US University Innovation Award Winner
The GoAERO competition is truly global, drawing teams from 85 countries across six continents. The Georgia Tech team – ASDL, Autonomous Support for Disaster Lifesaver – embodies this international spirit, with members from nine countries spanning the globe.
But whether from Morocco, France, or the United Arab Emirates, from India or Greece, from Ethiopia or Mexico, or from China or the U.S., each of the 11 ASDL members was intrigued by GoAERO because “we are interested in learning by doing, applying our knowledge to safeguard life,” Captain Carl Johnson of the U.S. relates. “We came to Georgia Tech as graduate students in the Aerospace System Design Laboratory because we share a passion for aerospace. But we are all focused on developing technology for complex systems to solve real-life problems. That is what GoAERO is all about.”
Team members Nada Himdi from Morocco, Hussein Ali from the UAE, and Nathnael Geneti from Ethiopia all echo this sentiment. Hussein notes, "it is very unique to apply what I’ve learned in class, design-build-fly, to real life. Nathnael relates that since he took his first plane ride as a five-year-old and got to spend the flight in the cockpit as a guest of the pilot, “I’ve always wanted to build a flyer. GoAERO is letting me do this. I’m translating all my classroom experiences into practice.” And Nada says that “all my other projects involve just numbers. This is the only one like this, with a humanitarian mission that could directly save lives.”
To fulfill this mission, ASDL is developing a hexacopter emergency response flyer – an autonomous aircraft with six rotors engineered for rapid deployment and minimal assembly time. The design prioritizes portability, allowing transport in a standard truck, while maintaining the capability to carry GoAERO's required 125-pound payload. ASDL is one of the select teams awarded Stage 1 funding GoAERO’s US University Innovation Award, supported by the NASA University Innovation Project, validating their innovative vision for emergency response aviation.
Qixun Li, who hails from China, says he’s told his family and friends about the team’s initial success, but he knows the road ahead to reach the GoAERO fly-off won’t be smooth: “I think of all the challenges we have ahead to build something like this that can carry human life. It can be daunting.
Teammate Ariadne Papamichou realizes already just how daunting. She explains that in 2023 alone her home country of Greece experienced one of its worst years in history for forest fires, which for her highlighted the “inadequacies of our fire management system. We just don’t have a good way to respond right now. Helicopters and other vehicles that are available right now can’t do it.”
Similarly, Tavish Pattanayak recalls that his home region in India is “prone to cyclones. In fact, I was born during a cyclone. The government has taken some steps to ensure a more effective and efficient response but there’s still a lot of work to do. Knowing this, and watching my father, who coordinates emergency response on oil rigs for the company he works for, shows just how important the GoAERO challenge is.”
Each of the ASDL team members acknowledges that competing in and completing the challenge is itself challenging for myriad reasons. They point to funding as a significant obstacle, not to mention the complexities of time management – they need to fit their work on their flyer into the demands of their graduate studies.
They point to the fact that because the team is divided into areas of expertise – some members focus on payload, others on autonomy, others on systems, and others on materials, etc. – they’re able to maneuver successfully in meeting these demands. They also cite the GoAERO webinars conducted by experts who are industry leaders in their respective disciplines as extremely helpful.
And they draw inspiration from giants, past and present, in the aviation space – from Amelia Earhart to Kelly Johnson, the internationally distinguished aeronautical and systems engineer who was widely known as the “Architect of Air” and whose designs led to the Lockheed U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird, among other flyers.
Team member Kevin Florian’s inspirational figure dates back much earlier; in fact, hundreds of years. He comes from the same small town in France where Leonardo da Vinci is buried, and notes that “there is a lot of memorabilia throughout the town, including some of his original designs for the helicopter.”
For team member Salma Walker, a licensed pilot who has flown Piper Cubs above Los Angeles, inspiration for participating in GoAERO stems from witnessing the devastating impact of COVID-19. “I was always interested in doing something that would help people,” she says, “But when I saw what the pandemic was doing and the deadly impact it was having, I was totally hooked on pursuing this.”
This sense of purpose unites the entire ASDL team. Despite the challenges of balancing graduate studies with ambitious technical development, they remain dedicated to their mission of developing autonomous aircraft that can save lives in emergencies. As they work toward the GoAERO Fly-Off, this diverse group of innovators from nine countries continues to demonstrate that the future of emergency response knows no borders – and that the next breakthrough in saving lives could come from anywhere in the world.
To highlight your GoAERO Team, contact us at info@goaeroprize.com.
REMINDER: Stage 2 Registration Documents are available here.
Benefits for Teams can be found here.
