Robert was born and raised in South Africa before moving to the US almost nine years ago. Shortly after arriving, he experienced his first RC encounter when his dad found a Balsa Graupner Glider in one of their moving boxes. Since this early introduction to RC, he has fully immersed himself in the hobby through search and rescue drones, racing quads, airplanes, boats, and cars. He attended McIntosh High School in Peachtree City, Georgia, where he started the first drone-based high school club in his county (that competed in the AMA UAS4STEM competitions in 2016 and 2017 winning first a National 2nd Place and then becoming National Champions); he then mentored and coached the 2018 UAS4STEM National champions. Robert has also helped introduce 3D printers into the high school design classes, and, in his freshman year of high school, he also founded a local MultiGP drone racing chapter called South Atlanta FPV which is the second largest drone racing club in Georgia with over 120 members. Drones also played a significant role in his 2016 Third Place Grand Award-winning project at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Robert's passion started with designing, building, and flying balsa and foamboard RC airplanes, and then evolved into a deep curiosity for and involvement in designing, building, and racing competition drones and larger search and rescue drones. He is excited to use the AMA Charles Hampson Grant and Weak Signals Scholarships to pursue his ultimate passions in mechanical engineering and technology entrepreneurship at Georgia Tech where he will be starting this coming Fall!
