The budding technocrats of National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jamshedpur won the seventh position in the SAE Aero Design East 2014 held in Georgia, USA from April 11 to 13.The aero model design managed to grab the seventh position and was the best among all Indian teams which participated in the event.
Team Phoenix though ended up at the seventh position internationally but managed to win accolades for the novel ideas used. Among a group of nine students, second year students Tarun Kedia and Ashish Ranjan, went to participate in the design exhibition known for technology. The NIT students participated in the microclass category. “We are happy with the response we got during the contest. Our plan witnessed landing mistakes that led to our slipping from the top honours. The unmanned aero vehicle is a radio controlled device,” said Ashish Ranjan, a second year student of NIT.
Kedia said that the journey to USA has been inspiring for them and they are looking forward to toy with novel ideas. “We have plans to get good sponsorships which will let more team members to be present. Team members always mean great help and support in times of need,” he noted.
The aero vehicle is made of wood and is 64 inches wide and 48 inch long. It weighs one kg. The vehicle is battery driven and at present can fly up to 15 ft for five minutes. The manufacturing cost of the vehicle is about Rs 25,000.
The competition saw a participation of 75 teams from across the globe. The winners of the competition were University of Minnesotta, USA followed by Warsaw University of Technology, Poland and Georgia University of Technology, USA.
“We are really happy with the performance of our students. They have left a mark on global arena. Phoenix is gem of NIT Jamshedpur and is always on the go to create something new. We wish the team the best for future endeavours,” said Rajiv Bhushan, professor in-charge (media relations), NIT.