Science students from Middlesex University will fly to the USA for the finals of an international robot competition.
The Middlesex team will compete against 12 others in the UAVForge competition, in which they will test unmanned air vehicles, more commonly known as drones.
The winner of the competition, which will be held in May at a military base in Georgia, will win a $100,000 prize.
Among the tasks the team will have to complete are flying the drone for two miles, observing a target for three hours, relaying information back to base and vertical takeoff and landing.
Middlesex robotics expert Dr Stephen Prior led the team who created the UAVs with engineering students Mehmet Ali Erbil, Mantas Brazinskas, Witold Mielniczek and Siddharth Odedra.
Dr Prior said: “I think we’ve got a strong chance of winning despite facing some of the best engineers across the globe from prestigious institutions like Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“We need the UK to get behind us to demonstrate that British universities are still leaders in research and development.”
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