Meet the Teams: CraneAERO of Cranfield University, UK

Vishal Youhanna spent several years working on a conceptual design for an aerial robot to fly on Mars. From the very outset, he knew there were myriad constraints. After all, he says quite obviously, “Mars is a hostile environment for helicopters and drones.”

Now, as one of the members of CraneAERO, the team from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom that is competing in GoAERO, Vishal and his teammates face new challenges. The global competition aims to create a new class of emergency response vehicles that are more efficient, effective, and accessible than helicopters, drones, and ambulances during potentially catastrophic extreme weather events and medical crises. As they develop their innovative aircraft, they’re confronted with a similar question: “What are the constraints to be overcome for CraneAERO to achieve the GoAERO goals?”

“We have to design our vehicle to execute in the harshest of conditions, during wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters,” says Muhammad Haad Shaikh, a PhD researcher in hybrid aerospace propulsion and an aerospace systems engineer who serves as CraneAERO’s captain and project manager. “And it has to be able to deploy quickly and perform medical evacuations, remote deliveries of food, water, medicines, and more.”

 CraneAERO is well on its way to achieving these objectives. Indeed, it is one of 11 teams from across the globe to be named a Stage 1 winner in the GoAERO competition.

Haad says that the Stage 1 prize will provide critical support in advancing the CraneAERO rescue aircraft toward the next phases of GoAERO. “This funding will allow us to refine our design, simulations, and prototyping,” he explains, “ensuring that our aircraft meets the rigorous performance, safety, and endurance requirements for search and rescue operations.”

Beyond financial backing, it will also enhance the team’s ability to secure additional sponsorships and industry collaborations, leveraging the recognition gained from the achievement. Further, it will enable the team to invest in hardware testing, high-density battery solutions, sensor integration, and ground control system improvements to optimize our flight performance.

Dmitry Ignatyev, a senior lecturer in flight dynamics and control at Cranfield and the team’s advisor, adds that the Stage 1 recognition, “validates our engineering approach and competitive strategy, motivating our team as we prepare for the Fly-Off phase. With this support, we are confident in pushing forward to develop a market-ready, high-impact aerial first responder system.”

He notes that emergency response faces many challenges today, notably the tremendous upsurge in extreme weather disasters around the world, increasing traffic congestion in major cities, and more ambulance deserts. “We need to be prepared and ready,” he exclaims. “We need to create aircraft to respond to all these situations, whether they be the recent massive floods in Spain or the wildfires in California.”

For team member Anan Joy Antony, a research assistant in lightweight structures, developing such a vehicle is almost second nature to him. “The GoAERO mission is exactly what my undergraduate thesis topic was. In India, where I’m from, I was conceptualizing how to get patients from rural regions to hospitals faster when there weren’t even real roads on which to travel.”

Still, participating on the CraneAERO team has opened his eyes to concepts he didn’t imagine as an undergraduate. “I’ve learned already how people are transported in actual air ambulances – patient positions, how to keep them stable, the medical monitoring systems. The existing vehicles are very heavy and cannot travel in all conditions and terrains. They need to be modified and adapted. And they need to be lightweight, a system just like ours.”

Similarly, Grace Elisha Mwesigwa, a PhD researcher in aerospace, started thinking about the “unlimited potential” of unmanned aerial vehicles growing up in Uganda. “You don’t have medical and health services at the ready. You don’t have critical drugs on hand. On the islands, the only way to get such services is by boat. They’re not reliable and can only travel in certain conditions. So, what we’re creating has huge relevance in places like that.”

Being able to “do something that affects people’s lives” is what inspired Caghan Tuncer to join the CraneAERO team and the GoAERO competition. The research assistant and part-time PhD candidate in composites and advanced materials says, “the challenge is the entire draw for me -- being able to take my expertise from the lab to actual practice in the real world.”

