Where We Compete
RoboNation
The Student Unmanned Aerial Systems Competition challenges teams to design, build, and fly fully autonomous drones. WATFlight will compete in autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance, object detection, and payload delivery — putting our engineering to the test against top university teams.
Sep 14–17, 2026
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Airbus
Airbus's global student innovation challenge asks teams to tackle real aerospace industry problems. The 2026 theme focuses on innovative digital technologies to secure tomorrow's connected aerospace systems. Finalists earn guaranteed Airbus internships and pitch live to industry leaders.
Finals June 25, 2026
Remote · Farnborough Airshow
Partner With Us
Our Sponsors
Software Support
Reach out to our team to discuss partnership opportunities.
The people behind WATFlight
WATFlight brings together students across engineering and business to build an autonomous glider that can find and use rising air. Every subteam contributes to one shared goal: longer, smarter, and more energy-efficient flight.
Five disciplines. One aircraft.
Turns an autonomous glider concept into a flight-ready aircraft. The team develops the airframe, aerodynamic surfaces, and lightweight structures, then validates each design through manufacturing and ground testing.
Builds the aircraft's nervous system: avionics, power distribution, sensors, wiring, and flight-computer integration. Every connection is designed for dependable sensing, control, and data collection in the air.
Develops the strategic layer for autonomous thermal soaring. Live weather becomes a map of likely lift, the best reachable hotspot is selected, and MAVLink guides the glider there before ArduSoar takes over to centre the thermal and climb.
Keeps the mission moving beyond the workshop. The team builds sponsor relationships, manages operations and finances, leads recruitment, and shares WATFlight's work with the Waterloo and aviation communities.
Powers our flight vehicles through thrust optimization. The team designs, tests, and refines electric powertrain systems by integrating high-efficiency brushless motors, carbon-fiber propellers, custom battery packs, and speed controllers to maximize endurance and thrust output.
Get Involved
01
Reach out directly to any of our team leads above. Tell us about yourself, your skills, and what you're excited to work on.
02
Join the WATFlight Discord server and send a message to the leads. Introduce yourself and we'll get back to you shortly.
03
Come find us at EC4, Room 1047 at the University of Waterloo. Notify Jackie beforehand so we can be ready for you.
