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Project Overview

This is a group project I worked on for my database course, which ended up being presented in the EMU 45th Annual Undergrad Symposium. The end goal was to create an “obstacle course”, and have users compete to get the lowest time and see if they can reach the leaderboard for the fastest completion.

The project is written in Python, and uses a MySQL database to store the user information and the leaderboard. The SQL database is hosted on a Docker container (using docker compose), and the front end to view the database is written in PHP.

The drones that are being used are Codrone EDU drones, that are programmed using Python.

The project will be open sourced in the near future to allow for further development, and to allow others to use our codebase for their own projects.

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Program Flow (Milestone 1)

First, the user will start the main program (we may containerize this in docker to make things easier for end users).

The user will then fly the drone, while the drone collects data.

Once the user has safely landed, the data collection will stop. The program will then send the data to the database, and the user can view the data using PHP.

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Web design and checkpoints (Milestone 2)

At the end of the Fall 2024 semester, we got the project to a point where we could start working on the web design and the in real life checkpoints for the drone. The PHP website directly connects to the MySQL database, and displays the data in a table format. The drone program has checkpoints that the pilot must fly to in the correct order to complete the course. If the pilot successfully completes the course: it will send the time and user data to the database and display the time on the website, which acts as our “leaderboard”.

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Symposium + Conclusion

Our project was accepted into the 45th annual EMU Undergrad Symposium in February 2025. Many people came to our poster, inquired about our project, and we had a great time explaining the project to others. The project even got further recognition than we realized during the event.

I thank my group members for all their hard work and dedication to this project, and I am grateful for the opportunity to present our work at the symposium.

And last but not least, I thank you for your lasting support in my endeavors.