MAE Projects

Urban traffic and traditional delivery methods often delay the arrival of critical medications, especially during peak hours. Currently, pharmaceutical logistics rely on pollutant-emitting vehicles that group multiple orders together, leading to slow delivery times and unnecessary human contact. There is a clear need for a faster, greener, and more isolated delivery method to ensure patients receive 1lb payloads safely and efficiently.

This project addresses these issues by developing an autonomous drone capable of delivering medical supplies directly to a client’s landing pad. By using aerial navigation, the system bypasses road congestion, reduces transportation costs, and eliminates tailpipe emissions. This matters because it provides a reliable, "no-contact" service that is essential for time-sensitive healthcare.

The project directly benefits pharmacists, delivery operators, and local businesses by streamlining their distribution. Most importantly, it supports homebound or disabled clients who require secure, direct access to medication. It also considers...

To address the lack of standards and solutions from aircraft manufacturers, airlines, and the Federal Aviation Administration, our team is developing a custom wheelchair designed to ensure comfort, dignity and to reduce the number of transfers required for wheelchair users during air travel. This is due to air travel posing significant challenges for wheelchair users. When personal wheelchairs are handled by ground staff alongside luggage and other heavy cargo, they can often be returned damaged. This is particularly concerning because custom wheelchairs can cost over $30,000, and airlines typically provide limited accommodations or compensation for damage. Additionally, few solutions currently exist within commercial aviation to ensure comfort and safety for wheelchair users while boarding, during flight, and when deplaning. Although past efforts such as the Douglas CV-54C "Sacred Crow", Air4All, and Haycomp Eagle series have attempted to address accessibility, widespread implementation has been limited.

The UCI Anteater Baja Racing team is a 30+ member team tasked with designing, building, and testing an off-road race car for the SAE Baja competition each year. We are a subset of the team working to design, fabricate, and validate a controllable driveline test bench (DTB) to experimentally evaluate driveshaft behavior under varying angles, loads, and rotational speeds. This project is to address a diagnostic platform for understanding driveline inefficiencies and enable future vehicle modifications to be made for the rest of the Anteater SAE team. 

The UCI Anteater Baja Racing (ABR) team designs, builds, and races an off-road vehicle each year in the SAE Baja intercollegiate competition. A six-person capstone sub-team sponsored by Cortek and T-Slots designed, fabricated, and validated a Driveline Test Bench (DTB) to experimentally characterize how driveshaft angle affects power transmission, vibration, and rotational speed through the vehicle's U-joints. The problem this addresses is real: driveline geometry is one of the most consequential packaging decisions in a Baja vehicle, yet ABR had no controlled way to measure its effects without expensive, time-consuming desert test days. The DTB provides a repeatable, lab-based platform for generating the data needed to inform setup decisions for ABR's next competition vehicle, Spectre, and for future teams going forward.

The UCI Anteater Baja Racing team is a 30+ member team tasked with designing, building, and testing an off-road race car for the SAE Baja competition each year. We are a subset of the team working specifically on transferring power from the CVT output to all four wheels. Last year, our car performed well at the 2025 SAE Baja competition in Arizona. However, it performed under its potential due to lack of testing. This year, we are emphasizing the testing and redesign of our previous design, and as such, our modular transfer case will be easy to modify and test the optimal performance of our car, verifying the design improvements. We want to design two iterations of the modular transfer case through testing with the first iteration finished before the end of fall and the final iteration finished by the end of winter. We will also develop a new output shaft to the front...

The project focuses on designing a new rear suspension for the Anteater Electric Racing vehicle. Design focuses on simplicity to achieve reduced weight and cost, with improved serviceability through design for manufacturing and integration. The main focus lies within custom designed aluminum wheel hubs and welded sheet metal uprights, which were fabricated in-house at UCI’s student machine shop.

With advancements in technology and AI features, the ways of delivery are rightfully just to seek innovation for consumers. That in mind, the mission of this project is to design, build, and test a fully autonomous quadcopter that will be capable of carrying a 1-lb payload to a GPS waypoint 50 meters away, being able to detect the landing target, and releasing the payload gently within 1 meter of the specified landing zone. It will also have the ability to autonomously return to its starting point.

