Ohio State The Sloopy Works STUART (technology demonstrator)

(Image credit: The Sloopy Works)

STUART (technology demonstrator)
The Sloopy Works
Depart of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio, USA
www.linkedin.com/company/the-sloopy-works-goaero

Founded in 1870, The Ohio State University is a public research university and is located in Columbus, Ohio, USA. The Sloopy Works is the university’s team name competing in the GoAERO Prize competition. The team is comprised of students in the Depart of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. In 1965, The McCoys had a #1 hit with the song “Hang On Sloopy.” It soon became the unofficial anthem of The Ohio State University marching band. This is why the team decided on their team name. The team won the GoAERO Stage 1 award in 2025 and was one of 14 NASA University Innovation Award winners. The team hope their efforts will also help the nascent advance air mobility (AAM) industry to gain more traction.

Dr. Kevin Disotell is the team lead and the team members include, Dr. Matthew McCrink, Spencer Berry, Alyssa Brucchieri, Varun Chitiveli, Aditya Chittari, Jude Gill, Leah Hall, Alex Holthouse, Waleed Jamshaid, Rachel Jarvis, Carson Nietert, Jace Park, Anthony Pisano, Arushi Sharma, Julia Taylor and Beibei Wang.

Jace Park, a senior aerospace engineering major and student president of The Sloopy Works states, " Recent events, including natural disasters and wars, have strengthened my resolve to help those in danger, whether by transporting cargo, essential supplies, or wounded individuals. We anticipate more wildfires around the globe, so we must be prepared.

Julia Taylor, who is a doctoral student in aerospace engineering working jointly with Ohio State’s Center for Automotive Research and Center for Aviation Studies, agrees with her teammate. She says that what excites her most about the GoAERO competition is “the prospect of seeing what you design come to life and then to show the potential of saving lives with it. I don’t think there’s much that can beat how cool aircraft are and especially to help vulnerable people.”

Small Transportable Uncrewed Aerial Rescue Technology (STUART) subscale hybrid-electric VTOL technology demonstrator
The Small Transportable Uncrewed Aerial Rescue Technology (STUART) is a 35% subscale hybrid-electric VTOL technology demonstrator. The team applied for and had an FAA tail number registered for the aircraft with the tail number N614SW. The technology demonstrator has an actual cargo hold. The team received $28,571 USD GoAERO Prize competition to build a working prototype

The aircraft was remotely piloted and has eight propellers inside of four ducted fans and there are eight electric motors. Two stacked contra-rotating fixed-pitch propellers are inside each shrouded duct. The aircraft has a hybrid-electric power source. The fuselage is made from carbon fiber composite to give the aircraft a high strength to low weight ratio. The team possibly also used some aircraft aluminum for the aircraft. The aircraft will have fixed quadricycle strut landing gear.

A wind tunnel test campaign was conducted in 2025 with the subscale STUART aircraft at the new Honda North American Aeroacoustic Wind Tunnel in East Liberty, Ohio, USA. The wind tunnel opened on March 21, 2022 and according to wind tunnel's website, the facility is named the HALO Wind Tunnel (Honda Automotive Laboratories of Ohio). The closed-return wind tunnel can create wind speeds up to 193 mph (310 km/h or 167 knots). The team's objective was to record measurements of the aircraft's aerodynamics and acoustics in a controlled environment. 

On September 25, 2025, a minimum flight capability test was conducted at The Ohio State University Airport (KOSU) on a simple out-and-back mission to a target 100 ft (30.5 m) away from takeoff location. Air density at the location was 1.163 kg/m3. The vehicle achieved a height of 16 ft (5 m) above ground level (AGL) with an average forward speed of 1.5 m/s (2.9 knots), covering a total distance of 262 ft (80 m). The successful flight demonstration provided valuable engineering data according to the team leader.

