Mechanical Lead | UW–Madison Student Club | September 2023 – Present Visit BadgerFly →
BadgerFly is a UW–Madison student organization that designs, builds, and flies autonomous vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft to compete in the Vertical Flight Society’s (VFS) Design-Build-Vertical Flight competition (DBVF). As Mechanical Lead, I’m responsible for the airframe design and structural integrity of our aircraft, alongside supporting controls and safety documentation work.
Key Contributions
- Engineered the carbon fiber tube-and-plate frame for a fully autonomous 7 kg quadcopter in SolidWorks
- Performed vibration simulations verifying strong resonance characteristics under load
- Utilized FEA to size carbon tubing and plates as well as 3D-printed parts
- Coordinated and contributed to the development of a magnetic payload pickup-and-drop mechanism used in competition flight tasks
- Designed the coupling mechanism (similar to a blender) where when the servo is rotated each of the 5 payloads are dropped individually, but when rotated in the opposite direction the entire payload bundle is ejected
- Sized and bought motors, propellers, LiPo’s and frame based on eCalc calculations
- Motors: KDE 5215-220KV
- Props: T-Motor MS1704 (17″ dia. 6.5″ pitch)
- LiPo: 2X 6s-12Ah in series (12s voltage)
- Verified flight times via hand calculations constrained to minimum flight time of 10 minutes
- Generated wiring diagrams conforming to DBVF competition safety rules, ensuring the quadcopter passed all required safety verification
- Calibrated PID control loops on an 8 kg tilt-rotor VTOL drone, achieving stable flight that earned the “Most Precise Payload Drops” award at VFS’s DBVF competition.
Tools & Skills
Carbon fiber composite structures, structural/vibration analysis, PID tuning, electrical layout, wiring, & schematics, team leadership.