Households produce considerable amounts of greywater each month, which comes from different sources, including showers and sinks. While there is potential for reusing greywater, the majority of it is still being wasted. This has resulted in increased environmental stress. This concern has been addressed by the Teal Flow Backyard Bioremediation System. The project aims at creating a small-scale solar-powered filtration unit for greywater recycling. The filtration system includes a natural filtration system, which includes plant-based bioremediation, sand filtration, and activated carbon. The system has sensors that measure critical parameters, including pH and TDS. The value of these sensors must be within specific limits for reuse. The project aims at helping residents reuse greywater for irrigation. This will help reduce water loss and decrease water consumption. The project aims at promoting water management strategies during water scarcity.

E-SONIC is UCI’s Engineering-Symphonic Orchestra New Instrument Competition, where student teams design new playable musical instruments. Bubble Box is our team’s project within E-SONIC, using controlled bubbles and vortex structures inside a clear water chamber to create a playful audio-visual instrument. The project explores how a fluid phenomenon can be made repeatable, expressive, portable, and safe enough for public demonstration while remaining visually engaging and intuitive to experience.

The RC boat to submarine project addresses the critical need for non-invasive, cost-effective monitoring of marine ecosystems by developing a submersible capable of autonomous species identification. By integrating a Raspberry Pi 4 for real-time image processing, the vehicle can detect and categorize marine life based on color and pattern recognition through its acrylic dome, providing researchers with high-fidelity data without disturbing the natural habitat. This matters because traditional manual surveying is often limited by diver depth constraints and the high cost of industrial submersibles, whereas this Pixhawk-stabilized platform offers a scalable solution for long-term biodiversity tracking. This technology directly benefits marine biologists and conservationists by automating the cataloging of indicator species, ultimately aiding in the protection of vulnerable aquatic environments through precise, localized data collection.

Background:

Aquatic environments are essential for environmental monitoring, infrastructure inspection, and scientific research, yet they remain challenging to study due to...

The RC boat to submarine project addresses the critical need for non-invasive, cost-effective monitoring of marine ecosystems by developing a submersible capable of autonomous species identification. By integrating a Raspberry Pi 4 for real-time image processing, the vehicle can detect and categorize marine life based on color and pattern recognition through its acrylic dome, providing researchers with high-fidelity data without disturbing the natural habitat. This matters because traditional manual surveying is often limited by diver depth constraints and the high cost of industrial submersibles, whereas this Pixhawk-stabilized platform offers a scalable solution for long-term biodiversity tracking. This technology directly benefits marine biologists and conservationists by automating the cataloging of indicator species, ultimately aiding in the protection of vulnerable aquatic environments through precise, localized data collection.

Background:

Aquatic environments are essential for environmental monitoring, infrastructure inspection, and scientific research, yet they remain challenging to study due...

UCI Design/Build/Fly (DBF) began in 2004, competing in that year’s AIAA competition with only 37 teams participating. Since then, the team has grown tremendously in both membership and technical sophistication. Today, UCI DBF competes against over 100 international teams, tackling new and complex design challenges each year. The team is composed of passionate students from various engineering disciplines who work together to design, manufacture, and test a fully functional remote-controlled aircraft that meets the competition’s unique mission requirements. Beyond the competition, UCI DBF provides students with hands-on experience in aerodynamics, structures, controls, electronics, and project management, preparing them for future careers in the aerospace and engineering industries.

Our team focuses on Mission 3 of the upcoming DBF competition, where we are required to stow, deploy, tow, and release a banner displaying our university logo. The primary problem this project addresses is the challenge of performing this sequence...

