Students of Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Academy of Higher Education added yet another feather to the cap as they emerged winners and bagged second prize in the recently concluded Aero Dominator 7.0 – A National level Aero-design competition held during Vellore Institute of Technology's technical fest ‘Gravitas’. The Competition was held from 2nd to 5th of October wherein 25 teams from all over the country competed for top honours.

The task at hand was to design a fixed-wing RC UAV capable of transporting medical cargo and first aid during emergencies. In light, of the recent global pandemic fundamentally changing the way we work and live, this mission statement was apt. Teams were judged on three criterions - Design Report, Technical Presentation and Predicted Flight Score.

AeroMIT performed various analytical and computational analysis on a virtual 3D CAD model of the aircraft and implemented major design features in the aircraft to successfully complete the mission with a high degree of accuracy.

The team of students who bagged second prize consisted of Team Manager Aditeya Gurumurthy, Aerodynamics Head Nagaraj Ganesh Prabhu and senior team Members Pranav Gupta, Prahaladh Chandrahasa and Rahul Alvares. The multidisciplinary approach taken by AeroMIT in dividing important tasks among team members and virtual collaboration using the available resources bore fruit and then also the rest of the team members who had to put in efforts to ensure design report and quantum of research was up to the mark was a complete team effort.

Celebrating with the team, Dr. Srikanth Rao, Director, Manipal Institute of Technology, MAHE said, “We are delighted to see this amazing performance by our students at MIT and it is a proud moment as the students have excelled in bringing their innovative ideas and multi-disciplinary approach to bag the second prize. We encourage our students to continue cultivating and nurturing such innovative ideas, making their learning experiences more knowledgeable with the right kind of exposure. This helps their minds to be creative, curious, agile and resilient.”