Check out our AUVSI Xponential 2023 coverage.
Drones are ubiquitous these days, but how can you get students interested in them? How about Drone Soccer.
U.S. Drone Soccer is a team sport. Each team flies multiple quadcopter drones that are placed inside a ball to protect them from obstacles. The idea is to fly the drones through a goal or hoop as many times as possible within a three-minute period. This is a fast and furious time with drones not only trying to score, but also block the opponents' drones from scoring.
The drones come in different sizes (Fig. 1). The sport addresses students of all ages through college. Keson Drayton, Lead Instructor with U.S. Drone Soccer, provides insight into the competition (watch the video above).
The competitors and drones are separated by net barriers, providing line-of-sight control of the drones (Fig. 2). One large goal ring is located at each end of the field; each team has four drones. Typically, two play "goalie" and block while the other two try to score goals at the other end of the field.
Smaller drones are available, allowing for smaller competition areas. They also cost less. The drones are provided as kits; however, students can work on the drones in the same fashion as other robot competitions.
The competition does differ from those like NXP's HoverGames, where the focus is on hardware engineering and software development. Instead, the drones are standardized. What's similar is the remote-control aspect.
U.S. Drone Soccer drones are also something that the average student or adult can get into in a few minutes, compared to hours or weeks of learning how to program and control a drone from scratch. Drone soccer is fun and designed to get students interested in more complicated competitions such as HoverGames.
Check out more drone soccer competitions in the videos below.