I've been fascinated by drones for quite some time, but have recently had the opportunity to join a university engineering team and we're looking to develop some sort of drone component. We've had a few great ideas so far, but we want to do some more research by asking actual thought leaders and seasoned hobbyists.
I want to hear what really pains you about drones. What would make your life easier? How can we build something to fix your problems? Also, I'm very open to having a Skype call!
Replies
Multirotor airbags, propellers, better quality/strength neodymium magnets in motors , vibration dampening and of course flight time(power).
After reading the preceeding posts, my wishes in order are:
A handheld ground station that has a tablet/monitor for mission planner, high quality sticks and switches for manual flight, 2 way communication for telemetry/feedback, and only a single frequency/antenna, select-able by installing a new module. I think using a radio module (like 3dr or RFD900) should work. It just needs the quality sticks and switches to be able to be integrated into the tablet. The tablet can already talk to the radio module.
cross between this: Link
and this: Link and this Link but without the price tag.
Encryption capabilities on the radio and video transmission.
The next on the list would be feedback from the motors and ESCs.
A lighter, but bigger size battery. Efficiency!
Next would be HD video transmission with range.
The current state of HD video wireless transmission.
Need a non proprietary, non FC dependent (unlike DJI lightbridge) HD video wireless link with integrated osd telemetry, working with any camera that has hdmi out.
1. the crap video downlink quality. I want digital everything and I want it now! having to mix and match 3 different radio systems, all whilst staying legal is also a pain.
2. there's a great 'big data' opportunity since everyone flying is generating a flight log of some sort. I wish it could all be mined for universal metrics such as which airframes are better and why, or what the typical mission types are so that designers can make the right trade-offs.
Other than that I'm pleased with all the challenges that can be solved with the help of the great community.
My list is easy. A drone that can stay in the air for 2 hours don't fall out of the sky when motor or esc fails oh almost forgot that don't fly away.
About the only thing that hasn't been asked for yet is ... A Shiny Drone made out of Shinanium.
Relatively no advancement in basic ESC design or reliability. Is paying $50+ for a "special" ESC that much better than $15 ones? 600 mhz.....really, for what?
And as Gary states, there are no thrust bearings or at least angular on motors I'm aware of.
Hobby grade rovers are IMHO the least popular and therefore don't get the software/hardware development attention I'd like to see. Specifically, copters can do amazing things autonomously with the new Pix4flow... while rovers are still quite blind to anything past several meters unless of course you can afford a SICK laser.
Hey Rob - the protection of my financial investment. I purchase the goods from ABC, mount and install them and still don't feel secure putting my $$'s in the air. I think this translates to crisis management(that OH Shi.... moment) or bi directional reporting of all my $$'s in the air - motors OK - running cool - RPM OK, ESC's running cool - CPU healthy, airbags, parachute OK ect.
This is my gripe. Asset protection and reaction if something goes upstream.
Antonie
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