Diality is a medical device company that aims to improve lives impacted by kidney disease through the development of the next generation of hemodialysis machines for at-clinic or at-home usage. A hemodialysis machine continuously extracts blood from a patient, runs it through a dialyzer--which acts as an artificial kidney to filter out waste and excess fluids--and reintroduces the filtered blood into the patient's system. This treatment process occurs three times per week for three to four hours per session depending on the patient's support needs. A common issue with treatment currently is knowing the correct Blood Volume Removal Rate (BVRR) for each patient. If the BVRR is too low, the treatment becomes inefficient and takes longer than required, but if it is too high, the patient's blood pressure could drop significantly putting the patient at risk of complications such as dizziness or loss of consciousness. Poor reactions such as...

Drop Tower Systems focuses on the design and development of a low-cost drop weight impact tower for UCI Engineering. The system addresses the current lack of an in-house method for applying controlled dynamic loads to materials and components, as existing campus equipment is primarily limited to quasi-static hydraulic load frame testing. This project matters because many real-world engineering applications, including aerospace composites and automotive structures, involve impact and dynamic loading conditions that static tests cannot fully capture.

The final design is a 52.5" tall, wood-framed tower capable of delivering up to 100 J of impact energy through a guided 12"×12" A36 steel drop weight plate and an A2 tool steel tup with hemispherical geometry compliant with ASTM standards. The system supports variable impact energies through both adjustable supplemental weights, up to 22.5 lbs of total drop weight, and a simple rope and lock mechanism that allows drop...

Drop Tower Systems focuses on the design and development of a low-cost drop weight impact tower for UCI Engineering. The system is intended to address the current lack of an in house method for applying controlled dynamic loads to materials and components, since existing campus equipment is primarily limited to static testing. This project matters because many real world engineering applications involve impact and other dynamic loading conditions that static tests cannot fully represent. The final design is meant to support students, faculty, and project teams by providing a safer, more repeatable, and more accessible way to validate components and materials under realistic loading conditions.

Hyperloop is an innovative high-speed transportation concept in which pods travel at up to 760 mph through a near-vacuum tunnel. To reach those speeds, the pod must eliminate nearly all friction with the track, which is achieved through magnetic levitation (maglev). 

One method of integrating maglev technology is electromagnetic suspension (EMS). With EMS, electromagnets on the pod produce an attractive force to a magnetized material on the track, lifting the vehicle off the surface entirely. UC Irvine's Hyperloop student team, HyperXite, needs to demonstrate that this technology works at a small scale before it can be integrated into a full-size pod. Without a working levitation prototype, the team has no way to validate their design choices, test their control systems, or demonstrate the concept to advisors and sponsors.

This project matters because magnetic levitation is the key to making Hyperloop viable. It's what separates it...

Hyperloop is an innovative high-speed transportation concept in which pods travel at up to 760 mph through a near-vacuum tunnel. To reach those speeds, the pod must eliminate nearly all friction with the track, which is achieved through magnetic levitation (maglev). 

One method of integrating maglev technology is electromagnetic suspension (EMS). With EMS, electromagnets on the pod produce an attractive force to a magnetized material on the track, lifting the vehicle off the surface entirely. UC Irvine's Hyperloop student team, HyperXite, needs to demonstrate that this technology works at a small scale before it can be integrated into a full-size pod. Without a working levitation prototype, the team has no way to validate their design choices, test their control systems, or demonstrate the concept to advisors and sponsors.

This project matters because magnetic levitation is the key to making Hyperloop viable. It's what separates it...

The Fluid Power Vehicle Challenge is a national competition among universities hosted by the National Fluid Power Association that challenges students to implement a hydraulic braking and power system to a human powered vehicle. The competition consists of 4 events, which test the speed, endurance, efficiency, and regenerative braking capabilities of the vehicle. We, Zot Under Pressure, are creating a tricycle that converts human input into hydraulic power, focusing on speed and endurance. Our team will represent UCI in the competition and showcase the applications of hydraulic power.

The braking system of an FSAE Electric vehicle operates under highly transient thermal and mechanical conditions, where frictional heating, material behavior, and heat dissipation strongly influence performance and reliability. During repeated or high-energy braking events, rotor and pad temperatures can rise rapidly, altering the effective coefficient of friction and therefore modifying brake torque generation, stopping distance, and vehicle deceleration. Understanding these temperature-dependent effects is essential for accurate brake modeling, safe design margins, and competition performance.

