First time poster, not quite familiar with this site format so I just selected "Add a topic" please let me know if there is somewhere in particular I should be looking.
I've never built a quad copter but recently I was asked what I would like to build with an Arduino and the first thing I thought of (after seeing a ton of photos of this route) would be a multicopter that can follow me and take video while I rock climb. My problem is that there are usually tons of trees around and I need to be able to detect things like that so the copter doesn't just immediately follow me right into a tree and I don't know what sensors to even begin to look into. I found a few research papers, only one of them seemed promising but it was using LIDAR and I don't think that would be the most economical way of doing this. I looked into SONAR a little but most things I've found just involve placing it under the craft to detect the ground, but I'm going to use this system to detect overhead objects like small tree branches and I haven't found any information regarding that. IR sensors also seem promising but I know that not all objects reflect IR light and I don't want it to fly right into something that was just invisible to the sensors.
Just looking for some advice on where to look, what kind of sensors I should look into, etc. Also, since this is my first multicopter ever, I'd like to know a good place to find out about parts like motors, controllers, props, frames. All the necessities for building a copter, I'm very quick to learn and handy with a soldering iron so I feel confident in being able to build a copter but I don't even know where to begin to look.
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I'm pretty much in the same boat as you but I am looking for a quad to follow me dirt biking, so I figured I'd share my thoughts.
"follow me" mode is now standard in a few flight controllers. You mentioned an Arduino and I would say that you might not want to use a standard Arduino board that isn't specifically designed as an autopilot. It will just save you from doing a bunch of work someone else has already done.
I am worried about buying parts to build myself from the ground up because I don't know enough to know what parts will work together and what parts wont or how any of them will perform or how strong / fast / efficient/ lightweight... they need to be for my application. 3.5v, 5v, 10amp, 20amp, 900kv, 1300kv.......?? I love what the IRIS+ offers out of the box and the price it offers it for but for my purposes it is too big (hard to strap to a bike).
I am now thinking about buying the IRIS+ and building my own frame that has folding arms and moving all the parts onto the new platform.
No matter which route you go you are going to find obstacle avoidance is not really a thing yet. Microsoft just did the keynote at CES about their technology, Real Sense (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn83Psbv61I#t=4m34s). But that is technology being showcased by Microsoft at the CES keynote. It's going to take quite some time for that to trickle down into hobby hands and I have a feeling you are going to want to go climbing again before that happens.
I can understand the value in building yourself from a learning perspective. From a cost perspective (as a complete drone n00b) don't think a self build is economical enough to counter the struggles I will experience trying to get to where my imagination has already gone. I also worry this will be one of those projects that I take on and never complete because it's full of hassles and few rewards starting out.
I am going to buy something and work with that to learn and hopefully getting off the ground right away will be enough to keep me motivated to work through the hard stuff later. Judging by the multiple drones people seem to own this is one of those things where you're first drone likely wont be your last.