Designing, manufacturing, and assembling the drone and its payload systems.
The Mechanical subteam is responsible for everything physical on the drone — from the structural airframe that keeps it airborne, to the payload bay that carries mission equipment.
We work in CAD, use fabrication tools in SlugWorks, and iterate rapidly through design, prototyping, and testing cycles to produce a drone that is light, strong, and competition-ready.
Our work spans the entire physical system of the drone:
Designing the primary drone structure — arm geometry, motor mounts, center body, and landing gear — optimized for weight, stiffness, and crash survivability.
Designing the payload bay and drop mechanisms used in competition missions, including actuation systems for releasing payloads at precise GPS coordinates.
Fabricating parts using 3D printing, laser cutting, carbon fiber composite work, and CNC machining in the SlugWorks makerspace.
Assembling the physical drone and working closely with the Embedded Systems team to ensure electronics, wiring, and sensors mount cleanly and securely.
Our current drone design is a custom quadrotor platform sized for the payload and sensor requirements of the SUAS and C-UASC competitions.
Major
Year · Mechanical Lead
TO BE FINISHED LATER — add team member cards
Mechanical Engineering
Focus: Airframe design
Mechanical Engineering
Focus: Payload systems
Any major
Focus: Manufacturing
Mechanical meets for design reviews, fabrication sessions, and assembly work.
TO BE FINISHED LATER
TO BE FINISHED LATER