Novel 3 - Ornithopter
The inspiration for this subteam comes from RC Ornithopers YouTube video of their Serenity Ornithopter which was designed and flown by two graduate students in Russia. The team has since then moved away from scaling down that design and starting from scratch. Over the past year, various ornithopter designs have been explore. Currently, the team has landed on a truss design for the ornithopter body and continue to improve it so it can be motor driven.
2026-2027 Goals:
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Optimize overall weight
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Finalize flapping mechanism to achieve reliable, high speed flapping
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Test various theories to find optimal design for wing mechanism, wing pitch angle, length of wing, etc.
More About Novel 3 - Ornithopter
This subteam was originally called the payload subteam with the aim of carrying 500g. However, once the team began testing the first iteration, it became clear that getting the ornithopter off the ground would take more time. Since then, the original goal of carrying a payload has somewhat remained with the payload being the battery...