Join the team
All standings.
All majors. All welcome.
You don't need to have built a drone before — you need to want to. We take members from every academic standing and every major, and we recruit each quarter.
Where you could work
Build the airframe
Testbed and structures design, propulsion integration, and hardware system integration.
Design the electronics
Flight-controller, power-supply, and ESC PCB design, plus electrical systems integration.
Run the controllers
Peripherals, flight-control integration, the ground station, comms, and parameter tuning.
Decide where to go
Flight and user trajectory planning, multi-agent coordination, and flight-computer software.
Give it eyes
Camera integration, visual detection, SLAM, and mapping.
Keep the RSO running
Onboarding, outreach, grants and sponsorships, budgeting, and membership policy.
How it works
Apply
Fill out the membership application on this page. Returning members and new applicants take different paths — the form will route you.
Pick a direction
Tell us whether you lean Mechanical, Avionics, Firmware, Autonomy, Perception, or Business — or that you’re not sure yet. We’ll help you find where you fit.
Build
Get hands-on right away: real drones, real subsystems, real competition deadlines.
Questions? Reach us at washingtonaerialrobotics@gmail.com.
Application
Membership form
Washington Aerial Robotics was founded in Spring 2025 to give students a place to build autonomous drones and develop real design skills — with IARC as the goal. Use your UW email.
Six subteams: Mechanical (structures, testbed, propulsion, hardware integration), Avionics (flight-controller, power, and ESC PCBs), Firmware (flight-control software, ground station, comms, tuning), Autonomy (planning, multi-agent coordination, flight computer), Perception (cameras, detection, SLAM, mapping), and Business (onboarding, outreach, sponsorships, budget).
Expect a 1-hour all-team meeting every other week, a 1-hour subteam meeting each week, ownership of your tasks, and proactive communication.