Zephyros is our 2026 aircraft, a fixed-wing VTOL tricopter built for autonomous humanitarian aid missions. It’s named after Zephyrus, the Greek god of the west wind.
How it flies
It takes off and lands on three motors. The two front ones tilt from vertical to forward for cruise, and the rear one only runs while it hovers. Tilting the front motors is also how Zephyros yaws, so there’s no need for a fourth motor.
The frame
This was the first year we made our own carbon-fibre tubes. They’re prepreg, cured at 100°C, and the whole frame weighs just under a kilogram.
Autonomy
A Pixhawk runs ArduPilot, and we use Mission Planner to set it up and plan the missions. LiDAR and an airspeed sensor feed the autopilot for take-off, transition, the drop and landing.
Wing and motors
The wing uses a CH10 airfoil, the fuselage is shaped to add lift as well, and the tail is a V-tail. On the test stand each motor made up to 7.9 kg of thrust.
Payload
The water tank is our own design, with baffles inside, a wax-treated waterproof shell and a servo-operated valve. It empties all three litres in under 3.5 seconds. We also worked out a solar wing concept that could recharge the 12-cell battery in about 2 hours 45 minutes of sun.
At the competition
Zephyros won the Rebuild Award at the 2026 IMechE UAS Challenge, with 356 points in total.