Rotary Inverted Pendulum; Analyzing Ethical and Moral Responsibility Between Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Human Actors 5 views

Advanced concepts, such as control systems, can be difficult for students to learn purely theoretically or mathematically, so implementing a physical model when teaching can help students apply and visualize the concepts in the real world. The Rotary Inverted Pendulum (RIP) is a mechatronic device that uses control systems and dynamics to orient and balance a pendulum rod in an upright/inverted position. Currently, the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) at the University of Virginia (UVA) does not possess an RIP. Professor Momot, who is advising this project, desires to use such a device to teach the graduate-level MAE Control Systems course more effectively. This project team is tasked with developing an RIP that is portable to transport to and from a classroom setting, straightforward and intuitive for professors and their students to use, and successful in fulfilling basic RIP functions. Control systems used in the technical portion of the project can simultaneously be used in morally questionable applications, such as guiding drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in military operations. Within the sociotechnical system of UAVs, there is a network of different human actors who carry different levels of responsibility in drone warfare. Using Actor Network Theory (ANT), primary actors can be analyzed to determine relationships and levels of accountability when drone strikes occur on targets, including attacks on civilians. These primary actors include military commanders, states, drone operators, and software engineers. The science, technology, and society (STS) portion of this capstone covers how current legal frameworks and rules fail to distribute accountability across these primary actors, allowing drone strikes to continue on a large scale. This paper argues that establishing a clear hierarchy of accountability will help prevent civilian harm by ensuring more ethical drone strikes are performed across the sociotechnical system.

BS (Bachelor of Science)

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles; Ethics; Control Systems; PID; Inverted Pendulum; Actor Network Theory

School of Engineering and Applied Science Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technical Advisor: Dr. Michael Momot STS Advisor: Travis Elliott Technical Team Members: Tommy Cianfrani, Sean Dougherty, Kevin Fleischer, Elijah Hernandez, Kenneth Moffet, Lucas Turner

English

All rights reserved by the author (no additional license for public reuse)

2026-05-05