Daily Times

NUST AirWorks, a team of talented students at the National University of Sciences & Technology Pakistan, has been making headlines lately for their impactful contributions to the development of autonomous drones that are considered to be at the forefront of technological innovation. Since its inception in 2016, the team has quickly gained traction at national and international competitions, winning awards and bringing laurels to the country.

Continuing with its own legacy, NUST AirWorks has had the singular honour to represent Pakistan at Teknofest 2023, held in Bursa by the Turkish government. The team managed to win the Performance Award and a cash prize from TÜBITAK for their hybrid VTOL configuration tasked with an autonomous mission that can be deployed for search and rescue missions, and rescue aid deliveries for disaster-stricken areas. The mission was designed keeping in view the recent earthquakes in Türkiye. The team demonstrated their commitment to innovation and addressing real-world challenges by focusing on building drones that can land on any platform without a runway. The team has been able to implement such complicated and intricate missions in their UAV through the use of latest technology, and flight controllers provided by their Avionics Sponsor CUAV.

Teknofest 2023 challenged the teams to showcase their projects, and clear three competition stages related to team awareness, flight checks, and a real flight on the runway. The team’s success in the competition led to a meeting with Selçuk Bayraktar, CTO of Baykar Drones, and the Minister of Turkish Science and Technology TÜBITAK, Hassan Mandal, and other influential personalities. The exposure allowed the team to learn from some of the best minds in the industry and expand their knowledge and skills.

In 2019, NUST AirWorks won the Grand Champions Award at the IMechE competition in the UK, beating teams from all over the world and becoming the only team from South Asia to receive this prestigious award. Their commitment and hard work inspired them to look for most sought-after competitions happening around the world, such as Teknofest 2022 in Turkiye, where they competed with a swarm of hexacopters and stood 20th amongst 93 international teams. NUST AirWorks is a team of young and brilliant students who are revolutionising the world of autonomous drones through their creativity, technical expertise and commitment to excellence.