The team’s goal was to build a Smart Vertical Axis Wind Turbine for wind tunnel experiments. The design is a lift based, robust, small scale turbine equipped with a sensor and various controllers to control and read in real time the effects of aerodynamic changes. Our turbine is equipped with a gear toothed hall effect sensor for RPM measurements, a brushed DC motor for self-starting capabilities, a linear actuator braking system, and three standard sized servomotors for blade pitching. WindFlux lab will test this vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) in the wind tunnel coming to UT Dallas in the summer of 2017. Our VAWT will be used for wind tunnel tests to experimentally optimize and develop new wind farm VAWT models.