Overview The teams

Leonardo Drone Contest

The Leonardo Drone Contest is an Open Innovation challenge designed and launched by Leonardo in collaboration with six Italian universities, to encourage the development of Artificial Intelligence applied to Unmanned Systems.

The aim of the project is to encourage the creation of an "ecosystem" that involves and brings together the capabilities of large companies, universities, small and medium enterprises, and national spin-offs and start-ups.
In particular, Leonardo is supporting the activities of six PhD students (one per university) of the Politecnico of Turin and Milan and of the Universities of Bologna, Sant’Anna of Pisa, Roma Tor Vergata and Federico II of Naples who, for three years, will be engaged in the development of an autonomous drone driving system, sharing university and business resources and knowledge.

Each year the doctoral students, each with their own team, will confront each other in a scientific symposium, as well as an annual competition of their drones.

The Leonardo Drone Contest officially started on November 12, 2019 and will end in 2022. The first race will take place in Turin during the second half of 2020 and, on this occasion, the first results and the potential of the respective projects will be analyzed.

An ecosystem of innovation

Meet the teams

Politecnico di Torino

Politecnico di Torino

For 160 years Politecnico di Torino has been educating engineers, architects, designers and urban planners to high quality standards. The DRAFT PoliTo team is composed of students from different courses and levels of the Engineering area, a multidisciplinary group where each member enriches his experience in teamwork by achieving the objectives.

Politecnico di Milano

Politecnico di Milano is a scientific-technological university which trains engineers, architects and industrial designers and it has always focused on the quality and innovation of its teaching and research. The Politecnico team’s goal is the development of a drone with autonomous guidance and navigation capability.

Politecnico di Milano

Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna

Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna

It is considered to be the oldest university in the Western world and it is a keystone and a point of reference for European culture. The University of Bologna team’s ultimate goal is to equip their aerial platform with artificial intelligence, allowing the performance of predefined operations in complete autonomy and without human intervention.

Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies

The Sant’Anna School is a public university institute - with special autonomy - working in the field of applied sciences and aims at experimenting innovative paths in research and education. The School’s team is focusing on system simulation and facing the challenge to make a state-of-the-art drone that maps an unknown environment and plans for mission movements.

Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies

Tor Vergata University of Rome

Tor Vergata University of Rome

University of Rome Tor Vergata aims at playing a leading role in research and education, as well as in technological, economic, organisational and social development. The Tor Vergata’s team is made up of students, PhD students and other researchers, specifically experts in the field of artificial intelligence, automatic controls and robotics.

The University of Naples Federico II

The University of Naples Federico II was founded in 1224 and is the oldest public university in the world. From here comes PRISMA Lab with its team working on the Drone Contest project and focusing on the primary challenges related to software development, mechanical development/prototyping and mechatronic design.

The University of Naples Federico II