AIRBUS INNOVATION COMPETITION
KUCHING: A group of engineering students from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus (Swinburne Sarawak) bagged the third prize during the Airbus University Innovation Fun Day (UIFD) event held recently at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).
The group SwinBee comprised of Swinburne’s School of Engineering deputy head and project supervisor Dr Chua Hong Siang, and engineering students Peter Ling Ting Rang, Marcus Tan Lee Soon, Tsen Xin Hui, and Derisee Tang Shao Ting.
The event aimed at nurturing and promoting the spirit of innovation among university students and the community of universities with Airbus in Malaysia.
After the qualifying round in September, six teams across Malaysia were shortlisted as finalists and subsequently invited to UIFD 2019 in Selangor.
The finalists were two teams from Universiti Sains Malaysia, and one team each from IIUM, Taylor’s University, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia and Swinburne Sarawak. Team SwinBee was the only team from East Malaysia.
During the event, teams were required to complete three separate missions. In Mission 1, they were required to build a rocket drone which could be launched up to 100 feet and return to ground perfectly on a small landing platform. Mission 2 involved on-the-spot design and creation of an ornithopter, a wing-flapping flying machine, mimicking the flight of a bird.
The final mission required the team to engineer a modular drone capable of flying in confined spaces, lifting weights and going underwater. On top of that, the drone had to survive an intentional drop from one-storey high.
Each member of team SwinBee was awarded a winning plaque, achievement and participation certificates, souvenirs from Airbus, as well as a ticket to experience Airbus helicopter simulation. The team also received a cash prize of RM2,000.
