ARES performs multiple functions to facilitate autonomous aerial delivery alongside existing Army technology. At Newton I helped develop ARES from the ground up, heading the design of mechanisms, electronics and software.

A consistent challenge in this project was keeping everything small — this maximizes the utility of ARES in a variety of airdrop applications. Original prototypes had heavy actuators, messes of cables, and an overweight power delivery system.

To reduce actuator size, I overhauled the actuator mechanism layout, reducing mass by a factor of three and linear dimensions by a factor of two. I designed housings around standard extrusion stock to reduce fabrication costs.

I introduced intermediate signal distribution boards to increase harnessing flexibility and minimize the power unit size.

I integrated all the electronics for each component on custom circuit boards designed in Fusion Electronics (formerly Eagle). The board shown below features a microcontroller, power conditioning circuitry, onboard sensors, and connector breakouts. I configured the STM32 microcontroller to meet the current system requirements and easily adapt to feature expansion in later designs. I wrote controller instructions in C.

Ongoing testing has demonstrated that the system is compact, reliable, and flexible.