The competition is open to universities, start-ups and companies from all over the world with recognised research, proven technology and experience in unmanned aircraft. The phrase flying donkeys is a reference to robot cargo aircraft. The FDC participants must show the capabilities, safety and benefits of drones to meet cargo transportation needs in rural areas of Africa and other remote parts of the world. The challenge includes, sensing and avoiding obstacles, including other aircraft; precision take-off and landing; delivering cargo; and flying in areas denied Global Positioning System (GPS) support. There are also three non-technical challenges covering law, business models and logistics.The FDC is being organised by La Fondation Bundi, a non-profit initiative of the Afrotech project at the École Polytechnique F¨¦d¨¦rale de Lausanne and the Swiss National Centre of Competence for Research in Robotics. Before 2020, the organisers want the FDC to result in a race of cargo robots around Mount Kenya delivering and collecting 20 kilogramme payloads along the way in under 24 hours. The winner or winners will collect or share a multi-million dollar prize. "Multidisciplinary teams of engineers, designers, lawyers, regulators and business partners will be collaborating to demonstrate the benefits and promote the acceptance of flying donkeys, cargo robots with a maximum take-off weight of 60 kilos that could play a crucial role in the future of logistics and offer great transport opportunities, especially in fast-growing economies with infrastructure gaps such as Africa," says FDC director, Simon Johnson.Logistical support for FDC is being provided by Swiss WorldCargo, the airfreight division of Swiss International Air Lines. Its chief cargo officer, Oliver Evans, says: "The question is not whether but when and how cargo robots will appear in our skies and work alongside aircraft and trucks."A demonstration of a quadrotor drone, a small unmanned helicopter with four rotors and a 20 kilogramme payload capacity, took place at the International Air Transport Association's World Cargo Symposium in Los Angeles in March. Developed by the company Matternet, the quadrotor drone is designed to deliver supplies such as medicines in rural Africa and other challenging regions. Evans expects such technology will be adopted, "in remote regions who will soon have access to the Internet and global trade using low-cost smartphones."The US Marine Corps (USMC) has been testing an unmanned helicopter to resupply its troops in Afghanistan. The Kaman Aerospace K-MAX Cargo Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), which the USMC also calls the Kaman K1200, is shown in the picture hovering over a landing zone at Camp Dwyer in Helmand province in Afghanistan in June 2012. Able to carry 6,000-pounds (2,727 kilogrammes) of cargo, by May 2012, after six months of testing, the K-MAX had transported over 454,000kg. The K1200 is operated by Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 2. While the USMC uses the term Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), the US military and its contractors also use UAS. The International Civil Aviation Organization refers to drones, UAV, UAS, as Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems or RPAS.