The GMU Blimp Square team, led by me and Dr. Daigo Shishika from the ME department, just won the Defend the Republic (DTR) robotic blimp competition hosted at Lehigh University from November 13-17, 2023. The competition featured eight universities: Lehigh University, George Mason University (GMU), University of Florida (UF), Baylor University (BU), West Virginia University (WVU), Indiana University Bloomington (IU), Virginia Tech (VT), and Drexel University. You can check out the news here.
In an exciting turn of events, GMU emerged as one of the top two teams after the round-robin standings and was going to face Indiana University in the final match. However, in the spirit of camaraderie and a desire for more robotic participation and fun, the final game transformed into a thrilling battle between two super teams IU+Lehigh VS GMU+UF+BU. The GMU+FL+BU team won in the final game with a score of 48:39, with GMU contributing significantly to the team’s success by scoring the most points in the final round.
The standout feature of the GMU team lies in our creation of a groundbreaking and innovative platform: a colossal 4-meter by 4-meter Giant Skynet, showcased in the following image. This platform proves highly efficient for both robust defense and adept ball capturing, operating entirely autonomously. The autonomous Skynet demonstrated its prowess by achieving eight successful autonomous ball captures and executing three seamless passes between agents during the final match. This remarkable performance contributed a substantial 38 out of 48 points to the team’s overall score, underscoring the platform’s effectiveness in competitive scenarios.
We also deployed 10 flappy agents, which are stingray-inspired blimps with novel flappy wings, in the game as a swarm of seekers. The flappy agents were able to achieve 1 autonomous ball capturing and accomplish successful defenses against opponent agents. Check out the videos here!
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