Syracuse University professor, Ph.D. student detail drone project

A drone project being developed by a professor and Ph.D. student at Syracuse University is one of six finalists in the Genius NY 2018 Competition.

The Genius NY competition is the world’s largest business competition for unmanned aircraft systems.

The Daily Orange spoke with Utpal Roy, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and Yunpeng Li, a Ph.D. student, to discuss the future of their new company, UsPLM, and the Genius NY competition.

The Daily Orange: What inspired you to study unmanned aircraft systems?

Utpal Roy: We were working on smart production for some time, like software, when we had an opportunity last year … New York state is putting a lot of money into this particular area, specifically, in upstate New York. They have chosen it as an important site for unmanned aircraft vehicles.

Yunpeng Li: I conducted smart product development research for almost three years. Last year, I was involved with this project funded by the state government, so we did a lot of research in the area. We looked into how we can treat the UAS as a smart system.

The D.O.: How are UASs becoming more popular? What are their uses?

U.R.: If you open your newspaper or (TV), you will see the UAS playing a big role. Even if you watch a football game, you will see a small thing floating above the players, it’s everywhere.

There are two categories of UAS: for military purposes and commercial applications.

UAS is getting a big market, and we thought we have the tools to help the people.

Y.L.: We also see a lot of other applications, especially in New York state. We have a lot of farms, so a UAS could be used to monitor the crops, spray pollination … the UAS (is) a universal tool in the future.  

The D.O.: How has SU helped you and your company get to this point?

U.R.: We just started, so as a company we don’t know what kind of relationship we will have with the university, it will definitely be very close.

Y.L.: During our research, the (Center for Advanced Systems and Engineering) provided a lot of help with our research.

The D.O.: What are the next steps for the company?

U.R.: Our thing is that we don’t know yet. This is the first time that we are seeing a real tangible product out of the research. Our mission would be to really serve the community, not just in theory.

Y.L.: Roughly speaking, our immediate step is to figure out the business case. We already have working research, now we want to build the product.

The D.O.: How do you plan on working with the Blackstone LaunchPad entrepreneurship program?

U.R.: We are technical people. We have very little understanding of the business world. We are trying to get a solid business plan and Blackstone could be a good resource for us.

Y.L.: We don’t have a concrete plan yet. But we realized this is a resource within the university to help the new company (with) a business plan and provide networks and connections. We also want to see what other startup companies we can collaborate with within the university.

We have a lot of work to do. We have to settle our organization structure and plan how to grow our company.