General Rules

Prizes will be specific for each mission. A team needs to score points on a specific mission to earn a prize. Simply trying a mission will not earn a team a prize, even if other teams fail at that same mission too.
Up to two (2) drones per team are allowed.
Drones must not weight more than 4.4 lb, including any attachments to hold and deliver the tennis balls, and the payload of five (5) tennis balls.
Each team will have a limited budget of $500, including the use of existing components in the Maker Lab Store.
- The $500 budget limit is for the purchase of new components, and used of items from the Maker Lab Store do not count towards the budget limit.
- 3d printing parts is allowed and does not count as part of the total budget.
- The use of components in inventory is on a first-come, first-serve basis. However, a team can only ‘take’ a component from the inventory once it’s ready to use it. Hoarding components is not allowed.
- The Maker Lab inventory can be viewed in the table here:Maker Lab Store
Parts, components, or entire drone can be swapped for each mission, as long as total budget is not surpassed by the team.
Due to budget and time constraints, only 5 teams will be allowed to participate.
- Students can apply to become team leaders and will be selected based on experience with drones and availability.
- Team leaders can accept and select team members on their own. There’s a minimum of 3 team members, but no maximum team members. Although no more than 5 is recommended.
- Students are encouraged to approach team leaders to join their teams.
Check-ins will take place throughout the year.
- Teams are required to send at least one representative to each workshop. Lack of attendance will cause a team to become disqualified.
- Check-ins will provide useful information about how to build and program a drone, answer questions about the missions, and turn in required information.
- Check-in dates (Tuesday co-curricular, 11:30 am) at the JWL 304:
  - October 9 - Info Session
  - October 20
    - Required: All Team Members Completed Form
    - Learning In-Session: Drone Components and Why
  - November 3
    - Required: First Draft of Components List
    - Learning In-Session: Drone Programming
  - November 17
    - Required: Final Draft of Components List with Purchasing Links
    - Learning In-Session: Missions Q&A
  - January 19
    - Learning In-Session: Component Testing Recommendations
  - February 2
    - Required: Component Testing Plan
    - Learning In-Session: Mission Testing Recommendations
  - February 23
    - Required: Mission Testing Plan
    - Learning In-Session: Mission Q&A
  - March 9
    - Required: Components Testing Results
    - Learning In-Session: Testing and Competition Final Schedule
Testing is required before the competition. Specific dates and times will be determined for testing at the competition location. Testing date is April 4, 2027.
Competition date is April 11, 2026 at the farm area on campus.

Mission 1: Race

Optimization parameter: speed

GPS Coordinates

Follow a course set by GPS way-points. Entire mission must be completed autonomously.
Take off requires a climb up to 50 ft vertically before leaving the takeoff area. Landing requires entry into the landing area at a minimum of 50 ft before descent.
Complete the course as fast as possible, including takeoff and landing, autonomously.
A flight plan must be created and shown to the judges before takeoff.
Course length is projected to be about 1 mile.
A team may re-do the mission one time only if catastrophic failure during flight prevents them from completing it.
Points are based on the following (max. 100 pts):
- Completing the course successfully (takeoff, GPS coordinates, landing).
- Ranking of participating teams based on time to complete the course.
- Proportion of points based on time taken to complete the course. For example, fastest team (2 minutes) will get 100 pts; 2nd team takes 4 minutes and gets 50 pts; last team takes 10 minutes and gets 20 pts.