Vishal, the aerospace PhD researcher specializing in rotorcraft design for Martian environments, agrees. But he points out that there are still other challenges. In fact, there has been much discussion among the team about exactly what the CraneAERO vehicle needs to be, both in the short- and long-term.

“We knew we had to combine the attributes of a helicopter and a multi-copter into one autonomous flyer,” he relates. “And we had to make sure there was efficiency, redundancy, autonomy, and novelty in it. The GoAERO mission made some of the decisions for us. But beyond Stages 2 and 3, we are also looking at other real-world situations – for example, will it need wings for longer flights, what will it need to carry heavier loads.”

One important consideration, he says, is “simplicity. Fancy things might look good on paper, but they might not be helpful.”

The CraneAERO vehicle is a remotely piloted quadrotor eVTOL, designed for rapid emergency response, capable of transporting people and payloads with full autonomy and advanced situational awareness. Engineered for search and rescue (SAR) and disaster relief, it integrates high-precision navigation, obstacle avoidance, and real-time mission adaptability to ensure safe and efficient deployment in critical situations.

Dmitry explains that the team was formed by bringing together top researchers and graduates from Cranfield University, united by a passion for uncrewed aircraft and aerospace innovation. The opportunity was advertised through LinkedIn and campus emails, attracting a competitive pool of applicants. Members were selected based on expertise in UAVs, aerospace systems development, and emergency response technology. After a rigorous evaluation process, only the top 5% of candidates were chosen, ensuring a highly skilled, multidisciplinary team ready to tackle the GoAERO challenge and push the boundaries of aerial search and rescue technology.

In addition to Haad, Caghan, Vishal, Anan, and Grace, the squad includes Krishnakanth Mohanta, a research assistant in drone communications; Komsun Tamanakijprasart, a PhD researcher in aerospace; Koti Syamala, a master’s degree graduate in autonomous vehicle engineering; Aykut Sirma, a research assistant and PhD researcher in autonomous systems; Parth Jain, a mechanical engineer, Uche Nwoko, a systems development engineer, Christian Rayan, an expert on AI and software development, and Sathvika Gollarahalli and Nidhi Nischal, both of whom are strategic marketing experts, making CraneAERO a multidisciplinary team.

“We are participating in GoAERO because of our passion for emergency response and our commitment to developing advanced aerial systems for search and rescue applications,” says Haad, noting that he also has a very personal inspiration for participating in the challenge. With a father who has been a commercial pilot for 30 years and whose mother is a doctor, GoAERO combines the two professions while “giving me the opportunity to find my own lane in emergency response and search and rescue.”

In this regard, he says that the CraneAERO team is “driven by the challenge of designing a highly capable, rapid-deployment eVTOL aircraft that can make a real-world impact in disaster relief and life-saving missions.”

Haad adds that the team believes that innovation in aerial mobility has the power to transform SAR operations, providing faster, safer, and more efficient solutions in critical situations. GoAERO presents an incredible opportunity to transform this belief into reality and push the boundaries of autonomous flight, endurance, and payload delivery, all while working alongside the best minds in the industry.

Having some of the best minds, Dmitry notes, is just one differentiator for the team. Another competitive advantage, he explains, is that Cranfield has “unique facilities, like our own airport, our own aircraft, the latest aerospace technologies across the spectrum, including those in propulsion, sensors, controls, autonomy, and AI, and design materials. All this is how we teach our students -- a combination of academic training and hands-on industry experiences. Our GoAERO endeavor shows this works well for our students.”

What also works well is CraneAERO’s far-reaching vision for its flyer. “We envision our eVTOL as a game-changer in emergency response,” says Haad. In situations where every second counts, “our flyer is built to bridge the gap between traditional emergency response and next-generation aerial mobility, providing fast, reliable, and autonomous solutions for search and rescue (SAR), disaster relief, and medical evacuation. Ultimately, we hope the CRANE will prove the viability of eVTOL SAR platforms, influence future emergency aviation standards, and inspire broader adoption of aerial first responders worldwide.”