The SPUD project, which stands for Solar Panel Unmanned Decontaminator, was a two semester senior design engineering effort focused on creating an autonomous drone capable of cleaning residential solar panels using a high pressure water system. The goal of the project was to design a safe, reliable, and maintainable solution that restores energy efficiency lost to dust and debris buildup on solar arrays, while reducing the need for homeowners or technicians to physically climb onto rooftops. Over the course of the year, the team developed two major subsystems: a complete water delivery module and a fully integrated hexacopter platform. The water system included a forty gallon tank, a pressure washer, a one hundred fifty foot hose, and a precision forty degree nozzle designed to remove debris without damaging the panel surface. The drone subsystem featured a Pixhawk four flight controller, LiDAR sensor, GPS, telemetry radios, six brushless motors, and custom 3D printed mounts for components such as the battery cage and nozzle assembly. Throughout the project the team built and integrated both MVPs, verified water system performance requirements, and implemented early autonomous behaviors such as building boundary detection and solar panel identification using LiDAR based elevation changes. Although the team was unable to complete full flight testing due to time constraints and an ESC failure late in the semester, the system successfully demonstrated the core engineering concepts behind autonomous solar panel detection and cleaning. Overall this project provided hands on experience in systems engineering, hardware integration, safety focused design, verification planning, and interdisciplinary teamwork while delivering a strong foundation for future development of an autonomous cleaning drone.