Team from the University of Klagenfurt wins drone competition in Huntsville, USA
Exploring and mapping an environment, locating objects and people in need, and finally bringing them first aid kits: these are the tasks set in three competitions in the SAPIENCE project. Four research teams from four universities compete against each other in these competitions in order to learn from each other. The team led by Luca Di Pierno achieved its first victory in the competitions, which took place in Huntsville, USA.
The four teams (each with a maximum of six participants) represent four universities: University of London (UK), University of Alabama in Huntsville (USA), Delft University of Technology (NL) and the University of Klagenfurt (A). The common research goal is to develop and test several approaches for search and rescue missions using drones. The aim is for drones to navigate autonomously in environments without using GPS, to create images and maps of these outdoor and indoor spaces, to locate victims and, finally, to provide aid.
The exciting thing about the competitions is that the teams come up with different solutions. The competitive nature of the project spurs us on to achieve the best possible performance with the technologies we have,” says Luca Di Pierno, a doctoral student in the Control of Networked Systems working group led by Stephan Weiss.
The first competition, held on 29 and 30 August 2024 at the University of London, involved flying around an indoor space, mapping it and delivering aid packages.
The second competition, held in Alabama in July 2025, took place in an outdoor arena measuring approximately 10 football fields in size. Three scenarios were specified: In the first scenario, the teams had to explore and map part of the outdoor environment. The second scenario involved completing a series of tasks within a specified time, such as estimating the number of injured people and the quantity of aid packages required. The third scenario involved precision navigation of the drones, for example to obtain a complete picture of an entire house.
The team from Klagenfurt emerged victorious from the competition in Huntsville. Luca Di Pierno explains: “We were able to demonstrate exceptional performance in creating the map. We succeeded in creating a very accurate map of the terrain. This allows us to identify objects from as small as one centimetre in size.” This expertise, which the team had already demonstrated in the first competition, led to interesting follow-up projects, such as mapping a research tunnel at the Montanuniversität Leoben and mapping a bridge in the Rosental valley in southern Carinthia.
All three competitions in the project have one thing in common: the drones must complete their tasks in a fully autonomous way. Here, too, the achievements of the Klagenfurt team stood out. For example, they succeeded in enabling the drone to continue operating autonomously even if the condition assessment via the camera failed, thanks to a switch to GPS navigation. Human intervention was not necessary in most of the competitions. Thanks to the support of Christian Brommer, a former doctoral student in the Control of Networked Systems working group, the MaRS software developed as part of his dissertation was used and further developed in the project, giving the team a decisive advantage over the other teams.
The next competition will take place at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands in March 2026. The seven-member team from the University of ‘Klagenfurt (comprising five students, Gilbert Tanner, Georg Steinthaler, Tim Schumann, Ben Wesse and Jonas Spieler) is already busy preparing for the event. The project is fully supported by technicians Fred Arneitz (Control of Networked Systems) and Amon Ferreira-Weratschnig (Sensors, Actuators & Modular Robotics), as well as by Melissa Aichholzer (Control of Networked Systems) in an administrative capacity.
Video about the competition in Huntsville: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVqrk5AktdA
