Background

A drone is an uncrewed aerial vehicle (also known as a UAV). Drones are cheaper than crewed aircraft for transporting things or for reconnaissance. Drones are used in a variety of civilian and military applications. Drone photography and videography is popular as a hobby and a profession. As drones do not carry people, they are much lighter and therefore require less power, smaller motors, less fuel, and everything about them is lighter and cheaper to produce. Drones are increasingly being used for delivering parcels and supplies, in commerce and the emergency services, and so forth.
​​​​​​​​​​A smart electronic device is a useful instrument, machine, or gadget that is controlled by electronic circuitry microcontroller boards, or sometimes by a single-board computer like a Raspberry Pi, and that perform only a few limited functions. We have many different kinds of devices at home, on our person, or at school to perform useful work for us, or to provide us with information, in order to increase our well-being.
 

The design brief

Design a battery-powered drone delivery vehicle for the last-mile delivery of small and light packages of goods for use in cities or in rural areas. For example, the drone may be for the delivery of medicines. Your drone may be general purpose or specialised, as you wish. Your drone can navigate autonomously, or it can be piloted by a person. Design the drone vehicle, its cargo hold, and other parts. Show how the drone will work, its cargo, navigating, landing and takeoff, and so forth. Build a full-size prototype of your drone delivery vehicle. If you can build a working prototype, all the better. Alternatively, you may build a computer-aided design (CAD) model of your design concept, if you prefer. Work on this project in a small team with a group of your classmates.​​​​​​
 

The design thinking process

Follow the six stages of the design thinking process to ensure that you are thorough and do everything necessary to succeed in your design project. First, you endeavour to understand the design topic and EMPATHISE with the needs of the users. With that understanding, you can DEFINE what is essential to the product or system that you are designing. Then you IDEATE, that is, you creatively come up with ideas and develop them. The next step is to PROTOTYPE your chosen design solution in a physical form and improve it through trial-and-error. Then you TEST your design idea to elicit the opinions of users. And finally, at the end of the process, you REFLECT upon your project to benefit from the experience. Use the appropriate methods from the Design Thinking for Schools website as you proceed along the design thinking process.
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Note for teachers

Undertaking a student design project using electrical parts or microcontrollers such as Arduino requires:

• teachers who are able to supervise and advise such a project;
• laboratories or workshops with electrical and electronic parts and tools;
• ​​​​​​​and students who are trained to work with electricity, tools, and equipment.

Read the guide for teachers on Safety for the PROTOTYPE Stage for Level IV to safely supervise this design project.​​​​​