Rolls-Royce hosts Euroavia design workshop for European Aerospace students

Rolls-Royce, a world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea and in the air, has played host to some of Europe’s top young aerospace talent in the 2007 Euroavia Design Workshop.

Thirty aerospace students from around Europe have been pitting their wits against each other for three weeks to design an efficient, integrated power system for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Rolls-Royce engineers were on hand to help and guide the two teams as they worked on their designs, while the University of Sheffield provided the technical support, including tutors and lectures. During the workshop, students also had tours of Rolls-Royce in Derby and the Boeing-led Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield.

The teams’ final designs were presented to a panel of experts, including Rolls-Royce engineers and lecturers from the university. The teams were judged on a series of criteria, including innovation, presentation and technical argumentation.

Ric Parker, Director of Research and Technology at Rolls-Royce said, “We have been really impressed by the level of innovation in this year’s Euroavia Design Workshop. We chose UAVs as the design topic, because they are amongst the most exciting defence products for the future and that’s been reflected in the designs we’ve seen. Who knows, some of these ideas could find their way into the UAVs of the future.”