Dan Collins, 18, was selected as one of the participants of the Genesis Energy Realise the Dream 2011 event. Realise the Dream is a prestigeous National Science and Technology Awards Competition for students who have undertaken excellent science research and technology development. The event is administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand, and is sponsored by Genesis Energy. Dan was selected for his self stabilising quad rotor helicopter. Over the past week, Dan has been immersed in a week long road trip visiting scientific research institutions together with 18 other students.
The tour began in Auckland visiting the Leigh Marine Institute, and concluded at NIWA in Wellington. Dan says his favourite part of the trip would have to be the great friendships he made with the other students in the group. “It was awesome to be surrounded by other like-minded students! An oppourtunity not present at school.” Dan lives in Matamata, and has just finished his last year at Aquinas College in Tauranga, and plans to attend Waikato University to study Electronic Engineering and Computer Science.
Dan's project was an attempt at an exciting learning experience. A self stabilising flying platform was chosen as “Something cool I always wanted to try”. His project included selecting the various components to make up the hardware, and also writing the software to calculate the thrust needed by each motor to keep the platfrom stable. On top of that, the device is controlled using a smart phone such as the iPhone or an Android. “It was a year long project where I learned not only some programming skills, but also the mathematics required to keep such a platform in the air”.
I also have a page on bright sparks: http://www.brightsparks.org.nz/self-stabilising-quad-rotor/. The youtube link embedded in that page is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OnxIk4CwyRo