I love my Walkera Ladybird nanocopter, which costs $129 and is incredibly fun to fly. But now you can get a clone for just $49, complete with RC unit. This one does flips, too!
BTW, you should check out all the other crazy microcopters in Walkera's UFO line. This is just a sampling:
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Looking at the ladybirds I have on my desk and at this product, mechanically it's a clear clone. Not "inspired by", but rather an exact copy: see the motor holders/mounts, the center frame design, even the useless little rubber ball thingies at the bottom of the motors are exactly the same (well, they're black instead of white).
I'm guessing they made a cheaper controller (I wonder if it still uses the CYRF radio?) and simplified the electronics a bit (ex. get rid of the full duplex radio/voltage feedback) that the ladybird supports.
The ladybird is really amazing: replaceable motors, commanded at what seems like 400hz with what appears to be a custom-ish FHSS scheme, the PCB has vibration dampeners, full duplex radio.. it's just a very elegant, simple, but functional design, at least from my perspective.
Greg: please explain more.
Johnny: Both "ArduPilot" and "APM" are trademarked. Actually, most of the cloners do the right thing and don't use our name or graphics on the boards themselves (see below). But many do use it as the product name, which is not allowed. Instead, they should be using terms such as "APM-compatible".
Johnny: Yes, anybody can use 3DR's hardware designs and sell them. But they can't use our trademarked names. The right way to do it is the way this Makerbot clone did it, with a different name.
Yes, APM hardware is open-source, but not the trademarked name and logo, which many of the overseas sites seem to forget!
Same goes for calling it the 3dr radio.
Crasher: This is not a "clone" in the "exact copy, including use of trademarked name" sense, which is my objection to some of the APM clones. This one is clearly inspired by the Walkera product, but includes some design and performance innovations of its own. Mea clupa for my loose use of the word.
Thanks John, Any other suggestions on a good copter to practice on or is this as good as any other?
@Randy: yes, those small copters are a bit nervous in the air and harder to fly then bigger ones. So it is good practice.
It needs optical flow. :)
I'm new and currently building a a quad.
Would the $50 ladybug be a good choice to practice?
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