The braking system of an FSAE Electric Vehicle operates under highly transient thermal and mechanical conditions, where frictional heating, material behavior, and heat dissipation strongly influence performance and reliability. During repeated or high-energy braking events, rotor and pad temperatures can rise rapidly, altering the effective coefficient of friction and therefore modifying brake torque generation, stopping distance, and vehicle deceleration. Understanding these temperature-dependent effects is essential for accurate brake modeling, safe design margins, and competition performance.

The UCI Combustion Laboratory tasked our team with updating their currently outdated hardware and control program for their gas mixing station.

The laboratory was previously using twenty-year-old FieldPoint hardware and software to control their gas mixing station, which is used to mix different gas compositions for combustion research. These experiments are critical for understanding fuel behavior, improving energy efficiency, and supporting safer and more sustainable combustion systems in industrial and aerospace applications.

Due to the entirety of the gas mixing station being outdated, a complete overhaul of both the hardware and software was required to ensure that the system would remain operable into the future. Additionally, new functionality was needed to ensure accurate gas mixing under high-pressure conditions (approximately ten atmospheres), including implementing an internal validation check to ensure the specific gravity of the gas composition matches the theoretical...

Modern grocery stores and warehouses still rely heavily on manual labor to fulfill item retrieval tasks from shelves. This process is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and prone to inefficiencies as order volumes continue to grow. There is an increasing demand for automated systems that can improve operational efficiency while maintaining safety and precision in retail and warehouse environments.

This project focuses on the development of an autonomous robotic arm capable of retrieving items from shelves in a grocery store setting. The system aims to perform precise, collision-free grasping of target items while operating in a constrained shelf environment. By automating repetitive picking tasks, the project seeks to improve efficiency and reduce the reliance on manual labor in grocery fulfillment operations.

The project is sponsored by Professor Solmaz Kia and developed by a student team in the MAE capstone design program. The primary stakeholders include grocery store operators,...

The goal of the project is to create a proof-of-concept for an autonomous robot to aide in grocery/retail stores. This robot would be would be assigned items to grab, and it would plan an optimized path to retrieve the items. This project is split into two teams; our team focuses on the robotic base that allows for movement and navigation. The base of the robot must be able to localize itself and plan a path to and from the target. If during operation the robot should detect an obstruction, the robot needs to recalculate a path around it while leaving adequate space to avoid collision. In addition to the functions above, the robot must be able to detect when it is within arms reach of a target item using the dimensions of each arm linkage and distance (including height) from the target. This project can make the shopping process...

The TurtleBot2 was release to the public in 2012 and while capable, outdated software makes them unable to be used for ROS2 research, and although some methods exist to make certain functions possible, there are no readily available examples combining both camera and motor functionality. Our project proves the feasibility of cooperative operation across different robotic platforms and provides a functional foundation for future escort mission research with the TurtleBot2s. With additional sensing and navigation capabilities, the framework we set can be expanded into a more advanced autonomous escort system and greatly benefit issues beyond the university setting. 

Our project can influence future teams and graduate students working under our sponsor as well as others currently working with TurtleBot2s. They are now able to build off a functioning physical system of a heterogeneous robot team. Beyond the university environment, our project has potential applications in autonomous escort...

Our senior design project focuses on the revival and development of a heterogeneous multi-robot containment and escort system utilizing a Hiwonder SpiderPi hexapod robot as the leader and four TurtleBots as the escorts or followers. This project introduces students to coordinated control, real-time communication, and containment logic across the robot team, and in the future could aim to aid real-world applications like automation, surveillance, other laboratories, and possibly the military. 
    The primary objective of our project is to integrate the SpiderPi and TurtleBot2 platforms using a ROS2 communication framework, enabling the TurtleBots to hold a convex hull escort formation around the SpiderPi as it navigates its environment. This project also aims to achieve our sponsor’s goals of modernizing older versions of her robotic hardware, extending her lab’s capabilities, and providing future students with a framework to grow with the ever-evolving multi-agent robotic research.