20 contestants from 12 regions of Russia competed in the championship’s final round. Their final task was to develop and test three control algorithms for drones using Geoscan’s simulators. In particular, they were tasked with coding a drone, to, first, fly autonomously from point A to point B in the shortest time possible while avoiding obstacles; second, to locate, capture, and transfer cargo most efficiently; and third, to successfully navigate a sequence of gates.
The best score was set by Ekaterina Kochetkova, a first-year student at ITMO’s Faculty of Secure Information Technologies, who not only took the first place but also received the title of Master of Sports of Russia for her excellent performance (658 scores) at the Drone Programming Championship. As a result, she brought home a golden cup, a monetary prize, and unlimited access to Geoscan’s software.
The championship was Ekaterina’s first major victory and a chance to practice solving applied drone-related tasks. In her interview (link in Russian) to the Federation of Competitive Programming, the student shared that she became interested in drone programming when she was in the tenth grade. Now, Ekaterina studies information security technologies at ITMO’s Faculty of Secure Information Technologies and is a member of the university’s competitive programming team.
Ekaterina Kochetkova. Photo by the Competitive Programming Federation
The final round of the Drone Programming Championship was held in Perm, Russia, on November 7-9. It welcomed 20 students from 12 regions of Russia; 94 athletes from 27 regions competed within its qualifying stage.
