NYP Clinches the Gold in the Singapore Amazing Flying Machine Competition 2012

16th March 2012 - Students from NYP’s School of Engineering (SEG) walked away from the “Singapore Amazing Flying Machine Competition” with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals as well as $7,000 in cash and four iPad 2s.

NYP Students, alumnus and lecturers savouring their victory after the competition.

Ten teams from SEG, consisting of a total of 22 students and 1 alumnus, competed against 40 other teams from the other local tertiary institutes in two categories – Autonomous and Semi-Autonomous Flight.

Team Radical Ace's machine flying through a window.

For the Autonomous Flight category, the aircraft had to be intelligent enough to detect and avoid obstacles with minimal control input from the user. SEG’s Team Spiral Wings swept the competition and won the overall Gold medal and a Silver medal for Creativity.

Minister of State for Ministry of Defence & Ministry of Education, Mr Lawrence Wong with Team Spiral Wings (from left to right) Gao ZhiJian, Kevin Ho KeQin,  and Jim Tan Poh Keong.

For the Semi-Autonomous Flight category, participants are given more leeway in controlling the aircraft. SEG also put on a strong showing with Team La Haste and Team Aventador receiving Silver and Bronze Awards for Performance respectively.

But success did not come easy. Phang Yuan Xin, one-half of Team La Haste, said “The preparation was intense right until the day before the competition. We encountered numerous challenges like hardware failures, plane crashes and fatigue (due to long hours training). Nevertheless, we pressed on.  We trained with diligence and determination every day.”

Flying machine manoeuvring a turn while NYP student, Maurice Kam Yew Liong, looks on.

Yuan Xin’s most memorable moment during the competition was when his team completed the first flight with a perfect score.

Team Spiral Wing's flying machine navigates an obstacle.

“During that flight, I thought our flying machine dropped the ball outside the bull's eye and missed the target. But after I landed the flying machine, the judges told me that I scored a bull's-eye. We were overjoyed.”
For aspiring competitors, he has these words of advice, “Train hard and when it is time to fly, fly it with confidence. Do your very best. Have fun.”

The Singapore Amazing Flying Machine Competition is jointly organized by DSO National Laboratories and the Singapore Science Centre, with the aim of helping students expand their creativity and problem-solving skills. This competition also allows those with a driving passion towards building flying machines to test their ideas and gain experience in building their machines.

Vanessa is a Year 3 Media Studies & Management student who enjoys writing, drawing, sports photography, literature, reading, music & fashion, and basically anything artsy. She also enjoys spending time with friends, laughing with them and listening to them. She has a huge interest in planning & facilitating events, and also loves nature, walking, and landscape photography.