ResponDrone partner AUA organizing first UAV competition to be held in Armenia

June 2, 2021

On May 18, 2021, a press conference was held in Yerevan, Armenia announcing the first UAV competition in memory of Karen Vardanyan to be launched later this year. The UAV competition is being organized within the frames of the ResponDrone project, tackling several first responder and rescue scenarios.

ResponDrone partners, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia (RA) and the American University of Armenia (AUA), are organizing this competition in collaboration with the Karen Vardanyan Educational Foundation, the RA Ministry of High-Tech Industry, and the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE). 

The UAV competition will take place in September 2021 in the village of Lernapat, in the picturesque province of Lori, Armenia. It aims to pose an interesting challenge to the participants by encouraging them to seek new solutions to increase the effectiveness of emergency measures for rescuers and first responders using UAVs.

Ms. Armine Hayrapetyan, the focal point of contact for the ResponDrone project at the RA Ministry of Emergency Situations (first from left); and Satenik Mnatsakanyan, chair of the AUA Engineering Sciences program and manager of the ResponDrone project at AUA (fourth from left)

This is forward-looking competition seeks to inspire a cross-section of the population to provide relevant input on issues dealing with situational awareness in emergency situations, touching on the very core of the ResponDrone project. As such it will be split into three categories:

  • School children
  • Amateur groups
  • Startups or specialized companies

The respective groups will be assigned simple, medium, and complex tasks to solve, accordingly. Using UAVs, the groups will be asked to complete the following tasks:

  • Find the source of a fire
  • Find the injured
  • Deliver the survival package while extinguishing the fire with liquid substances

They can also propose solutions not listed here, which will be reviewed by the completion’s management committee, and possibly included in the overall list of problem scenarios if deemed relevant. At the end of the application phase, participants will be provided with a description of the specific tasks to be accomplished.