The future of autonomous Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) expands from across the skies, land, and sea to aid humans in more efficient, safe, and accurate data collection, processing and analysis. Educators and students need to be equipped with knowledge, skills and hands-on training to compete in the world of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Living in a global and diverse world brings new challenges that are achieving success through integrated product development teams. In 2013, the Wildlife Conservation UAV Challenge (wcUAVc) inspired academics and professionals from across the world to solve the global crisis of poaching and trafficking of endangered species. The challenge fostered innovation and invention in the design, fabrication, and utilization of unmanned aircraft to assist with counter poaching and illicit wildlife trafficking. In just a few months the wcUAVc has become the world’s largest and most distributed aircraft research effort. It called on students, hobbyists, academics, and corporations to cooperate in a Design, Build, Fly challenge that emphasizes the integration of sensors, embedded systems, and communications in a robust and high endurance aircraft.  

 

The Wildlife Conservation UAV Challenge gave birth to the DaVinci Challenge: Build a Drone workshop to encourage students of all ages to participate in an innovative and hands-on workshops that teaches fundamentals of drone design, fabrication, robotic systems integration, and autonomous flying techniques with custom built multicopters. The program’s goal was to deliver workshops which foster interest and excitement for educators and students, with a mission to utilize autonomous drones for conservation, environment, and humanitarian applications.

Striving to reach students across the globe, Kashmir World Foundation (KwF) launched Teachers Take Flight workshop in 2016 to give educators the opportunity to not only build, program, and operate their own drones, but create a drone-based curriculum that puts them at the forefront of machine learning for artificial intelligence (AI) and designing custom unmanned aerial robotic systems for project-based learning. The Teachers Take Flight Workshop aims to prepare teachers to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams of students in developing cutting edge, mission-focused aerial robots through experiential learning projects.

 

The workshop promotes open collaboration on curriculum and mission focused science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) drone projects through an expanded network of Teachers Take Flight graduates. The final day of the workshop participants begin with ground and hover testing, followed by a series of radio controlled flights and ending with fully autonomous missions. Graduates receive a DaVinci Challenge Drone Operator Certificate and Instructor Certification. Family and friends are all invited to join in the excitement of Flight Day.