UND team wins UAV competition in Australia

Unmanned aircraft
An unmanned aircraft.
Courtesy Northrop Grumman

A team of students from the University of North Dakota won first place in an unmanned aerial systems competition in Australia.

School officials say UND came out ahead of 10 other teams this week in the UAV Outback Search and Rescue competition in Kingaroy, Queensland.

The UND students became the first team in the four-year history of the event to locate the prized target, a life-sized dummy known as "Outback Joe."

The team advised by mechanical engineering professor William Semke was awarded $15,000.

School officials said Thursday that a decision hasn't been made on how the winnings will be spent.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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