Project | Design a model for 3D printing

Apply your skills with practice and challenge exercises that deliver advanced joint control and a minimalistic design approach.

Project scenario:
A design competition has been announced to design, create, and race a micro drone.  The micro drone challenge will require your team to develop a drone chassis, camera mount and landing gear that can be 3D printed, assembled, and flown in the competition.  A sample drone is provided for reference, but this design is too heavy to fly.

Note: This micro drone is a sub-class of drones that is intended to be flown indoors. The total drone weight including all components and 3D printed parts ranges from 40-50g. The FAA requires that any drones flown in federally regulated airspace, above the weight of 250 grams (0.55lbs) and flow for recreation or commercial applications must register their drone and take a free online safety test to remain in compliance. If you build and fly your micro drone inside or within the confines of a drone specific safety cage, this is outside of federally regulated airspace and a drone license and registration should not be required. As a safety precaution you should check your local regulations to ensure there are no additional guidelines that must be followed.

After completing this project, you'll be able to:

• Review a sample design.
• Create a micro drone chassis, camera mount and landing gear.
• Inspect the mass properties of the drone.
• Refine and validate a design.