From rockets to smart drones, students combine technology and science in university expansion – USP Journal

Experience and build on what has been learned in the classroom in a practical way, Combining technology and scientific knowledge. This is one of the objectives of the USP expansion projects in engineering at the São Paulo, São Carlos and Lorena campuses: there are more than 20 groups and teams from different fields, such as aeronautical design, motorsports, robotics and aeronautical projects. “We need to complete mandatory subjects before we graduate, so being part of the mentoring groups in the teams is a form of motivation. Seeing things happen, and the project succeeding, is really cool and makes a big difference in an engineering context.” “It’s a very exciting time,” says Ricardo Vasconcelos, a member of Skyrats, an aircraft design consultancy group.

Based at the Polytechnic School (Poly) of the University of the South Pacific, Skyrats It is one of the teams that has achieved good results in tournaments such as the Brazilian Robotics Competition (CBR), where it won first place in 2021 and 2022, and the International Micro Aerial Vehicles (IMAV), an international competition for micro aerial vehicles, with third place in 2022 and sixth place in 2023.

Also on the Poly side, the Jupiter rocket project, created in a university environment, has stood out in competitions in the region, such as the Latin American Space Challenge – 2nd place in 2024, in the solid rocket category with an apogee of 10,000 feet, and 1st place overall in competitions from 2021 to 2022. Another team, EESC-USP Aerodesign, from the São Carlos Engineering School (EESC) of the University of the South Pacific, is a world reference in the development and construction of remote-controlled cargo aircraft. It has won 20 national and international titles in its 22-year history.