Russian Students Build Drones to Spot Oil Slicks and Fight Wildfires

Teen engineers from the Chelyabinsk region just topped two of the country’s biggest robotics competitions with drones designed for environmental emergencies.

High school students from Russia’s Chelyabinsk region stole the spotlight at the national unmanned systems contest “Archipelago–2025.” Their projects: drones that can detect oil slicks on water and swarms of UAVs programmed to assist in wildfire rescues.

One team took first place with fully autonomous aircraft that navigated routes, captured aerial footage, identified oil contamination, and transmitted real-time reports—without any human input. Another group programmed a swarm of drones capable of locating and assisting people during forest fires, according to Vladislav Khalamov, head of the region’s Technical Creativity Center.

The innovation streak didn’t stop there. Students from Magnitogorsk represented Russia at the World Robot Contest in China, where they built a robot able to navigate a complex urban environment filled with intersections, traffic lights, and pedestrians. Given only an hour to complete the task—and facing more than 2,000 rivals—the Russian team secured top honors, winning awards for Best Presence and Excellent Award.