On November 18, Paramount Pictures visited the Aerial Robotics Team to see the progress of the club's quad-copter and take pictures while advertising their new movie Hugo.

Hugo is a film about how a robot that helps an orphan named Hugo find his way to a home. Paramount Pictures gave the team tickets to see a pre-screening on November 21.

The Aerial Robotics Team now as a second sponsor, Unicoi Systems!

Unicoi Systems is a leading provider of real-time voice, video and data software and reference designs to embedded device developers and OEMs worldwide. Founded in 2000 in Atlanta, Georgia, over 400 leading companies rely on Unicoi's Fusion Embedded™ Software to power their solutions.

“Unicoi’s Fusion Embedded Software is optimized for the power management and high-performance capabilities of the Blackfin 51x family of processors. Both our hardware and software engineers have extensive experience in power management, in pursuit of longer battery life and reduced power consumption. ” said Greg Coonley, CEO of Unicoi Systems.*

Unicoi Systems provided the team with an Analog Devices BlackFin processor board with pre-built circuitry, break out board, and their Fusion Embedded RTOS. This donation will greatly improve the capabilities of our helicopter.

During Engineering week here at SPSU, a annual luncheon is held. This year, the Aerial Robotics Team was offered the opportunity to display a team poster before and after the luncheon. The purpose is to show what the team is currently working on. The 36 X 48 inch poster displays what our current mission is. The main points of our platform and what each team is currently working on. Please stop by and look at the display from 10:30 - 1pm near the Student Center Ballroom.

The Aerial Robotics Team Competition Room now has a new RFID lock system! The system, which comprises of a Parallax serial RFID reader and a Basic Stamp, is up and running. New keys have been issued out to various members. This should allow for greater access for students and members. Listed below are the members that will be holding keys. If anyone would like access to the room, please contact one of the people below, starting with the member that is heading an area of your work.

Key Holders: Jonathan Burce, Justin Ayers, Apurva Patel, Randle Johnson

Thanks to the hard work of Justin we now have a new sponsor, HoverFly!

"Hoverfly Technologies is a start-up company located in Orlando Florida. Our core technology is a sensor fusion algorithm optimized for parallel processing of motion and position data called Hovercore(TM). We have been manufacturing and selling several products over the past year as Quadpowered."

The company provided the team with a state of the art HoverFlyPro control board. This "16 parallel microprocessors optimized for ultimate control and nimble response. Incredibly accurate automatic pitch and roll compensation. All in a design that’s thin and light, perfect for any UAV design."