IFOR
IFOR, or Intelligent Flying Object for Reconnaissance, is an effort to build an autonomous aerial vehicle that successfully and robustly incorporates flight control, obstacle avoidance, image recognition, indoor navigation and path planning algorthms. This is the first such vehicle in the UAE.
The group behind the planning and the implementation of this project is Team IFOR, which began work from the fall of 2010. The team competed in the International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC) 2011. During this event, when no team could successfully complete the mission, Team IFOR staved off intense competition from leading universities from around the world, including Georgia Institute Of Technology, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, IIT-Madras, etc. to rack up the most number of points and be ranked first in the world. The team's tireless efforts have seen it acquire high-profile partnerships and sponsorships from industry leaders, like Intel, etc.
The team is now attempting to go that one extra step: to participate in the next edition of IARC, in 2012, complete the given mission and win the competition outright. The team attempts to achieve its aims by making use of contemporary tools and state-of-the-art technology, some of which are yet to be used by the world's leading militaries and companies.