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WEST POINT, N.Y. -- A team of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, supported by researchers from the Robotics Research Center (RRC), are researching drone technology to improve medical resupply operations in difficult and austere environments. Guided by Robotics Research Engineer and Project Advisor Jordan Beason, the effort originated from an operational request by Keller Army Community Hospital to deliver medication autonomously to remote training areas where connectivity is limited and terrain is challenging.
“The project was initially proposed as a research opportunity for EECS cadets,” said Class of 2025 Cadet Anant Sabata, a computer science major who has worked on the project since the previous semester. “Keller approached EECS saying, ‘Hey, we want a drone to take medicine from Keller to (USMAPS) so we don’t have to use Humvees and manpower.’ From there, we broke the project down—platform, tech, and policy—to achieve that goal.”
The project quickly gained momentum due to its immediate practical applications. Beason explained that even in peacetime, delivering medicine to locations like Camp Buckner presents major logistical challenges due to rugged terrain and weak cell coverage.
“Even just in a conventional setting, delivering medicine out there—where USMA owns two zip codes, limited cellphone connection, insane terrain—you’re already running into problems,” Beason said. “Now imagine doing that in a combat scenario.”
From the beginning, cadets were immersed in the development process—not just system deployment. As part of the foundational training, they constructed drones from scratch using carbon fiber frames, motors, and components sourced online.
“Our first project with them last semester was to have them build a drone from the ground up,” Beason said. “Carbon fiber frame, motors, and other parts just from vendors online.”
That hands-on experience was key to giving cadets a deep understanding of drone mechanics before they transitioned to more advanced, autonomous platforms.
“This is a great system—it’s very smart, very capable—but it can hurt you,” Beason said of the $160,000 UAS used in the Keller project. “That’s what I’ve really been pushing hard for them—actually knowing how a drone works, how it’s made, how to fly it manually. And only then can we really upgrade the cadets to these smarter systems.”
Class of 2026 Cadet Daniel Orfao, a Biology major and former Army combat medic, contributed a critical perspective to the project—applying real-world battlefield considerations to the design process.
“Coming from a medic background, I focused less on the tech and more on the application,” Orfao said. “I had concerns about delivering in active zones—what if the drone gets shot down? What if the meds need to be temperature-controlled? It helped us design around those real-world issues.”
Class of 2026 Cadet Jacob Crossman led efforts to ensure the drone payload design complied with HIPAA regulations, helping the team develop a secure delivery system.
“Designing the payload meant making sure only the right people could access it,” Crossman said. “We implemented a lock system with password access, so only the intended recipient could open the payload.”
Cost was another key factor in shaping the team’s approach. While the high-end drone used in the Keller mission included capabilities like thermal imaging, spare kits, and a full ground station, Beason said the hand-built systems cost a fraction of the price.
“This drone costs $160,000 with the full package,” he said. “But these drones here,” he added, pointing to the lab’s student-built aircraft, “we’re talking about $1,000.”
By the end of the semester, cadets weren’t just piloting drones—they were programming them with GPS waypoint missions for fully autonomous navigation.
“Anant was actually flying a drone that he made himself from the ground up,” Beason said. “He was giving it GPS waypoint missions so that it would automatically go to certain areas, drop down, land, and then come back as well.”
Alongside engineering challenges, cadets tackled complex policy and compliance issues. The team initially worked on a custom-built drone, but pivoted to a contracted platform to expedite the airworthiness approval process.
“Policy was our biggest issue,” Sabata said. “We actually switched from a custom-built drone to a contracted one because it had an existing airworthiness memo. That saved us two months of paperwork.”
Gaining approval to operate the drone on campus required senior-level authorization. The cadets had to draft and present a full air mission brief to leadership in Taylor Hall.
“To get approval to do this, the cadets had to make an entire air mission brief, walk it into Taylor Hall, and present in front of the Director of Operations,” Beason said. “So just by nature of what the project entailed, all the people at the highest levels of USMA had to know it was going on. That’s a big reason why it’s getting so much recognition.”
While the Keller request was the catalyst, the research team saw potential applications far beyond West Point.
“We saw Keller’s need operationally, and how many parallels it also had for just big Army in general,” Beason said. “How can we make that operational not just for Keller, but what kinds of things can we develop along the way that’ll make bigger impacts for the Army operationally in the future too?”
The cadets also viewed the project as a learning ground for the roles junior officers will take on in tomorrow’s battlefield—balancing innovation, regulation, and team leadership.
“It’s not just about building stuff,” Sabata said. “It’s about learning what the regulations are, how to work within them, and where you can push the envelope without breaking anything.”
Class of 2026 Cadet Mason Skeeters emphasized the value of interdisciplinary collaboration and leadership under real constraints.
“I’m not a tech guy—I’m a DSS major—but we learned to work as a team, speak each other’s languages, and solve a real-world problem,” he said. “That’s what being a future leader is about.”
With each successful flight test and cleared checkpoint, the team inches closer to enabling a future where autonomous logistics could save lives in combat zones and disaster areas alike.
“We started with a question: how do we get medicine from point A to point B?” the team’s tech lead said. “Everything—policy, tech, mission design—came together to answer that. That’s what innovation in the Army looks like.”
The cadets will present their work at the 2025 West Point Research Symposium, where faculty, military leaders, and industry partners will learn how emerging technology can meet real operational needs through academic collaboration and hands-on experimentation.
This project is part of West Point's 26th annual Projects Day Research Symposium that showcases more than 350 cadet-led research projects. Learn more about the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at https://bit.ly/WP_EECS and check out more project features at https://www.westpoint.edu/werx.
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