Part of BPUT Hackathon 2026

STPI Electropreneur Park, BBSR

Open · Closed 21 Sept 2026

3D Autonomous Path Planning

Name: 3D Autonomous Path Planning
Start: 2026-08-28T18:30:00.000Z
End: 2026-09-21T18:29:00.000Z
Location: Bhubaneswar and Rourkela

Take away the satellites. Land it anyway. On the spot you promised.

Registration closed

21 Sept 2026

Team size

3–6 members

Rounds

2 rounds

Mode

In person

Venue

Bhubaneswar and Rourkela

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While you wait for the next one, build something real. Briefs are always open.

Role: Robotics & Autonomous Systems Engineer
Format: Evaluation only
Prize: ₹60,000
Deadline: Closed 21 Sept 2026
Registered: 135

Evaluation only · Open

Develop a smart algorithm for autonomous navigation along a permissible corridor in 3D and implement it successfully on hardware mounted on a standard drone. The guidance algorithm must take active feedback from the ground about its tracked position and fuse it with the view from the drone camera to improve positional accuracy — and therefore the reliability of autonomous landing. The hardware must be lightweight with minimum power requirement.

Overview

Outcomes

A drone that holds a defined 3D corridor without GPS and knows it is holding it
Higher positional accuracy from fusing ground-tracked position with onboard camera vision
Autonomous landing that is repeatable, not lucky
A payload light enough and power-frugal enough to fly on a standard drone without redesigning it
A working hardware demonstration, not a simulation with confident narration

Overview GPS is a beautiful thing right up until it is not — indoors, under a canopy, between buildings, inside a tunnel, near interference, or on the exact day of your demo. The problem is not just flying blind; it is flying blind along a permitted corridor in three dimensions and then putting the aircraft down accurately at the end of it. Two independent sources of truth exist: what the ground observer tracks about where the drone is, and what the drone's own camera sees. Neither alone is enough. Fusing them is the assignment. The Story The drone lifts off, confident. Twelve seconds later the GPS lock dies and it becomes, in a technical sense, a very expensive leaf. It drifts out of the permitted corridor. It descends wherever it feels like descending. Somewhere below, a person with a clipboard is writing something unkind. Fix the twelve-second mark.

Problem statement

Plans and holds a path along a defined permissible corridor in full 3D, not a 2D route with an altitude number stapled on
Ingests active ground feedback on the drone's tracked position as a live input, not a post-flight correction
Fuses that ground feedback with the drone camera's view to produce a positional estimate more accurate than either source alone
Uses that improved estimate to make autonomous landing reliable and repeatable at a designated point
Runs on lightweight hardware with minimum power draw, mounted on a standard drone
Behaves sensibly when an input degrades or drops out entirely, rather than confidently flying into a wall

For the Grand Finale, your build should include:

The 3D corridor path-planning and guidance algorithm, with its logic and constraints documented
A sensor fusion module combining ground-tracked position with camera-derived visual positioning, and a stated accuracy improvement over each source alone
Physical hardware integrated onto a standard drone, with weight and power consumption measured and reported
A live or recorded flight demonstration of GPS-denied corridor navigation ending in an autonomous landing, with landing error measured across repeated attempts
A failure and degradation analysis — what happens when ground feedback drops, when the camera view is obscured, when both degrade at once

The Grand Finale is judged on:

Positional accuracy achieved along the 3D corridor without GPS — 30%
Quality of sensor fusion between ground feedback and camera vision — 25%
Reliability and repeatability of autonomous landing — 20%
Hardware weight, power efficiency and fit on a standard drone — 15%
Live hardware demonstration quality — 10%

Rounds

This challenge runs in 2 rounds. You enter once, and the same entry carries through.

1
Mid evaluation
Being judged
- In person · Bhubaneswar and Rourkela
- Submit by 13 Oct, 7:45 pm IST
- 8 deliverables to submit
- The top 5 move on to Grand Finale
2
Grand Finale
Coming up
- In person · BPUT, Rourkela
- Submission dates to be announced
- 5 deliverables to submit
- The final round. Results are decided here

Deliverables: Mid evaluation

Your idea in one line
One or two sentences a judge can read in ten seconds: what you are building and who it is for.
What will be working by the finale?
The parts you commit to having running at the Grand Finale, most important first.
Tech stack and hardware you plan to use
Languages, frameworks, models, boards and sensors, and anything you still need to get hold of.
A diagram, sketch or mock-up of your idea
One image that shows how it works: an architecture diagram, a wireframe, or a photo of a sketch. Put anything more in your deck.
What have you built or tested so far?
Optional. Anything already running, measured or prototyped, even if it is rough.
Pitch deck (PDF)
Optional. Export your slides as a PDF. Judges read it on the page, next to your answers.
GitHub repository
A link to your code, if you have some yet.
Demo video
A YouTube, Loom or Google Drive link to a short demo, if you have one. Make sure anyone with the link can watch it.

Deliverables: Grand Finale

The 3D corridor path-planning and guidance algorithm, with its logic and constraints documented
A sensor fusion module combining ground-tracked position with camera-derived visual positioning, and a stated accuracy improvement over each source alone
Physical hardware integrated onto a standard drone, with weight and power consumption measured and reported
A live or recorded flight demonstration of GPS-denied corridor navigation ending in an autonomous landing, with landing error measured across repeated attempts
A failure and degradation analysis — what happens when ground feedback drops, when the camera view is obscured, when both degrade at once

Evaluation criteria

15% Problem Understanding & Relevance
20% Innovation & Creativity
20% Solution Approach & Technical Depth
25% Prototype / Implementation & Feasibility
10% Impact, Usability & Sustainability
10% Presentation & Demonstration

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Prizes are offered and awarded by STPI Electropreneur Park, BBSR, not by Wooble. Amounts shown are as stated by the host and may include the host’s own valuation of non-cash items. Who places, how and when a prize is paid, and any tax or deduction, are between the winner and the host. A challenge may close, change or be withdrawn before results are declared.