On June 2-3, 2022, the Drone Power Plus Hackathon was held as part of the ITM Industry Europe 4.0 Industry Trade Fair, jointly organized with the Poznań International Fair. Nine teams took on three challenges proposed by the event's partners, ENEA Group and the City of Poznań. 

The event began on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. with a formal opening ceremony, where participants and guests were welcomed by the main organizers, including Krzysztof Kurowski, Mirosław Nawrocki, Karol Juszczyk, and Mateusz Lasota. The challenges to be tackled by the participants were then presented. The classical and robotic challenges proposed by ENEA Group were detailed by Krzysztof Hajdrowski, while Dr. Eng. Edyta Rosłon-Szeryńska and Jarosław Zawadzki outlined the conceptual competition put forward by the City of Poznań. 

After the official part, the teams got to work, greatly aided by resources from the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center, which houses Poland's fastest supercomputer, Orzeł II.

 After 24 hours, the teams presented their results to the judging panel, which awarded prizes to the following teams:

Classical Challenge – Automating the Prediction of Failures in the Power Grid: Automatyzacja predykcji awarii w sieci energetycznej:

• Cash prize of PLN 5,000 funded by ENEA – team Grinfinity
• Cash prize of PLN 1,000 funded by WB Electronics – team G&J

Robotic Challenge - Automating the Passporting of Overhead Power Lines:: 

• Cash prize of PLN 3,000 funded by ENEA – team PUT – EcoAlfa
• Cash prize of PLN 2,000 funded by ENEA – team ENPORM
• Cash prize of PLN 1,000 funded by WB Electronics – team PUT – EcoAlfa

Conceptual Challenge - Automating the Assessment of the Probability of Windthrows Threatening Urban Infrastructure:.

• Cash prize of PLN 3,000 funded by the City of Poznań – team PUT – EcoSigma
• Cash prize of PLN 1,000 funded by WB Electronics – team BZBUAS

We eagerly await the next phase of the event, which will take place during the European Robotics League organized by Poznań University of Technology on June 23-24, 2022. The invited teams will have the opportunity to showcase their solutions in practice at the PCSS Aerospace Lab R&D Laboratory at the Kąkolewo Airport. This will provide a chance to obtain a pilot program conducted in collaboration with the Organizers and Partners of the Drone Power Hackathon Plus technology competition.

Congratulations to the awarded teams, and we invite everyone to participate in the field presentations at Kąkolewo EPPG Aerodrome!