Renner Brown and Alexander Eggers, both rising seniors at the Episcopal School of Dallas, have been invited to present their paper on their advanced independent study involving the ARTeMIS drone system at the Global Conference on Educational Robotics. The five-day conference will be held on the University of Southern California campus July 30-August 3 in conjunction with the International Botball Tournament. Brown and Eggers will present their research at one of the breakout sessions on Friday, August 1.

Last fall, Brown and Eggers teamed up with their classmate Michael McCrory ’14 to create an autonomous drone to fly over crew boats during rowing practice to record movement. Student-athletes can analyze the data collected by the drone to improve their technique. Over the summer, Brown and Eggers have continued to log of hours fine-tuning and advancing their research in anticipation of the conference and future improvements.

“To be invited to present is a tremendous honor and testament to our students’ efforts,” Deb Goudy, ESD’s Computer Science Department Chair, said. “This project demonstrates what happens when students combine hard work with ingenuity to create solutions with real-world applications.”

At the conference, Brown and Eggers will be joined by Goudy and their Upper School ESD robotics teammates with the intention of besting their last highest international finish, fifth place overall, earned in 2012. The team’s most recent wins include first place at the Oklahoma Regional Championships for 2013 and 2014. The team’s highest finish in international competition is second, earned in 2006.