SAMUEL
MAIMAKO

I am a mechanical engineer who enjoys turning unconventional ideas into flying hardware. Somewhere between curiosity and late nights in the lab, I developed a habit of asking a simple question: "What happens if we try this?" — and then building it to find out.

My work focuses on the design, prototyping, and testing of autonomous UAV systems at New Mexico Tech’s Autonomous Flight & Aquatic Systems Laboratory under Prof. Mostafa Hassanalian. I specialize in Mechatronics & Robotic Systems and UAS Design & Optimization.

Over the past few years I have developed 8+ aerial platforms spanning composite fixed-wing swarm UAVs, coaxial inspection drones, monocopters, hybrid VTOL systems, and bio-inspired biomimetic aircraft — working across the full development cycle from conceptual design through fabrication and flight validation. 18 peer-reviewed publications and counting.