The hexacopter's previous landing legs were very fragile, and they were prone to rotating. A change was needed, so my team decided to design a set of compliant landing gear to handle the weight when landing. The design used shock absorbers that had been repurposed from RC cars which swiveled on 3D printed Polycarbonate parts. 

Students who had flown the hexacopter in the past told me that it had a tendancy to flip over in flight. Since there were many sensitive electronics on the top of the drone, my team decided to design a roll cage which would protect them if the hexacopter crashed upside down. we chose to 3D print the part from PETG due to its high impact strength. The roll cage also housed the drone's telemetry radio and GPS module, decluttering the electronics below it. 

By late winter, the hexacopter with its new improvements was ready to test.

We started by successfully dropping mock payloads, and eventually drop tested the full payload. 

Unfortunately, the hexacopter was later destroyed in a test flight, but the project was a great learning experience for my subteam members and myself.