Hover corresponded to a current load of ~290 A and 14 kW (18.7 hp), which increased to 300 A and 15 kW (20.1 hp) during the forward flight leg. At hover, this power loading gives an overall vehicle thrust coefficient CT=0.05 and power coefficient CP=0.00026, assuming an electrical efficiency of 85% per manufacturer data. With some assumptions on the overall duct efficiency, a vehicle figure of merit (measure of hover power efficiency) of 0.3 was estimated. Scaling to the full-scale vehicle gives a power requirement of approximately 380 kW (510 hp) in hover, well below the design target of 490 kW (657 hp) from the envisioned full-scale hybrid-electric system.

The team used ducted propellers to protects personnel from propeller strikes or from propellers being struck by foreign objects. The team decided the safety of ducted propellers outweighed any added weight and drag of the propeller ducts. One of the key design features of the aircraft was its ability to be rapidly assembled and deployed from a large flat-bed truck or large trailer. The aircraft will have autonomous piloting having the ability to conduct search and rescue in real-time and in extreme weather and emergency situations. 

About the GoAERO Prize Competition
The GoAERO Prize, sponsored by Boeing, is a three year competition (2024-2027) offering over $2 million USD in prizes that challenges engineers worldwide to create portable, versatile and autonomy-enabled Emergency Response Aircraft that address not only everyday medical emergencies but also to be used in natural disasters, humanitarian emergencies and climate crises worldwide. Each team designs and builds autonomous Emergency Response aircraft capable of delivering a first responder, medical equipment and supplies and ultimately evacuating victims in need to a rescue ambulance or hospital.

More than 150 teams from around the globe are competing for the GoAero prizes. The GoFly and GoAERO prizes were developed by Boeing and other organizations to help the nascent advanced air mobility (AAM) industry move forward.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: Subscale hybrid-electric VTOL prototype aircraft
• Piloting: Remote control
• Capacity: None. 35% subscale aircraft.
• Cruise speed: Unknown
• Maximum takeoff weight: 120.26 lb (54.55 kg)
• Propellers: 4 ducted fans, 8 stacked contra-rotating fixed-pitch propellers (2 coaxial contra-rotating propellers in each movable duct)
• Electric motors: 8 electric motors
• Power source: Hybrid-electric power source
• Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite and possibly used some aircraft aluminum
• Landing gear: Fixed quadricycle strut landing gear
• Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) uses multiple propellers or electric ducted fans, each powered by electric motors, to increase safety through redundancy. If one or more components fail, the remaining ones can still ensure a safe landing. There are also redundancies of critical components in the sub-systems of the aircraft providing safety through redundancy. Having multiple redundant systems on any aircraft decreases having any single point of failure. Using ducted propellers protects personnel from propeller strikes or from propellers being struck by foreign objects. The team decided the safety of ducted propellers outweighed any added weight and drag of the propeller ducts.

Related Aircraft:

• Ohio State University The Sloopy Works STUART (concept design)

Company Insights:

• CB Insights
• Ohio State University Student Activities GoAero Sloopy Works

Resources:

• Ohio State University website
• Ohio State University, Depart of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering website
• The Sloopy Works YouTube
• The Sloopy Works LinkedIn
• Article: Autonomous rescue by sky, Ohio State University, Dec. 3, 2024
• Article: Stage 1 Winners, GoAero, Feb. 2025
• Article: Emergency rescue aircraft team at Ohio State wins NASA university innovation funding, Ohio State University, Depart of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Feb. 11, 2025
• Article: GoAERO Announces Eleven Stage 1 Winners, Aero News Network, Feb. 16, 2025
• Article: GoAERO Global Emergency Response Flyer Competition Announces $500,000 of Awards to Innovators Worldwide with Support from Boeing, NASA, RTX, and Honeywell, GoAero, Feb. 18, 2025
• Article: GoAERO Awards $500,000 to Stage 1 Teams, Vertiflite Magazine, Mar/Apr 2025
• Video: STUART Drone at Ohio State: 35% Scaled Flight Demonstrator, The Sloopy Works at Ohio State, Jan. 22, 2026
• Article: At Ohio State, the race to reshape emergency rescue tech is on, Ohio State News, Mar. 2, 2026
• Video: Ohio State students build drone to help deliver medical supplies, 10 WBNS, Mar. 17, 2026
• Article: Meet the Teams: The Sloopy Works of The Ohio State University, GoAero, Mar. 20, 2026