Your mission is to design a drone competition that turns this real-world industrial challenge into an exciting engineering adventure for young competitors aged 12–16.

Working in international, interdisciplinary teams, you will become the creators of your own mission. Imagine a factory floor, choose the sounds and challenges your drone must investigate, and decide how competitors will navigate the environment, collect acoustic data and complete their task. You will design the rules, scoring system, safety procedures and competition setup.

But there is a catch: **the drone itself makes noise.** Can you design a mission where the drone can collect useful measurements without its own sound interfering with the results? Your solution must also be safe, affordable, repeatable and realistic enough to work in a real competition.

You will not just present an idea - you will prove it. Build a simulation, digital model, animation, experiment or interactive demonstration showing that your mission could actually work.

Along the way, you will combine robotics, UAV technology, acoustics, programming, engineering and creative problem-solving while collaborating with students from different countries.

CV (Curriculum Vitae) is a document that summarizes your educational and professional history. It must provide a detailed overview of your academic and work experience, skills, achievements, and qualifications.

Motivation letter is a personal statement and it might include a brief introduction of yourself, explanation why are you interested in the learning opportunity you are applying to, any relevant experience or skills that you have, your goals and how this opportunity will help you achieve them, This document should not be more than 400 words.

Motivation Letter

Lodz University of Technology

Design the Skies: Drone Challenge for Industrial Maintenance WS26_27

International student teams design and validate a safe, engaging drone competition task for industrial noise monitoring.

Entrepreneurship, technology and innovation

Inter-personal skills

This challenge is part of a learning pathway co-offered by Lodz University of Technology and INSA Toulouse.

This challenge invites students to explore how innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainability intersect in the modern automotive industry. Working with real insights from Krotoski, a leading mobility company, participants will investigate how start‑up solutions can better support businesses facing growing ESG expectations. Students will examine the pressures shaping today’s automotive sector, analyse sustainability‑related needs, and explore opportunities where new technologies, digital tools, and business models can create meaningful impact.

Throughout the challenge, international teams will research ESG requirements, study market gaps, and evaluate how early‑stage venture ideas address environmental and regulatory demands. By combining business modelling, value creation frameworks, customer analysis, and sustainable innovation approaches, participants will gain a deep understanding of what makes a start‑up concept both feasible and valuable.

Based on their findings, students will design or refine a start‑up idea that responds directly to a real challenge identified in the company context. They will prototype their solution, test key assumptions, and adjust their concept using evidence gathered from stakeholders and industry perspectives.

The challenge concludes with a final venture pitch delivered to company representatives, showcasing each team’s solution and its potential contribution to ESG performance in the automotive sector.

Students completing this challenge gain practical skills in innovation design, teamwork, critical thinking, and entrepreneurship while addressing a real sustainability problem with real industry partners.

Associate partner

INSA Toulouse

Associate partner

INSA Toulouse

Learning opportunities of INSA Toulouse