[A]mazon, in partnership with the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), has today announced the regional results of the ‘Design a Drone’ competition in the North West. Over 1,700 students participated in the competition from across the UK.
Allithwaite Church of England Primary School in Grange-over-Sands topped the leader-board, taking first, second and third places.
Orrin G was awarded the top spot for designing the weather-proof ZIP drone, which would be built entirely from recycled materials. Second place went to Alesha P for her MSDB drone, which would deliver medical supplies to patients all around the world, and third place to Iggy RL for her Medical Delivery Drone which would deliver medicines that fit easily into a can.
The successful young engineers were awarded their prizes in a special ceremony during a school assembly. Winning students took home gift baskets of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) prizes. The first place regional winner also earned a cash donation of £1,000 for his school, to be spent on in-school STEM resources.
One national winner will be selected from the 12 regional finalists and have the opportunity to travel to the Amazon Prime Air Lab in Cambridge, UK, where their design will be exhibited for a year.
The competition helped raise awareness of the CAA’s Drone Code, a simple set of rules and guidelines which outline how to fly drones safely and within the law in the UK.
All primary school students in Years Two to Five in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were eligible to enter the competition. Students were asked to design their interpretation of a delivery drone to serve a humanitarian purpose or improve society, such as first-response medical aid, sending flowers to a loved one who is unwell or delivering toys to children in need.
Jonathan Nicholson, Assistant Director of Communications at the CAA, said: “All the entries were absolutely amazing and it was great to see so many students showing an interest in drones. By the time they are adults, drones could well be playing key roles in everyday life. But for that to happen we need everyone who flies a drone now to do so safely.”
Lauren Kisser, Operations Director at Amazon Prime Air, commented: “I’m delighted that the Design a Drone competition encouraged these students to unleash their creative thinking on how drones can be used to improve society. The entries we received were full of innovative and thoughtful ideas that could very well change the world one day.”
The full Drone Code can be seen at www.dronesafe.uk
Amazon has a Development Centre in Cambridge working on a range of projects including Prime Air, the company’s delivery system designed to safely get packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using drones.
