Tiff Zhang Capstone

My capstone project was the creation of a small, compact drone from scratch and documenting my process to supplement TGR Learning Lab’s drone-making class. My process ranged from ordering printed circuit boards (PCBs), designing a 3D drone frame in Autodesk Fusion 360, flashing open-source firmware, and creating a demo for my mentor—who will be teaching this course.

There were many hiccups throughout the process—especially with soldering the microcontroller and flashing firmware—though I learned a lot about engineering design along the way. I found myself following the engineering design process, specifically through creating rapid prototypes of the frame and improving, with an iteration shown below. Currently, I am still working on flashing firmware onto my drone, as the physical part of my project is mostly complete.