3D Printed Drone Attachment Project - Medicine Delivery Challenge

My name is Calvin Mark, and I am an 8th grade science teacher at Hogg Middle School in the Houston Heights. I learned of the Tello drones and the idea of challenging students to carry objects with drones from an engineering program at a nearby high school in the city, but this project is my own. I have taught general science education for the past 9 years, but I've slowly incorporated more and more 3D printing and drone piloting into my curriculum over time. I'm looking forward to piloting a new engineering class in my school next year and developing and acquiring more projects like this that utilize 3D printing, drones, and the experimental design process.

I use the project in this instructable in a summer science camp for incoming 6th graders to our school, usually 4 days long. I also use it as an end of year project for my 8th grade students after the science standardized test is over. Students learn through the experimental design process, completing stages of prototypes until they create a design to complete the challenge. This can be completed as an individual or in pairs. I would not run this project with any group larger than 2 because inevitably one person ends up watching and not participating.

Before introducing any content, I challenge my students to embrace the following quote.

"Failure: its part of the process"

I emphasize for them to expect failure here, and that it is OKAY! It's part of the process. I share with students that a significant portion of learning in the real world, especially in engineering, occurs through experimentation, learning from the failures, and making improvements upon the product. Industry leaders are looking for problem solvers willing to embrace and capitalize on this process, not great test takers.

The challenge originates from a real world problem for the city of Houston: flooding. In this scenario, a flood has stranded a citizen in need of life-saving medication. Equipped with a drone and a 3D printer, students must design a 3D printed attachment whereby the drone can safely carry and deliver the medication. The drone must be able to drop off the medication without landing and fly back to its origin. The video linked is from a group of my 8th grade girls last year who, after many failed prototypes, developed an attachment to successfully deliver the pill bottle to the stranded resident (me) through an obstacle course.

1. DJI Tello Drone
2. DJI Mavic Mini*
3. 3D Printer - (I used the Flashforge or Creality printer lines)
4. 3D Printer Filament (PLA is sufficient)
5. Pill Bottles
6. Hula hoops, PVC pipes, or any other obstacle for the course
7. Metric ruler
8. Computer with internet for TinkerCAD
9. Pencil and paper for sketching

*Note - You could easily do this project with another drone, but you'd either have to create your own attachment clip to share with the students or have the students make it as part of their project.

1) In this scenario, flooding has stranded a resident in their home who cannot escape to acquire life-saving medication. Using a drone and a 3D printer, students must work together to deliver the medication. Students must understand that the "citizen" must be able to pluck the pill bottle with the medication from the drone without bringing the drone out of the sky.

2) Allow the student(s) to see the drone and the pill bottle they'll be using to deliver the medication. Give them a ruler, pencil, and paper, and have them sketch their preliminary design for the attachment they wish to create in TinkerCAD. Encourage them to use the ruler to obtain dimensions, such as the height or diameter of the pill bottle. Remind them TinkerCAD uses millimeters as its units and that the measurements acquired with the ruler will translate directly to the design.

3) Have the students access TinkerCAD. This is the first step where differentiation will come into play.

Novice route - Novice TinkerCAD users can create an account and go through the basic TinkerCAD introductory lessons first. After lessons are completed, provide the (.stl) file of the pre-made attachment for them to start their design. I found both of these (.stl) files on a website called www.thingiverse.com and modified them to only be a clip to the drone for students to build an attachment on. They will still design how the pill bottle fits to the attachment provided, but it will help expedite the process if students don't have a lot of time for prototyping.

Photos portray the files you can provide for the novice route to give them a clip that will already attach to the drone.

Advanced route - Advanced TinkerCAD users can log in and begin designing based off their sketches. Provide no base file for the designers. They must design how their attachment will fit onto the drone as well as how the attachment will hold the pill bottle for the medication. This might take more time, but it is a more pure experimental design process.

Pro-tip: When printing prototypes, set the infill to 10-15% in your slicer to make sure everything fits before printing at a higher infill for strength.

4) Set up an obstacle course for the students to fly the drone through. Anytime your students are waiting on a prototype to print, they can practice drone piloting and progress through various stages depending on the drones you have access to.

Drone Pilot Certification #1

I like to start my students off on the DJI Tello drone (pictured left), having them complete an obstacle course inside the classroom through hula-hoops and PVC pipe checkpoints. After completing the obstacle course without crashing, I'll allow them to move to the next drone, the DJI Mavic Mini.

Drone Pilot Certification #2

The DJI Mavic Mini (pictured right) will be the drone my students use to bear the load of the pill bottle. It is a stronger drone, and will bear a load without the motors burning out unlike the Tello. When learning to fly this drone, I move my students to an outside obstacle course, utilizing the PVC pipe checkpoints and trees. They must complete an obstacle course using a combination of their own line of sight and the Mavic Mini's onboard camera for navigation. Course must be completed within a time frame without crashing.

5) After the Prototype is done printing, hand their attachment back out to see if the pill bottle fits.

Novice route - Novice users will only need to make sure the pill bottle will successfully fit on their attachment and that the pill bottle is removable while the drone is in flight. The (.stl) provided will already ensure the clip will fit on the drone.

Advanced route - Advanced users will need to make sure that their attachment snugly fits both the drone AND the pill bottle. The pill bottle must be removable while drone is in flight without removing the drone from the air.

6) Rarely will a student, whether novice or advanced, complete a successful prototype in their first attempt. So now it's back to TinkerCAD for adjustments based off the shortcomings of their prototype. Share this motto with them often: "Failure - it's part of the process."

7) Complete the steps of redesigning and testing as many times as possible until a successful prototype is developed. Any time students are waiting on a prototype to print, have them practice drone piloting through different courses. Increase the difficulty of the courses or shorten the length of time they have to navigate the course to provide more practice.

8) Set up a final obstacle course for the drone. Have the students deliver the medication using the drone and the attachment. Have a "citizen" at the end of the course to pluck the pill bottle from the drone at the end of the course and simulate the fulfillment of the mission. I like to make it a competition by recording the time it takes for each group to successfully navigate the course and deliver the medication.