Yet Another Robotic Blimp (YARB)
Frustrated by difficulties in achieving adequate stability with my coaxial and quad flyers, and inspired by the efforts of Chris and Jordi with their BlimpBot project, I commenced yet another attempt to defeat gravity with a robotic entity.
This new project employs a relatively inexpensive 66-inch helium blimp from RC Guys, modified for direct motor control using the H-bridge built into the radio board portion of the SRV-1 Blackfin board set. The build was pretty simple - the only real challenge was in mounting the vectoring servo in the gondola. I would guess that I have spent 2-3 hours total on the build.
I haven't yet mounted my other sensors, but wlll be adding two Maxbotics EZ0 ultrasonic ranging modules (forward and down views) and an HMC6352 compass. First, I need to work out flight controls and invert the video feed, so all testing thus far has been with the blimp tethered.
Here's the first captured (inverted) video from the tethered blimp - it's not very exciting to watch, but I am using the motors to rotate the blimp. Untethered flight should follow in the next 1-2 days.
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Comment by Gareth Farrington on March 9, 2008 at 10:25am -
If you want something really small the Park 180 is only 8.5g. Made for 3x3 direct drive prop.
Personally I have a Park 250 and an Axi 2203. Either can haul a 180g model straight up on a 8x4 prop.
Brushed motors might be better for a blimp because the start and reverse more smoothly. Just something to consider.
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Comment by Howard Gordon on March 9, 2008 at 11:08am -
Thanks for the suggestion. Brushed motors are certainly cheaper, but the Park 180 looks nice. I'll probably try these with some Losi reversible ESC's on YARB v2.0.
By the way, I'm wondering whether I should stick with the "YARB" designation, or change to "YARA" (Yet Another Robotic Airship). Any opinions ?
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3D Robotics Comment by Jordi Muñoz on March 9, 2008 at 12:27pm -
I like your blimp, and the aerodynamics seem to be better (more solid).
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Comment by David McArthur on January 7, 2009 at 10:28pm -
Very nice blimp, we're thinking about basing a blimp off this design for a club project. I was wondering what batteries you went with and how much runtime you get out of the thing.
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Comment by Howard Gordon on January 7, 2009 at 10:54pm
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I have an 800mAh 7.4V LiPoly, and probably get a couple of hours from a full charge.
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Comment by Sam Roesch on June 20, 2010 at 11:39am
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Hi, I'm new to all things floaty, but I'm curious- what are my options if I'm looking to carry a hefty payload? It seems that large blimps for carrying big payloads are expensive. Can weather balloons work as blimps? I want to build a floating boombox, and a battery to power that would be rather heavy for blimps I think.
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Comment by Howard Gordon on June 20, 2010 at 11:57am
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If you just want to float, there are lots of balloon options. If you want the floater to move around under its own power, you will have a different set of challenges. Figure that 1 cubic meter (35 cu-ft) of helium will lift 1 kilogram (2.2lb) payload.
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