Palos Verdes Institute of Technology

UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)

The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) team at PVIT is focused on tackling real-world issues by focusing on the design, development, and operation of autonomous aerial vehicles. Since our team’s inception in 2013, we have learned the intersectionality between numerous STEM areas, such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, and more. Our team is a tight-knit family, working on both hardware and software components in parallel to design and build a drone that can execute a variety of tasks, from object detection to autonomous flight.

Every year, we participate in the National Student Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) Competition, a prestigious annual competition among UAV teams from universities and a few high schools. The primary objective of the SUAS competition is to create an autonomous drone to autonomously fly an optimized flight path, detect/avoid objects, establish a connection between hardware and software, and deliver payloads. There are a variety of future applications of our hexacopter, such as in the military or in the medical field. 

Through our weekly meetings, we are able to apply our classroom knowledge to real-world scenarios while also fostering collaboration, problem-solving, communication, optimism, and innovation: crucial hard and soft skills that we can bring to university and future careers. If you are interested in UAV, we would love to have you on the team!