What is High Flyers
It is an association club, one of the best known at the Silesian University of Technology. It was established in 2010 and since then has taken part in many national and international competitions involving UAVs, vision analysis, embedded systems, and everything related to autonomous flight.
Getting Started
When I joined, I did not expect it to be so meaningful. At first, I thought I would just learn a few new things and that nothing special would come out of it. I was wrong. Early on, I focused on learning how to balance university studies with side projects at High Flyers. I quickly became interested in a competition involving vision analysis, which set the direction for my further involvement.
Competitions and Projects
High Flyers participates in various national and international competitions, each presenting unique technical challenges. One project that stands out was our work on autonomous target identification and engagement at national competition called “Droniada”.
One of the main goals of my work was to identify different shapes with different colors and mark their global position during a UAV flight. It was important to distinguish them from each other, because later a second UAV was targeting only specific ones and shooting them with paintballs. We performed so well that year that we not only secured first place, but also received most of the bonus awards for best results in various categories. We were constantly testing our code between flights and were often the last team to leave the airfield.
Another major project was the development of a dedicated deployment module for vaccinations.
In Poland, there is a need to vaccinate foxes against rabies, usually done by small planes with a trained crew. Our solution was designed to allow precision drops in missed or hard-to-reach areas using UAVs. The device is mounted on a UAV, vaccines (in the form of edible cookies) are loaded into magazines, and autonomous missions are performed to drop each vaccine at a chosen destination.
Technical Challenges
Many of our projects required solving practical problems, from integrating sensors and modules to debugging hardware and software in the field. More importantly, they didn’t have to just work on paper. We had to deal with situations such as destroying our platform during a test flight a few hours before the start, or integrating the last parts of the systems a few minutes before flying.
Teamwork and Leadership
Over time, I became more involved in the organizational side of the club. I took on the role of president responsible for external relations, which brought new challenges such as organizing recruitment of new members and planning future competitions. Coordinating a diverse team and managing logistics for multiple projects was a valuable experience.
International Experience
That year, we managed to secure funding for a competition in the United States. Part of our team went to participate in the event, while another group, including myself, traveled to Seattle to present our paper at AIM2023. It was one of the best memories from my studies.
I had to stand in front of doctors and researchers from around the world and talk about our work, which was a valuable experience and a big step in developing my presentation skills. Despite being stressful, I can see the fruits of this experience now, as it required breaking through certain barriers and pushing myself out of my comfort zone.