Flying Robot School is an educational initiative aimed at encouraging kids at public schools in rural areas to create cool technology that serves a useful purpose, and to consider further study in STEM. We use flying robots to do this. The students learn how aerial robots work, how to fly them, and how to use them to solve challenging real-world problems. We encourage students to continue improving the capabilities of the robot after the day by adding sensors, running experiments with it, and getting better at flying it. The idea is to have fun and learn a lot at the same time.

We encourage students to make technology that improves the world, and not only to consume technology made by others. We think this is important for their development, for our community, and for Australia.

We come to the school for a day.

We bring all the gear for a day of flying and building sensors for engaging, aeronautical science experiments. Thanks to our sponsor support, this gear stays at the school.

The practical flying is backed up with short talks about the physics and technology that makes a quadcopter work, obligations of safety and responsibility in their operation, and further study and career options in technology.

We don’t want the event to be a one-day wonder, so we encourage the students to form a club around improving the quadcopter’s capabilities, and improving their skills in the process.

We encourage a supportive, collaborative, and fun learning environment.

Students at Flying Robot School learn about:

• The physics of quadcopter flight.
• The technology that makes it work.
• Rules for safe and legal flying.
• Skills for controlling a quadcopter.
• How flying robots are serving people to make lives more sustainable, efficient, and better informed.
• How to modify and extend the robot’s functionality to give it more autonomy, more sensors.
• Next steps in becoming a technologist, scientist or engineer.

Flying Robot School Inc is a not-for-profit organisation propelled by a small volunteer group of experienced technologists and school teachers. We are experienced in organising and running grass-roots hack-for-good community events. We are committed to help kids grow skills and confidence to tap their in-built curiosity and create new technologies that improve the world.

From a financial perspective, we rely on contributions from organisations, community groups and the general public. Since our inception in 2014, we have been lucky enough to have raised $29,200. Due to the nature of our program, costs can really add up. Outgoings thus far include $10,500 (drones and other equipment), $9,650 (insurances) and operational costs such as accounting software, marketing and web hosting ($2,655). As at July 2018, we have $4,645in reserve which will predominantly go towards ongoing insurance costs, equipment updates and experimenting with online educational platforms.