3D Robotics Comment by Chris Anderson on June 18, 2012 at 3:13pm

I was one of those who lost orientation in the high wind and crashed a few times (I really must learn to fly in Simple Mode!). But on a positive note, in one case I lost orientation and was being blown downwind to the point that I couldn't even see the direction of motion anymore and thought I was going to lose the copter. So I just switched it into RTL mode and it flew home perfectly!!! RTL is such a lifesaver. (Sadly, when I switched it back into manual, my terrible flying skills kicked in again and I hit a tree, but at least it was right in front of me so I didn't lose anything).

Comment by Phillip Jones on June 18, 2012 at 8:30pm

Question for the judges: Does the timer start when the rotor starts? or does the timer start when the vehicle leaves the ground? That distinction might determine the winner! ;-)

Here's a screenshot from my run:

Purple line is the predicted path, yellow line is the actual path (windy!!)

Auto-takeoff, but not auto-land. Time is seconds since the onboard computer booted, sent at 5Hz to the ground station (0.2 second resolution). There is a 20 second delay from rotor start to takeoff (big blades need a bit of time to spool up)

T_rotorstart=629.2

T_takeoff=649.2

T_rotorstop=811.2

course completed in 1:50, but I took some time on the landing... so

Total Flight Time = 2:42

Total time from start rotor command to stop rotor command = 3:02

Distance from landing target: 2 paces

Developer Comment by R_Lefebvre on June 19, 2012 at 6:07am

Phillip, that was a helicopter?  Which one?  Looks like it did REALLY well!

Comment by Phillip Jones on June 19, 2012 at 8:55am

It's a Whiplash by Miniature Aircraft (Doug got it right - a 700 class electric helicopter). 

Did I mention that I forgot to bring the R/C transmitter? So the flight was all autopilot with no backup system!

Developer Comment by R_Lefebvre on June 19, 2012 at 9:09am

What was the autopilot system, Arducopter?!

Comment by Phillip Jones on June 19, 2012 at 9:11am

It's custom. This is my day job :-)

Comment by Jack on June 19, 2012 at 9:20am

I had a great time meeting all the Dev. Team. It was a great show of people and very interesting and educational to fly in that kind of wind. I had flown FPV in wind alot but not the strong of a wind. I was just flying FPV all day and had an extra set of goggles were people could go along for the ride. There were a few casses flying in stable mode that full forword and almost full throttle would just make headway back into the wind. I will post some video of some of the flights as soon as I unpack and check the video. Also note I was flying a Hex and a Quad both on APM2 2.6 firmware default PIDs except stab P lowered slightly, And was using Ardustation with Heino,s new R15 with Mav. 1.0 for telem and antenna tracking.  All worked great will post some video hopefuly tomorrow.

Jack Dunkle

3D Robotics Comment by Chris Anderson on June 19, 2012 at 9:22am

Phillip's heli was AMAZING. Super powerful and all auto/joystick controlled. It's part of a $350,000 setup, so very much not hobby class ;-)

3D Robotics Comment by Chris Anderson on June 19, 2012 at 9:28am

Jack's FPV setup was the best I've ever seen, including twin video goggles and a mini monitor on the RC Tx.

Awesome custom installation of ArduStation with an autotracking antenna:

Comment by Phillip Jones on June 19, 2012 at 9:28am

To clarify slightly, the one I flew at the rodeo is the testing platform for the $350k version. My profile picture is of the more expensive helicopter -- with laptop ground station in the corner for scale. We're about 2 months away from first-flight on that system.

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