Six students of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia (FEng) have again achieved achievements in international competitions. The six students who are members of the UI Flying Car team represented Indonesia and became finalists from 206 teams from various countries participating in the Flying Car Design Competition, Teknofest 2021. The event was organized by the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Technology, Turkish Technology Team (T3) Foundation, and in collaboration with several partner companies.
UI Flying Car is a team formed from research related to Urban Air Mobility (UAM) orflying cars.The UI Flying Car will be launched in 2020 as a form of collaboration between students who have an interest in developing UAM research. Under the guidance of FEng Mechanical Engineering Department lecturer, Dr.-Ing. Mohammad Adhitya, S.T., M.Sc., the UI Flying Car team consists of Muhamad Ilham Santoso (Team Leader), Mochamad Rifqi N.A., Yogasatya Adikhansa, Tristan Adhika, Khalfan Nadhief, and Farhan Almasyhur.
“The flying car is an advanced research of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) where the difference lies in the load and purpose of the flight. In this competition, we developed a research concept entitled Fully Autonomous Tandem Quad Tilt-Wing Flying Car with Thermal Imaging Camera, 5G C-V2X Communication, and Advanced Cybersecurity System. This flying car concept is equipped with reliable features to ensure the safety and security of users in traveling from one point to another,” said Rifqi (Head of AUAV UI Racing Plane division 2019-2020).
“At Teknofest 2021, Indonesia is honored as the Guest of Honor. In addition to competing, the team from UI also participated in filling the Indonesian pavilion in the exhibition of the competition. We hope that UI’s participation in the Flying Car Design Competition, Teknofest 2021 will be one of the points of development of flying car technology in Indonesia for the better in the future,” said Ilham, who served as vice chairman of the 2019-2020 UI Aeromodelling team.
The flying car product designed by UI Flying Car is named Skylark.
Skylark is designed with the concept of Hybrid Urban Air-Land Mobility.
Skylark combines two different vehicle concepts, namely airplanes and cars, so this vehicle has airplane wings and car wheels.
This makes the Skylark able to drive in the air as well as on land.
Despite having wings, the vehicle is designed for vertical take-off landing (VTOL).
“The Skylark uses tandem-tilt wings with 16 wing-mounted motors that can be directed forward or upward. When taking off and landing vertically, the wings will face upwards, while when cruising, the wings will face forwards. For ground transportation, the Skylark is equipped with an additional wheeled section with its own drive system. When using the ground mode, the wings of the vehicle can be folded. This is so that the Skylark has the same width dimension as other four-wheelers on the road,” Yogasatya said, explaining the design of the Skylark’s wings and wheels.
“Skylark is designed to be driven by two passengers.
It is equipped with various sensors such as cameras, ultrasonic sensors, and radar located at various corners of the vehicle.
These sensors help the Skylark system to identify its surroundings and determine the direction to go.
Skylark also uses a vehicles for everything (V2X) communication system that can help provide information about other vehicles and other things around,” said Tristan.
Dr.-Ing. Mohammad Adhitya, S.T., M.Sc., FEng expert in the automotive field who also serves as FEng’s Manager of Student Affairs and Alumni, said, “The technology raised by the FEng flying car team is the result of student research on future transportation technology by paying attention to aspects of speed, safety, efficiency, automation and green energy.” Skylark, a flying car innovation designed by FEng students, won 5th place out of 206 teams that competed in the competition which took place on September 21-26, 2021 at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Turkey. With this achievement, Adhitya hopes that FEng students will be able to show their quality at the world level. “Hopefully in the future their achievements can be presented to the Indonesian nation in welcoming future technology which is very dynamic in its changes and increasingly competitive,” he said.
