Robohub.org
Flying Donkey Challenge
Sadly, the Flying Donkey Challenge was put on hold indefinitely. See details here.
Will we see flying donkeys racing around Mount Kenya with 20 kilo payloads in 2020? The dream of lifting Africa will come one step closer when the 2014 preliminary “Flying Donkey Challenge” takes place in Kenya in November, but entries, including grant applications, close on February 28.
The Flying Donkey Challenge is a project of the La Fondation Bundi, a non-profit initiative of the Afrotech project at EPFL, the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, and the NCCR, the Swiss National Center of Competence for Research in Robotics.
The foundation seeks to pioneer a new transportation system for the world by developing robots with rugged air frames capable of safe and cheap unmanned flight of heavy cargo over long distances. We call these robots flying donkeys.
La Fondation Bundi is committed to promoting an African designed and assembled flying donkey industry capable of improving the transport infrastructure in areas without good roads. The goal of the foundation is to have tens of thousands of flying donkeys operational within a generation.
There are various technical, legal, logistical and design issues facing challengers and the foundation has broken the Flying Donkey Challenge into subchallenges. Teams may win large cash prizes for the best solutions across the range of subchallenges. Some of the subchallenges are:
- Precision take off and landing
- GPS denied navigation
- Sense and avoid
- Cargo delivery
- FD business plan competition
- FD legal paper competition tba
- FD logistics paper competition tba
Amazon better look to Africa because the first commercial drone deliveries look like coming from Flying Donkeys not UPS delivery drones.
tags: c-Events
Andra Keay
is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics, founder of Women in Robotics and is a mentor, investor and advisor to startups, accelerators and think tanks, with a strong interest in commercializing socially positive robotics and AI.
Andra Keay
is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics, founder of Women in Robotics and is a mentor, investor and advisor to startups, accelerators and think tanks, with a strong interest in commercializing socially positive robotics and AI.
Related posts :
Robot Talk Episode 123 – Standardising robot programming, with Nick Thompson
Robot Talk
30 May 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Nick Thompson from BOW about software that makes robots easier to program.
Congratulations to the #AAMAS2025 best paper, best demo, and distinguished dissertation award winners
AIhub
29 May 2025
Find out who won the awards presented at the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems last week.
Congratulations to the #ICRA2025 best paper award winners
AIhub
27 May 2025
The winners and finalists in the different categories have been announced.
#ICRA2025 social media round-up
AIhub
23 May 2025
Find out what the participants got up to at the International Conference on Robotics & Automation.
Robot Talk Episode 122 – Bio-inspired flying robots, with Jane Pauline Ramos Ramirez
Robot Talk
23 May 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Jane Pauline Ramos Ramirez from Delft University of Technology about drones that can move on land and in the air.
Robot Talk Episode 121 – Adaptable robots for the home, with Lerrel Pinto
Robot Talk
16 May 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Lerrel Pinto from New York University about using machine learning to train robots to adapt to new environments.
What’s coming up at #ICRA2025?
AIhub
16 May 2025
Find out what's in store at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics & Automation, which will take place from 19-23 May.
Robot see, robot do: System learns after watching how-tos
Cornell University
14 May 2025
Researchers have developed a new robotic framework that allows robots to learn tasks by watching a how-to video
