#ThalesArduino 2017 has launched!

Project Arduino, Thales’s very own university competition, is going even more global this year! Following the success of the competition in previous years, Project Arduino will be delivered in no less than ten countries this time round: China (China Mainland & Hong Kong), France, UK, USA, the Netherlands and Singapore, as well as new joiners Portugal, Canada, the Middle East and Australia.

Now in its fifth year running, this international competition challenges students to find the most innovative and creative use of an Arduino to create their own project based on Thales technology. An Arduino is an electronics prototyping platform based on easy to use hardware and software – call it the brain of a computer.

Project Arduino offers students the opportunity to discover Thales and the markets we are present in, learn new skills, meet new people and work in diverse teams, as well as win some exciting prizes!  It aims at inspiring students to take up a career in the technology and engineering fields. Candidates are taught how to use and program an Arduino by Thales engineers during the workshop sessions held at the universities, and are then given three weeks to create an innovative project that is aligned to Thales’s markets using the Arduino, and produce a creative video of their solution.  

The call for Thales volunteers has started for this edition of Project Arduino! We are looking for motivated and excited Thales engineers to become Project Arduino ambassadors and deliver the workshops in the universities. Training sessions will be held in August and September to show these Thales volunteers how to use the Arduino and to run the workshops at participating universities. These workshops will then take place this October and November.
If you are interested in any opportunities for the 2017/18 edition of Project Arduino in your country, please contact tanya.cortegaca@thalesgroup.com.
 

And the global prize is…

A trip to a Thales Research Centre or Innovation hub!   A winning team will be selected from each country to go to the final round – the public vote. The prize for the Global Winners is a trip to a Thales Research Centre or Innovation Hub of their choice in any of the countries participating in Project Arduino.

Team DroneShell from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida were crowned Global winners of Project Arduino 2016 for designing and developing a solar-powered drone landing platform. They chose France as their country of choice, spending 3 days in Paris visiting Thales Research and Technology at Palaiseau and ATM operations at Rungis, as well as a VIP student day to the Paris Air Show. They also made the most of beautiful Paris in the summer of course!

“The Arduino Challenge is a unique and brilliant way to get students excited about building new technology. For me, it has grown my knowledge as a developer and has made me truly appreciate what Thales is trying to achieve as a global leader in innovation. I'm excited to see what the competition becomes as it continues to evolve." Jeremiah Lantzer, Team DroneShell.

What is an Arduino?

An Arduino is a single board open-source electronic microprocessor platform, created to help get people into coding and electronics. The applications of this small system are seemingly endless, and it is this variation and opportunity for creativity that is at the core of Project Arduino.