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Arduino, ArduPilot, the Store, openpilot, AGGHGH!

Posted by Thomas Finan on December 8, 2011 at 10:15am

Hi all,

Im going to be building my first UAV with an easystar clone in the coming months.  One thing that is really driving me a little crazy is trying to get a handle on the different kinds of boards and how those boards interact with the different software versions and the differences between ArduPilot, for instance, and OpenPilot.  So...bluntly...

1.  Is it possible, advisable, or recommended to purchase a previous generation board that has the basic functions that are needed to construct a UAV?  

2.  The 3D Robotics store sells Arduino Pro Minis...Im assuming that these are not used for Ardupilot, but is there a way to use them for constructing a basic UAV?

3.  I have seen the other types of open source UAVs out there and while I keep coming back to DIYDrones for the best of information, I came across OpenPilot the other day and was curious about their pricing.  It seems they have supply problems, but be that as it may, it seems like a simpler setup. Am I wrong?

I just dont want to make an investment in a package that is out of date, but at the same time I dont feel like I necessarily need EVERY bell and whistle.  any thoughts? 

Thanks very much.

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Replies

  • Thomas Finan December 9, 2011 at 7:30am

    Thanks very much for the clear replies.  They effectively confirm what I suspected!  Now if I can only be patient for the APM v2....!

  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson December 8, 2011 at 2:06pm

    1) The simplest and cheapest option is APM 2.0, which is available for pre-order now. 

    2) Not that I know of

    3) The only OpenPilot board that has been released is CopterControl, which as far as I know is only a RC multicopter controller at the moment (not a fully-autonomous UAV controller, like APM/ArduCopter).

  • Distributor
    UnmannedTechShop.co.uk December 8, 2011 at 1:58pm

    Hi  I can agree that at first it all seems like lots of information to take in... I will try help where I can

    1. I can suggest that you purchase the current generation board (Ardupilot Mega) as it is available now and should be supported for much longer.  The ardupilot mega kit has everything you need for a UAV

    2. You do not need to use an arduino pro mini for your autopilot.  Yes you could use one for a UAV if you realy wanted to but it would require a considerable amount of work

    3. There are many open source UAV's out there but the DIYdrones community is the largest by far, but you can always talk about other autopilots on these forms, but Ardupilot does seem like the most popular at the moment.

    If you are patient you wait a few more months and get the new ArduPilot Mega v2 board as it will be slightly cheaper than the current Ardupilot mega board

    If you have any other questions I will try to help

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