Racers In The Air
by Jackson Waffen
When I first walked into the portables where the drone racing team practices I saw the Le Jardin Academy team working hard on a problem.
They were trying to make their drones as fast as possible. Each team member presented their design ideas to the rest of the group, addressing challenges like how to make the drone land on a pole quickly and accurately. They also shared ideas about designs for a hook that they will 3D print; one of the challenges for the International Drone Racing Competition is to carry a ping pong ball through an obstacle course. They will use the hook to hold the ping pong ball steady.
Drone racing requires a great deal of teamwork. Kai, an 8th grade student, said he joined “so that I could fly drones and solve problems with my team.” Everyone on the team has a different role. Some students are engineers while others are racers, like in NASCAR. Kenneth, another 8th grader, fixes the drones.
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Kai is the project manager, which is the head of the team. He makes sure the plans are good. Other students make posters and logos and invitations to send out to other teams.
Drone racing is like any other sport: everyone does their individual job to help the team.
