The Central Lakes College Quadcopter Team received 3rd place at the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium Community College Quadcopter Competition last spring.
The results, which were recently released, showed CLC tied for third with Minnesota West Community and Technical College.
The competition took place April 16 on the University of Minnesota campus. Seven student teams participated, each advised by a community college faculty member.
Prior to the competition, teams are required to build and learn to fly an ELEV-8 quadcopter. At the competition, teams gave an oral presentation and then demonstrated their piloting and information gathering abilities. Each team had to complete a set of challenges as part of the competition, including basic flying and using a camera for close-up imaging of ground targets, wall targets and drawing maps.
“I’m proud of my students for the way they came together, focused on goals and completed the competition in a professional and responsible manner. They did a great job representing Central Lakes College,” said CLC Robotics Instructor Nathan Peterson.
Peterson added that the competition is great exposure for CLC’s Robotics Program and creates lasting partnerships with the University of Minnesota Aerospace Department, NASA, and other community and technical colleges.
The CLC Quadcopter team consists of students from multiple programs from both the Brainerd and Staples campuses. Team members are: Eric Budrow (Pre-Engineering), AJ Horton (Robotics), Natalie Berens (Robotics), Chelsea Anderson (Natural Resources), and Damian Dunn (AA).