Optimus Air: Drone Delivery (Black Team)

Discipline: MAE

Advisor: Scott Layton

This project is aimed at the biggest concern in today’s logistics world: slow and inefficient last-mile delivery due to traffic jams, high labor costs, and the continuous demand for delivering food quickly. As for our solution, we’ve established a drone-driven delivery system that can move little parcels promptly, securely, and dependably across small distances. The customers primarily have reduced waiting time and greater reliability for services, with restaurants and food delivery companies as the main users which require delivery in a more efficient and economical way. The UAV employs a hexacopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to achieve a maximum of flight stability, redundancy, and payload capabilities. The airframe features lightweight carbon fiber arms along with custom 3D-printed connectors to achieve strength vs weight tradeoffs. A flight controller and onboard sensors ensure stable flight, and a magnetic loading and unloading system allows packages to be securely attached and released at the time of delivery. This drone's ability to sidestep traffic totally allows it to reach the market quicker compared to traditional delivery systems that utilize ground transportation that have to deal with heavy ground infrastructure. It also enhances maintenance, scalability, and future-upgrades features with modular construction. Possible applications are restaurant delivery, small parcel transport, and fast delivery in dense urban areas. The project demonstrates using a reliable autonomous delivery platform, that drone technology can help improve logistics capabilities at the local level as well as shape an urban transportation model in the future.

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