The 2023 Interstate Drone League (iDrone) youth camp was held online via Zoom virtual meeting platforms, June 4 – 6, 2023. This camp offered informal STEM learning modules, including drone building, coding, and poster presentation to experience fast-moving technologies, such as unmanned aerial systems (UAS, e.g. drones). Throughout the camp, students had the opportunity to build their own drone from scratch, control motors, and stabilize drones for safe and legal flight at the national airspace. During the camp, students formed a team of 2 – 5 members to brainstorm how emerging technologies, such as drones, ground robots, AI, and machine learning can be utilized to solve real-world problems and exchange their knowledge and thoughts among peers.
On the first day of camp, students constructed their own drones using the idrone development kit that was delivered to their home. Through this activity, they understood the various components comprising a drone, including propellers, motors, body frame, circuit board, and accessories.
The following day, students learned coding and programming using Arduino IDE and MIT Scratch to accomplish a space mission (e.g., Ingenuity mission) adopted by NASA. Through this module, students learned the basic coding step by step by completing the series questions. After completing the coding session, in order to inspire the application of drones for solving real-world problems, students formed a group and brainstormed which real-world problems they wanted to solve using the drone.
The last day of camp was kicked off with the seminar by Epiphany Ryu, the CFO of EpiSci. She introduced how the company utilizes drones and technology in the defense industry and tactical AI, which was a great opportunity for students to learn the application of drones in industry. In addition, Dr. Mintai Kim from Virginia Tech conducted a seminar for practical knowledge on drone control and obtaining a drone pilot license.
After the seminar, students took on the coding challenge. Through the coding challenge, students practiced their knowledge of coding from this camp. Students create their own coding, successfully completing the mission by controlling their drone as following the instructions. Finally, students reconvene to demonstrate drone-based technical solutions to real-world problems through a team poster pitch and the selected team was invited to UKC2023 as a poster presenter. VP1 Jae Ryu is currently communicating with the UKC2023 leadership to make this happen.
The 2023 iDrone Poster Awards Recipients
The 2023 iDrone camp has been successfully done. Throughout this camp, students have gained not only the understanding of drone technology but also developed teamwork, problem-solving, and critical thinking. We hope the experience will continue to inspire the youth.
Special thanks to iDrone Coordinators (Alphabetic order by last name): Kim, Clara (North Carolina); Kim, Joseph (Virginia); Kwon, Dayun (South Korea); Park, Jinho (Florida); Park, Katie (Washington); Son, Yeongkwon (Nevada); Subah, Zarin (Idaho); Ziegler, Hannah (Tennessee).
Reported by
Jae Hyeon Ryu, Idaho Chapter
Jinho Park, Project Director
KSEA e-Letters 