From 8/15/2017 – 5/5/2018 I took a class in high school in which the entire class had to work together to build a remotely controlled drone that could pick up a certain weight.
I helped with the overall design of the drone, but the task I worked on most was creating the grabbing mechanism. I designed it using Autodesk Inventor and manufactured it using 3D printing. The claw was purely mechanical and passive. This was because we were allowed to put something on the weight to aid in the drone picking it up. The claw talons were curved in a C-shape and would spread open as the drone descended upon a sloped surface. That sloped surface was the top of a mushroom looking type of object, so when the claws came to the cylindrical part of the mushroom, springs on the claw push the talons back together. I also worked on creating a 3D printed gimbal for the drone, which is a mechanism that allows a camera to be held facing downward no matter what position the drone is in.
The drone and claw were completed, but we failed to pick up the weight. The gimbal was also created, but we didn’t end up using it because the unflexible wiring for the camera prevented the gimbal from staying in its downward facing position.
