Vale Rod Walker

One of the founders of the UAV Challenge, Professor Rodney Walker, has passed away.

Rod was a respected professor at Queensland University of Technology, the Director of the Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation (ARCAA), and a co-founder of the UAV Challenge.

The first event took place in September 2007 after nearly two years hard work in development.

As friends of the Challenge know, there have been highly successful events every year since.

Rod was passionate about the Challenge and loved the idea that this event could inspire young people around the world to take up a serious engineering challenge.

Rod’s ultimate goal was to help shape the UAV industry, including regulations, so that unmanned aircraft could be used to deliver urgent medical supplies to the remote parts of Australia. The Challenge was part of that grand plan.

Rod’s passion for everything UAV will be continued and we will strive to make the Challenge even more successful and to one day realise his dream.