May 25, 2011 Challenge announced for creating new, small
unmanned flying machine Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
play a critical role in modern military operations. The next
generation of these aerial robotic systems needs to have
enhanced takeoff and landing capabilities, better endurance,
require less support equipment and be adaptable to mission needs
in varying conditions. The Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) and Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center
Atlantic (SSC Atlantic) call on innovators of every kind;
scientists, engineers, citizen scientists and dreamers to
collaborate on the UAVForge Challenge and win $100,000 USD. The
UAVForge challenge uses crowdsourcing to build small UAVs
through an exchange of ideas and design practices. The goal is
to build and test a user-intuitive, backpack-portable UAV that
can quietly fly in and out of critical environments to conduct
sustained surveillance for up to three hours. According to Jim
McCormick, DARPA program manager, “The UAVForge cro