STEM PATHWAYS


Design Problem

This project was created in hopes of helping world problems that exist in the world today. Some of these problems include deforestation, pollution, global warming, and a decrease in biodiversity. We created this drone to help our community and even the world face these issues. I built the drone with the help of Mr. Brown. However, the seed disperser was not my creation. Due to this, I collaborated with Sumedh Vedya Vutukuru to create this influential project.

Design Process

During this project, I learned a lot. When I started this project, I didn’t know the first thing about designing, let alone creating a drone. During the creation of this project, I faced many problems due to my lack of knowledge in this area. Due to this, it took me time to solve each problem that was brought my way, for example, we had a problem with the GPS. Because of this, I found out that the best way to solve these problems is to research yourself and the problem itself. Know about the problem yourself and what you’re researching, and then research it. In the future, I’m hoping I can take the knowledge that I took from this project and apply it to “upgrade” the drone. One example of an upgrade is building a drone that spreads water or fertilizer. A drone that could pick up garbage. I believe that I developed this project as much as it developed me, and I learned so much about the design process and how everything works through this amazing project.

This was a drone that was in the lab when I arrived, so we decided to use it as a prototype 1, which would help us develop the drone. As you can see, the drone is dusty, disorganized, and wired badly.

This is the prototype 1 drone after being cleaned up. We rewired and organized the drone. During the organizing process, we took out certain appliances that weren’t helpful or were not on our priority list, such as a buzzer.
During our test flights, we found that the drone had problems with landing. The drone kept landing at an angle, or it would flip over when landing. Due to this, the landing gears kept breaking and snapping due to the bad landing.
We kept 3D printing new landing gears. All of them kept breaking, which led to the propellers breaking due to the bad landings.
After many failed landing attempts, we came up with the idea of creating skids for the drone made out of would. This method worked and is very helpful. For example, if you drop it from a couple of feet, it won’t break but instead acts a bit like a trampoline because the drone bounces back up and then lands safely on the ground.

Process Journal

Link to my Process Journal

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