When Mohammed Al Shamsi, 24, asked members of his robotics club at Dubai Men's College if they wanted to enter the contest to design, build and fly a drone in 2011, they were all keen - though none of them knew about flying.
Nine of the small aircraft they built "successfully crashed", he said. But two years later, his team won the Innovation Challenge contest with a drone that could carry out its own flight plan.
They are now planning their futures in the UAE's drones industry, and said this week's visit to the world's premier unmanned industries trade show was just the beginning. . "I want to make us one of the top countries that develops and improves unmanned technologies," Mr Al Shamsi said.
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