Abstract
Sociotechnical Synthesis
Technical Thesis
Over the past decade, unmanned aerial systems have become central in many applications. Most existing platforms fall into two categories: fixed-wing aircraft, which are efficient but cannot hover, and rotary-wing systems, which can hover but burn through battery life quickly. Neither captures the full range of capabilities that aerial systems can achieve. ICARUS-1 was developed to explore a third path, one that draws from nature rather than convention.
Dragonflies are one of the most capable fliers in the natural world. They can hover, reverse direction mid-flight, and execute precise turns using four independently driven wings that generate lift through unsteady aerodynamic forces. ICARUS-1 looks to turn those biological principles into a physical prototype. The project was a fifteen-member capstone effort of mechanical and aerospace engineering students, constrained to a $3,000 budget.
The final prototype integrated four independently actuated wings driven by brushed DC gearmotors, a custom-designed PCB housing motor drivers, an IMU, a buck converter, and an RF communication link providing two-channel proportional control. Wing development alone went through multiple iterations, beginning with a fully 3D-printed frame, then transitioning to a final design using carbon fiber spars sandwiched with Mylar film. Stability and control logic were developed using an Active Disturbance Rejection Control framework and validated inside a modified version of Purdue's Flappy Hummingbird simulation environment, where the UAS demonstrated expected hovering behavior and correct roll, pitch, and yaw responses to differential wing speed commands.
Free flight was not achieved within the project timeline; however, these outcomes are documented honestly in the technical thesis. What the project delivered was a functional mechanical prototype, a working control simulation, a validated PCB, and a complete documentation package handed off to the next capstone team. ICARUS-1 is a foundation, not a finished product, and it was designed to be treated that way.
STS Thesis
Conflict is not a new concept. What has changed is how information about it travels. Before social media, that information moved through controlled channels: newspapers, radio, and television, all subject to varying institutional oversight. The televising of the Vietnam War is a well-documented example of how even that moderated media environment could shift public opinion. Social media removes the institutional layer entirely or replaces it with something that has no concept of journalistic responsibility. The question this paper asks is: how does social media shape how people perceive war, and how they respond to it?
The answer, as supported by both the empirical data collected and the existing literature, is that it does so through an amplification of emotionally compelling content. The study focused on TikTok as its primary platform, with qualitative observation of X and Instagram, and analyzed posts collected through conflict-specific search queries on the Russia-Ukraine war using a fresh account to minimize algorithmic personalization bias. The data was recorded across engagement metrics, emotional tone, and directional alignment, meaning which side of the conflict a given post sympathized with.
Ukraine-aligned content accounted for 50% of the dataset but captured nearly 70% of all likes. The content is visceral. It is designed, intentionally or not, to make the viewer feel something before they think about anything. That is the kind of content the algorithm highlights and spreads. The Russia search query surfaced mostly lifestyle and cultural content of cities, comparisons of women, and videos framing Russia as misunderstood. Neither query produced a balanced picture of the conflict. They produced emotional impressions of it.
The paper draws on scholarship from Zeitzoff (2017), Nasereddin (2023), and Zilinsky et al. (2024) to argue that this is not a bug in the system. It is the system. Algorithms optimize for engagement, and emotionally charged, morally unambiguous content generates the most of it. The result is a media environment where the first impression wins, where stance precedes understanding, and where the platforms that shape global opinion about war are accountable to no one except their own engagement metrics. Division is not a side effect of this environment. It is the output.
Notes
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering
Technical Advisors: Haibo Dong, Chris Goyne
STS Advisor: Karina Ripley
Technical Team Members: Lily Byers, Kathryn Geoffroy, Theodore LengKong, Jafar Mansoor, Justin Matara, Owen McKenney, Andrew Mercer, Carter Nickola, Jeremiah Nubbe, Nicholas Owen, Mark Piatko, Luis Ramos-Garcia, James Scullin, Matthew Sendi, George Zach
