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Amazon and the UK Civil
Aviation Authority Announce North West of England Winner
AMAZON, in partnership with the UK
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), has announced the regional results of the
'Design a Drone' competition in the North West. Over 1,700 students participated
in the competition from across the UK. Allithwaite Church of England Primary School in Grange-over-Sands topped the
leader board, taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.
Orrin G was awarded the top spot for designing the weather proof ZIP drone,
which would be built entirely from recycled materials. Second place went to Alesha P for her MSDB drone, which would deliver medical supplies to patients
all around the world, and 3rd place to Iggy RL for her Medical Delivery Drone
which would deliver medicines that fit easily into a can.
Alesha P's MSDB drone design
The successful young engineers were awarded
their prizes in a special ceremony during a School assembly. Winning students
took home gift baskets of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM)
prizes. The first place regional winner also earned a cash donation of ₤1,000
for his School, to be spent on in School STEM resources. 1 national winner will be selected from the 12 regional finalists and have the
opportunity to travel to the Amazon Prime Air Lab in Cambridge, UK, where their
design will be exhibited for a year.
The competition helped raise awareness of the CAA's Drone Code, a simple set of
rules and guidelines which outline how to fly drones safely and within the law
in the UK.
All Primary School students in Years 2 to 5 in England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland were eligible to enter the competition. Students were asked to
design their interpretation of a delivery drone to serve a humanitarian purpose
or improve society, such as 1st response medical aid, sending flowers to a
loved 1 who is unwell or delivering toys to children in need.
Jonathan Nicholson, Assistant Director of
Communications at the CAA, said:- "All the entries were absolutely amazing
and it was great to see so many students showing an interest in drones. By the
time they are adults, drones could well be playing key roles in everyday life.
But for that to happen we need everyone who flies a drone now to do so safely."
Lauren Kisser, Operations Director at Amazon Prime Air, commented:-
"I'm delighted that the Design a Drone competition encouraged these students to
unleash their creative thinking on how drones can be used to improve society.
The entries we received were full of innovative and thoughtful ideas that could
very well change the world one day."
The full Drone Code can be seen at:-
DroneSafe.UK.
Amazon has a Development Centre, in Cambridge, working on a range of projects
including, Prime Air, the company's delivery system designed to safely get
packages to customers in 30 minutes or less using drones.
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