Braden Barkemeyer: Aerospace and Robotics Engineering, Week One

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Hello, my name is Brady Barkemeyer and I have been given the opportunity to travel to Oklahoma State University for an aeronautics/ aerospace internship.

Oklahoma is very different from Colorado.

First, the mountains have turned into rolling hills and flat expanses of prairie. Next, Oklahoma has high humidity which brings about the lush greenery that I see everywhere, and the humidity is the first thing that I noticed. Instead of pine trees, here there are elms and maples. Here in Stillwater, there are a few lakes around to enjoy. The weather has been in the high 80’s and 90’s when it is not raining. Otherwise, it rains almost every day.

I am working here with Dr. Jamey Jacob, and Ben Loh, who are the top designers/engineers for the Atlas drone in the company Unmanned Cowboys. This drone is shaped like a sphere so that if it crashes into walls, it won’t be damaged; it can roll until it is upright to take off again.

Brady W1a
The lab and some trials of the sphere.

The main project for the summer is to construct a way to use these Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to measure the weather patterns in different areas across Oklahoma. The vision is that during x numbers of times a day, the drone will fly up, collect data (like humidity, temperature, and pressure), and return safely to the landing pad to charge. This will help track storms better and hopefully increase the public’s warning time for tornado preparation. This is the main goal, and I look forward to the rest of the summer to help contribute to its success.

Brady W1b
A rocket launched at the airfield.

Brady W1c
A plane fitted with a GoPro camera so we could get an aerial view.

Brady W1e  Brady W1d
Two drones I saw at a quadcopter race.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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