Aerospace, electronics and mechanical engineering students from the University of Brasília joined with a challenging goal: to create a model airplane to participate in Brazilian aerodesign competitions. With this intention, they created the group called Mamutes do Cerrado. Innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit were the highlights of this project.  They used on the airplane materials such as BBQ sticks and cold styrofoam. the prototyope acheived great success when crossed the sky of São Paulo in the SAE Brazil Aerodesign competition in São José do Rio Campo.

Photo by Mamutes do Cerrado Facebook

The project caught the attention of competitors and was successful, being even present in this month's edition of Campus Party in Brasilia. They were awarded with the third place on the Future Campus competition that took place during the Campus Party. In order to understand a little more of the challenges and the critical aspects of the project, Pervaleo interviewed Laís Costa Carvalho, team captain:

1) Laís, what is your project about? How was it created?

Mamutes do Cerrado is an aerodrome team created to participate in an aerodesign competition held in São José dos Campos at the end of last year. The competition brought together students from Brazil and other countries. It brought many challenges that we had to meet.

2) What challenges do you find interesting to report to us?

I think it's worth talking about the challenge of, during the flight, our model aircraft had to drop a load in an area delimited by them. In addition, we had to take off using less of the runway and compaction.

3) How did the idea of ​​alternative and sustainable materials come about?

The idea arose from the lack of budget, since the University of Brasilia had just suffered a great cut in its budget. We began to successfully test the use of materials such as styrofoam, depron, those boards that are used for meat. The structure uses barbecue sticks, normal Styrofoam, plastic ribbons. We used all this to make a model more sustainable and also to create a product that fits our budget.

The team was successful in the competition, achieving all the proposed objectives. This year, research and study continue. This project undoubtedly proves that, during times of economic crisis, creativity and innovation flourish!

You can check more of this great projetc on their website Mamutes do Cerrado website