Hi, i guess ill start by introducing myself, im a senior in highschool and for years ive loved the concept of what i now know is UAV, ive always tried making stuff fly or drive itself through a "course" or "mission plan" and usually failed, so now ive decided to make it my goal to create a proper (and working) UAV drone.
ok now to start the questioning
1 is it any better to use a helicopter or quad copter over a RC plane? ive been heavily leaning towards the bixler EPO after reading through the list of good starting planes, i understand this is going to cost about 500$ (not including a flight cam) if i go this route (not sure how many people run away after seeing that kind of a price on something they build themselves, i assume alot).
2 with a RC plane can it actually land itself? ive always been curious about that because the program (Ardu drone) seems so straight forward and simple (in a good way), this could just be me being naive of course.
3 any general advice for a new AR drone hobbyist? i havent really decided which route ill take yet and i like to hear peoples opinions.
and this is probably a very stupid questions, does the person who built this
ever come on here? ive seen it a few times in pictures and it pretty much tops my list of "HOLY @#$% THATS AWESOME" RC aircraft, now i have yet to see very many drones but the video of this makes it look like a space thing... any idea how much it would cost to build something like this?
thank you in advanced for you answers! i will continue to scour the website for as much info as i can!
Replies
Brandon, to one of your Qs, a plane can land its' self given a big enough area and a lot of technology. The fact that you ask this question made me think. If you can't land the plane yourself, then you should not launch it in the first place. Planes are much easier than copters to be successful with. You need to be comfortable flying it before you even think about using an autopilot. That's my advise.
This replies might appear out of order. No matter. See below.
"1 is it any better to use a helicopter or quad copter over a RC plane? ive been heavily leaning towards the bixler EPO after reading through the list of good starting planes, i understand this is going to cost about 500$ (not including a flight cam) if i go this route (not sure how many people run away after seeing that kind of a price on something they build themselves, i assume a lot)."
Helicopters are very complex to fly. If you know how to fly them already, go for it. If not, I would not recommend you start with an autopilot. Find an experienced pilot or better, a local RC club. Expect to spend 10-20 hours learning to fly, in tandem, with another pilot, tethered to the ground.
As for quad vs plane, do you fly planes now? If not, see the point about helicopters. But a lot less hard. Some people call them model planes. I'm not sure that is appropriate. They really are airplanes. Same physics, different scale. Only you usually do not die when they crash ;) There is a lot to building planes, even a Bixler. However, unlike the helicopter, I think you can pick up the airplane a lot faster, with less effort, and less help, maybe 4 or 5 times less effort. Still, find a hobby shop, RC club, local pilot, or spend time reading about getting into RC planes, and read the http://www.rcgroups.com/ forum about whichever plane you are building/flying before you fly it. Lots of tips on how to balance the plane, places to put tape or parts to replace to help out, how to setup your servos, etc.
Planes can cost less
Quads will crash often
Both take skill to fly. If the quad is setup and tuned, I think in most cases it takes a lot less (different) skill to fly at a novice level. Helis are expensive and very, very difficult to fly (speaking in general, of collective pitch traditional helis)
But I should have passed on this question, as you'll want to remember (or read in my other replays) that I am only a few steps ahead of you, haven't flown a plane since you were born, and haven't been around a helicopter in about 12 years. Flew one of those, too, for about 30 seconds, but that is me going off topic again ;)
Welcome to the party! Watch out, it is a serious addiction, this aerial robotics stuff!
Hi Brandon,
Welcome to the forums!
I thought I would just add a little to what Mike had posted :)
If you are interested in the ArduCopter above you might want to keep an eye on the movements of one member Jani, he has always got updates on the frames and other ArduCopter "stuff" :)
One of the first questions I ask my customers when I have these questions presented is: How much RC flight experience do you have?
This then takes the chat down many different paths, if you have none, I recommend you go learn with a club to start you off on a good solid understanding of the "how to" with RC planes, the AP's are great but you still need to be able to take full control should the need come about.
The ArduCopter can be bought in both a kit or pre built I sell them here or you can look here, which is Jani's store :)
My personal experience with the ArduCopter was that it was easy to build and fly, I had never had any experience with them before, and was doing slow flights around the garden within 20 min's of programming the APM after the final propeller was tightened. :)
The Mission planner has the "Land" function in the waypoint selection section, I have never used it on my fixed wing craft, however that has just been my choice as I fly in a very small field with little room for error, so like to retain full control on this part.
I have mixed feelings on the AR, it looks fun, but is not going to allow you a great deal of expansion when looking to move up to doing more advanced things, remember the APM can be moved from an ArduCopter to a Plane or a traditional Heli so you have room there to change what you would like to do!
I hope this has helped you some more, please feel free to ask any other questions :)
Regards
Martin
www.buildyourowndrone.co.uk
"3 any general advice for a new AR drone hobbyist? i havent really decided which route ill take yet and i like to hear peoples opinions."
