Singapore Amazing Flying Machine Competition (SAFMC) 2022 

Name of the competition: Singapore Amazing Flying Machine Competition (SAFMC) 2022 

About the competition: SAFMC is Singapore’s largest flying machine competition, jointly organised by the Defence Science Organisation (DSO) and Singapore Science Center, with support from the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF). Attracting over 1000 participants a year, students across the region are tasked with constructing a flying machine to fulfil a specified objective, according to their respective categories.

In 2022, category D1's difficulty was enhanced to celebrate DSO's 50th anniversary: instead of controlling drones with a joystick, university students had to design and build a system of up to three semi-autonomous drones that were controlled using wearable devices, such as gloves.

In addition, each team was tasked with playing ‘connect 5’ against one another using their drone. As such, teams had to collect and deliver multiple payloads to a specified drop zone. 

Date of the competition: 12 April 2022

Achievement: 2nd Runner-up in category D1

Prize: $2,000

REP Students: Shawn Chan, Wayne Tan, Chan Ming Han, Wong Yu Fei, Lim Sui Kiat

Description: Competing under the name “NORTH HILL INSTITUTE”, students representing the Renaissance Engineering Programme engineered a modified drone that was controlled using hand gestures. Combining the skills and knowledge of software, electrical, and mechanical engineering, the team successfully engineered an aerial platform to compete against a total of ten local and foreign teams.