What we build
From combat robots to drones — every project is designed, built, and tested by students at Davis.
We design, 3D print, and battle custom 1-lb and 3-lb combat robots in our own arena—and face off against rival universities in collegiate throwdowns! From building custom flippers like Patty to dialing in drivetrains and armor, this subteam is all about designing for combat with strength and durability as the focus.
Bringing industrial manufacturing to the club workbench. We are engineering a multi-axis robotic arm from scratch, complete with custom 3D-printed gearboxes, in-house motor control PCBs designed in KiCad, and smooth inverse kinematics math to give it smooth, precise coordinate control.
Everything built to take to the skies! We construct acrobatic FPV quadcopters and custom fixed-wing RC planes from the ground up, outfitting them with high-power brushless setups, telemetry, and ArduPilot flight controllers for rock-solid stabilization and GPS route navigation.
Ditching heavy gears and drivetrains for raw, instantaneous power. We are building a custom high-performance electric RC chassis using direct-drive brushless hub motors packed right into the wheels, paired with double-wishbone suspension, custom steering geometry, and per-wheel torque vectoring.
A high-flying joint mission with the National Association of Rocketry at UC Davis. We are designing a rugged CanSat rover that will be launched thousands of feet into the sky on a high-power rocket, survives a violent 50G parachute touchdown, and traverses rough desert terrain straight to its GPS coordinates.
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Build with confidence
Check out the ESDC website and sign up for training. Learn how to use mill, lathe, drill press and other tools safely and effectively, and get certified to use the ESDC lab.
