Fewer parts.
More flight.
I'm Joe Renteria. I design underactuated machines, products and websites. Simple mechanisms can do complex tasks with the right software.
One moving piece
is a perfect score.
A low moving-parts count is the greatest measure of value in mechanical design. High-value, innovative work will initially look stupid and fail. Low-value, unimaginative work looks solid and flies as expected.
Drive motors are always required in a propulsion system; everything else should be eliminated where possible. The goal: the perfect balance of multirotor simplicity and rotorcraft performance.
Prove it small
Find the minimum prototype that proves or disproves the concept, then build exactly that.
Hardware in hand
Physically test real parts and redesign quickly. Iterate, don't speculate.
Fail fast
Explore possibilities, fail fast and keep moving forward.
Inventions, products
& pixels.
Pterosaur RC VTOL
A ready-to-fly RC tiltrotor that hovers like a multirotor and flies like a plane, with no servos. $49.50 at Electron RC.
SCOPIC
Shaft Controlled Pitch Change: collective and/or cyclic blade pitch with no actuators, linkages or swashplate. Shaft drive and pitch both come from direct-drive motors.
TORC
Torque Operated Rotor Control: tiltable rotors and variable-pitch blades driven by motor torque and set by motor direction.
PTERO
Passive Tilt Electric Rotor: a mechanically simple tiltrotor where rotors tilt with differential thrust, gravity and relative wind.
Pterodactyl FPV VTOL
An FPV-ready VTOL platform built on PTERO passive tilt.
dRehmFlight flight controller PCB
A Teensy 4.0 breakout board for the open-source dRehmFlight VTOL flight controller.
wordy.page
A free, simple web page builder: build a mobile-friendly page on your phone in minutes. No password, no app.
Neon Brick
My website design studio in Red Lion, PA: custom business sites and Shopify stores, with a free mockup before you pay.
The range.
- MAY 2021 – PRESENTFounder, Electron Flight LLCR&D company developing underactuated eVTOL propulsion systems: research, concept, design, fabrication, testing and IP.
- MARCH 2024 – PRESENTProduct Design, American RoboticsRapid build/rebuild FDM-optimized target aircraft, demo hardware and UAS, field prototypes, RF, fiber optic and radar integration.
- SEPT 2023 – MARCH 2024Technician, DJIAssembly, diagnostics and repair of commercial-grade products.
- DEC 2007 – MAY 2021Driver/Trainer, McLane FoodserviceBuilding and flying prototypes on the side.
Education
Flatiron School: Software Engineering (2021) · Cal State Fullerton: BA Radio/TV/Film (2007) · Mt San Jacinto College: AA Multimedia, 3D modeling and animation
Skill sets
Patents
U.S. 12,134,467 (TORC) · U.S. 12,043,377 (PTERO) · U.S. 11,634,211 B2 (Powered Lift) · SCOPIC patent pending · Published applications: US20230356832A1, US20210371097A1 (eVTOL Propulsion System)
Trained in film (BA, Radio/TV/Film) and 3D modeling and animation (AA, Multimedia), I design machines that fly, the products that carry them, and the websites that sell them, from Red Lion, Pennsylvania.
Let's build
something simple.
joe@electronflight.com
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