International Aerial Robotics Competition

The **International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC)** is one of the world’s longest-running autonomous aerial robotics competitions. It challenges university-level teams to design, build, and program fully autonomous flying robots to complete complex missions that have never been accomplished before, such as navigating GPS-denied environments or interacting with moving objects. IARC is primarily aimed at undergraduate and graduate students in engineering, computer science, and related fields, and teams are typically affiliated with universities or research institutions. Advanced and well-supported high school students may sometimes participate as part of a broader university-affiliated team, but the official target group is college-level. Participants gain hands-on experience in robotics, controls, AI, and systems engineering, while working on ambitious, research-grade problems that mirror real-world challenges in autonomous systems.