AE405

I knew a good numerical aerodynamicist (Yuenong) for a long time. He is adventurous. In VM350, his team is the only other team that also challenged old design. He has expertise. As a senior undergrad, he has already finished all MSE level CFD and numerical analysis courses. I spent a whole month persuading him and his department, and here we are. In January, we propose the ornithopter project to an aerospace design course AE405. He gets course credits, and I get talented teammates.

AE405 requires a 4-person team. I convinced an aircraft dynamicist/control student (Arthur) to join us, and another machine learning student (Matthew) came to join us. We thus got a highly multi-disciplinary team. 4 of us have 7 majors: 3 aerospace, 2 mechanical, 1 engineering physics, 1 computer science.

I have had 11 different teams in the past. This AE405 team turned out to be the best.

Added on July 13 2021:

AE405 ends in April, and ornithopter becomes my personal project again.

Thank you Matthew! You tried to help, but it’s a pity that we haven’t reach the stage to apply machine learning on the ornithopter. I’ve heard that you eventually get into the research group that you always wanted to. Good luck!

Thank you Yuenong! Together, we explored flapping-wing aero/aircraft dynamics simulation. I know if even you cannot get this simulation problem solved, then this problem may be ill-defined in the first place. I wish you all the best in your new school!

Thank you Arthur! You built the controller for the little-yellow-aircraft and convinced me of the value of an onboard controller. If it wasn’t you, I would never ever try to build an onboard controller for the ornithopter. Also, it is the debate with you that pushed me to apply for and eventually get the flight permission in the Robotics atrium. It’s a shame that this project will not yield any publications and thus is useless for your grad application (at least I don’t think it useful); otherwise, I will absolutely ask you to continue working with me. Good luck!