Engineering aid from the air.
University of Twente students who design, build and fly an autonomous aircraft every year, made to deliver aid where roads don't reach.
Every part of it, built by students.
We design the airframe, make the carbon tubes, wire the electronics and write the software. Then we put it together and fly it.
Two motors tilt. The wing takes over.
It lifts off on three motors, then the front pair rotates from vertical to forward flight. Tilting them also steers the aircraft, so it needs no extra motor. In cruise, the CH10 wing carries the load.
Three litres, delivered on its own.
A Pixhawk running ArduPilot flies the route. Over the target, a servo opens the baffled, waterproof tank and the water is out in under three and a half seconds.
Eight aircraft. One every season since 2019.
Each season brings a new team and a new aircraft. Zephyros won the Rebuild Award at the 2026 IMechE UAS Challenge.
A student team that builds a new autonomous aircraft every year, then flies it in competition.
We study at the University of Twente. Each generation designs an aircraft for humanitarian aid, builds it in our workshop, and takes it to the IMechE UAS Challenge in the UK, where judges score the design, safety, autonomy, documentation and the flight itself.
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8
aircraft built
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7
competition awards
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26
students
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6
departments
Eight aircraft. Each one built on the last.
Each new team starts from the last aircraft: it keeps what worked and redesigns what broke.
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Toothless
The founding team built Toothless, an octa-plane VTOL, and entered the UAS Challenge for the first time.
- < 10 kg
- 2.0 m
2019 Debut Read the record -
VAU2
The second team worked on several aircraft projects and earned Drone Team Twente's first Innovation Award.
- < 7 kg
- 1.90 m
2020 Innovation Award Read the record -
Phoenix
The Phoenix team continued work on the hybrid VTOL layout during a largely remote competition year.
- 7 kg
- 2.0 m
2021 Most Promising Team Read the record -
Thunderbird
Thirteen students built Thunderbird and ran a year of engineering work and STEM outreach.
- 10 kg (incl. payload)
- 1.90 m
- 20+ km Range
2022 Media & Engagement Award Read the record -
Nekbeth
The team took Nekbeth, a fast and largely 3D-printed VTOL aircraft, to the UAS Challenge.
2023 Competed Read the record -
Freebird
The team cut the motor count to four and used tilting front rotors for hover, transition, and forward flight.
- 9.5 kg
- 3.0 m
- 45 minutes
2024 Most Promising Team Read the record -
Nightingale
Nightingale completed the team's first fully autonomous competition mission and returned with two awards.
- < 10 kg
- 3.2 m
2025 Best Design · Best Media & Engagement Read the record -
Zephyros
The team designed Zephyros, a fixed-wing VTOL tricopter for autonomous humanitarian aid missions.
- < 10 kg
- 2.8 m
- 15+ min
2026 Rebuild Award Read the record
8 seasons at the UAS Challenge.
A flying aircraft is only part of the score. The IMechE UAS Challenge also judges design, safety, autonomy, documentation, repairs and public engagement.
Official results-
2026 Zephyros Rebuild Award
Zephyros won the Rebuild Award and scored 356 points in total.
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2025 Nightingale Best Design · Best Media & Engagement
Nightingale won Best Design and Best Media & Engagement, placed first in documentation, and finished eighth overall. It also completed our first fully autonomous competition flight and earned the highest VTOL score of the 2025 challenge.
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2024 Freebird Most Promising Team
Freebird received the Most Promising Award for its tilting front rotors. The design reduced the motor count from five to four while retaining vertical take-off and landing.
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2023 Nekbeth Competed
Nekbeth brought a largely 3D-printed VTOL airframe and a 120 km/h design cruise speed to the 2023 challenge.
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2022 Thunderbird Media & Engagement Award
Thunderbird won the Media & Engagement Award for the team's work with schools and local students, and finished 17th out of 32 teams overall.
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2021 Phoenix Most Promising Team
Phoenix received the Most Promising Team Award for its hybrid VTOL configuration, which combined fixed-wing flight with vertical take-off and landing.
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2020 VAU2 Innovation Award
VAU2 earned the team's first competition prize: first in Innovation. It also placed third in Media, seventh in Business Proposition, and eighth in Design out of 38 teams.
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2019 Toothless Debut
Our first competition aircraft placed third in Design, sixth in Media, tenth in Business Proposition, and 19th out of 32 teams overall.
Students do the whole job.
No contractors and no kits: every part of the aircraft goes through a student's hands. This season that is 26 students in 6 departments.
Runs the team: planning, money, partners, media and the competition entry.
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Miguel Bofil Grandes Team Manager · Full-Time -
Walid Slimani Technical Manager · Full-Time -
Furkan Canbolat Finance Manager · Part-Time -
Brandon Dcruz Marketing Manager · Part-Time -
Karl Kroski Chief External Affairs · Part-Time
Designs and builds the structure, including the carbon tubes we now make ourselves.
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Daniel Luis Mederos Chief Airframe · Full-Time -
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George Birca Engineer · Part-Time -
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Emiel Keizers Engineer · 30 EC Minor -
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Ioannis Soulimiotis Engineer · Part-Time -
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Anis Spiridon Engineer · Part-Time -
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Daniel Simon Engineer · 30 EC Minor
Wires the aircraft and writes the software that flies it.
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Xavier Taboada Chief Electronics · Full-Time -
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Justin Nguyen Engineer · 30 EC Minor -
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Andre Cuadras Diaz Engineer · 15 EC Minor -
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Elze Mazuronyte Engineer · 15 EC Minor -
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Arlen T Croak Chief Software · Part-Time -
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Yousef Hannouneh Engineer · 30 EC Minor
Chooses the airfoils, sizes the wing and tail, and works out the propulsion.
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George-Razvan Chirila Chief Aerodynamics -
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Wisang Umam Engineer · 30 EC Minor -
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Nagi Anezaki Engineer · 15 EC Minor -
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Alejandro Solis Mercado Engineer -
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Alexander Radoslavov Rachev Engineer · 15 EC Minor -
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Arthur Tyron Engineer · Part-Time
Runs Dronobox, our build-a-drone workshops for students.
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Victor Andrei Chief Dronobox · Full-Time -
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Illia Mirzaali Engineer · Part-Time - Andrii Yevmenchuck Engineer · Part-Time
Turns the designs into parts that fit, fly and survive the crate.
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Victor Andrei Manufacturing · Part-Time
Help get the next aircraft off the ground.
Partners give students the room to build, test, break, repair and fly a new aircraft every year. Support can be financial, technical or in kind, and all of it ends up in the air.
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Funding
Pays for parts, tooling, travel to the UK and the competition entry.
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Materials and parts
Carbon, filament, electronics and motors go straight into the aircraft.
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Facilities
Workshop time, machines and space to test and fly.
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Expertise
Technical advice from engineers who have solved the problem before.
The partners behind the aircraft.
Every aircraft since 2019 has flown on their support.
- Zephyros earns the Rebuild Award Zephyros finished the 2026 UAS Challenge with 356 points and the Rebuild Award.
- Zephyros revealed Our 2026 aircraft: a fixed-wing VTOL tricopter with two tilting front motors and a carbon frame we made ourselves.
- Nightingale completes the mission Nightingale flew our first complete autonomous competition mission, finished eighth, and won two awards.