YellowJacket
YellowJacket (also remembered as CamaroPlane) was a mechatronic system designed to be a Transformer for IPD 501: Integrated Computer-Aided Design. Unlike the movie series where cars, trucks, planes, and boats transform into humanoid figures, YellowJacket is a car that transforms into a plane. Unfortunately, the goals for this project were not reasonable considering the team only had four weeks to complete the project.
The project was broken up into a few transforming subsystems: wings that swing out of the side of the car, vertical/horizontal stabilizers that pop out of the hood, landing gear that rotates from underneath the car and tilts the plane at an incline, and a front propeller that slowing extended from the back bumper. Although, the project wasn’t completed, this was a great experience for me to learn the value of prototyping potential design ideas before charging ahead. The videos below show off some of our successfully prototyped subsystems.
Collaborators: Jonathan Blutinger, Michael Gartland, Ryan Wilson