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Welcome to the IEEE SMC AI-Powered Collaborative Autonomy (AICA) Challenge

This competition is organized as part of the IEEE SMC (Systems, Man, and Cybernetics) 2026 Conference and is designed by Quanser and The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). We sincerely thank all supporting partners, organizers, and contributors for making this initiative possible.

Overview

The IEEE SMC AICA Challenge is a competition focused on the development of autonomous algorithms for multimodal collaborative delivery through the coordination of a QCar2 (ground vehicle) and a QDrone2 (aerial vehicle). It provides participants with an opportunity to design and implement delivery strategies, including task planning, path planning, and control algorithms, within an integrated multimodal autonomous delivery system.

The competition is conducted in two stages:

  • Virtual Stage – Teams develop, implement, and test their solutions in Quanser Interactive Lab (QLabs) simulation environment based on the provided virtual stage scenario, and submit a video link demonstrating complete mission execution and system performance.

  • On-Site Finals – The top teams from the virtual stage will be invited to compete at the IEEE SMC 2026 Conference (October 4–7, Bellevue, Washington). In this stage, teams will execute and demonstrate their solutions in the same QLabs simulation environment based on the On-Site Finals scenario.

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