I got one of those, so I would have something to play with while my APM and parts were shipped :) If you are open to it, and can solder, and purchase a radio transmitter, I recommend looking at some of the wifi-less RC mods for the AR.Drone. Nifty little toy. I learned after that for the same general cost, I could get some of the other RC quads on the market.
I could type messages all day, subjecting my poor fellows to endless, and needlessly long posts. But on this question, I will offer just one more thought. These quads are not toys, like the AR.Drone. They have batteries (like all RC gear today) that can catch fire, explode, or melt. They dump 200 times more current in a split second than is needed to stop your heart, and I just finished reading five pages of posts about experienced operators who did not follow (the same) safety step through becoming complaisent and who ended up at the emergency room, with broken computers, broken furniture, and nasty cuts on hands, legs, fingers, that required many stitches or surgery. They are not toys. But if you respect the gear and follow some basic procedures, they are not only fun, but you should be safe. Horror story aside, cutting a bagel, taking a shower, and driving your car are all a lot more dangerous, and the statistic are clear about that. So be careful with the car, read the directions on the wiki, and get ready to have more fun than you should be allowed!
Brandon, that's a standard ArduCopter and it's what many of us fly all the time. You can buy it in kit or pre-assembled from several retailers. It's made by Jdrones.
"2 with a RC plane can it actually land itself? ive always been curious about that because the program (Ardu drone) seems so straight forward and simple (in a good way), this could just be me being naive of course"
Major disclaimer: my airplanes haven't flown yet. In fact, I haven't flown *any* planes of any kind, RC or otherwise, since I was 14 years old, when I landed a Cesna after doing acrobatics over the everglades. I flew it once, and landed it three times, once for each of the gear. But the pilot seemed to thing it was a good first landing, and never took control. And no one but me ... but I have a tenancy to go off thread :)
Yes, as far as I have seen, it can land itself. Under the right conditions. At least I have heard people talk about doing it. My impression is that most flights are manual launch, manual land, with some automatic flight in between, and a mix of other flight modes. But that is just my impression. The long and short: plan to learn how to fly. The APM, as great as it is, should not be the only pilot on the field with your aircraft. But do not put too much stock in me. Re-read the story above. That is my last flight experience with any plane.
"How much would it cost to build that thing? [AC2]"
Yourself? Let's see...
in that picture, its an AC2, oddly blue motors, red arm, Xbee, and battery.
APM/IMU $250
Magnetometer ~ $45
Xbee telemetry $150
3S 2200 30C battery $19
Red Paint (for arm) $4
Blue and black paint (for normally purple motors) $8
AC2 frame kit $170 (or you can get the nifty new 3DR frame, also $170)
Not in photo:
RC Transmitter/RX $60 (for a low end but 9 channel version, you can spend as much as you want on a TX/RX)
Spare Parts $50 (because you will break props at least)
Battery Charger n AC $45
You can also get the quad pre-built for $860 if you do not want to build it, or you can get various different prices and deals with the kit and motors, or the kit, motors and APM, or just the frame kit, etc. See the "Store" for packages. You will still need a computer (you are on one now, right?), a transmitter/rx pair - at least 6 channels recommended, and a battery and charger.
So for my shopping list, overall cost is about $789 (without the paint) or to compare apples to apples, about $615 for the stuff you get in the picture, pre-assembled for $860 (to which you should, in both cases, add the transmitter/rx, battery, charger, and spare parts) - Yes, in general, quads are more expensive than the lower cost planes. Consider, they have four motors, four speed controllers, and a lot of fancy sensors to fly at all, never mind the autopilot.
Now, more questions....
Brandon,
Welcome to the community!
As a fellow newbie, I am in a good position to answer some of your questions, not with authority, but as someone who is just a few footsteps ahead of you. With that in mind, allow me to provide just one person's replies to your questions. If you are lucky, they will be balanced with someone with actual experience.
Last question first - "does the person who built this [AC2 photo] ever come on here?"
Well, yes! But you should know that AC2 is a community effort. Jason Short writes and releases software for the AC2 daily, and he is just one of an active community of developers here, working together. In my time here, he has been the most obviously active author of code on the AC2, and Michael Osborne on Mission Planner, and HappyKillmore on HK Ground Control. All three are on here, posting, talking, commenting, answering questions, and often hourly. As to hardware, members of the diydrones store, affiliate and non-affliate stores (jdrones, udrones, buildyourowndrone.co.uk, and many more) are also on here daily. And the AC2 is the "stock" platform, you will also find litterally hundreds of traditional and far out builds here, often more than one per day.
But let me also mention another person who is here hourly. Chris Anderson, who formed this community, who presented the concept at TED, and who has a boring day job, is not only here frequently, he often answers new forum posts personally, and often before anyone else has a chance to do so.
So .... yes! And welcome! Now.... your other questions....