking these coordinates to a separate floor automobile for supply of the bundle.
“We spent numerous late nights troubleshooting and refining each element,” Tran stated within the press launch. “It paid off ultimately — we’re happy with what we completed and excited for what’s to come back.”
In response to Jonathan Tamplin, a senior principal techniques engineer at Raytheon, who assisted the coed staff as a mentor all through the semester, “There have been moments when issues didn’t look promising, however the staff pushed via. Their unimaginable perseverance and willpower shone via.”
Though the scholars are conscious of Raytheon’s dealings with the navy, a few of them, like Vary, would really like this know-how for use for different purposes, like catastrophe aid efforts.
“I realized a lot about mission administration and staff coordination,” Vary stated within the press launch. “I’m additionally enthusiastic about the potential for this know-how getting used sooner or later to develop outdoors of simply navy use but additionally getting used throughout occasions equivalent to pure disasters to have the ability to ship support to people who wouldn’t be capable to be reached in any other case.”
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