When I gain 14 more youtube subscribers youtube will allow me to use their Live Feed Feature. When that happens i'm going to start posting 4-6 live stream youtube sessions a week. The subjects of the Live Casts will include tutorials on how to use free CAD software to make blueprints/schematics for your drone projects. The Live Sessions are going to be predetermined for the week and anyone who is interested is more then welcome to join the sessions and voice your opinions on a variety of subjects and also if your new to drones you will enjoy my Live Tutorials on Drones for beginners! Live youtube sessions allow for Live Viewers to engage in live chat with me and other users while my Live Casts is in session. It also saves all the conversation/chat to be read at a later time.
Joshua Johnson's Posts (88)
Sort by
http://portlandtribune.com/pt/11-features/161579-flight-plan-set-for-diy-drones
by: PHOTO BY JONATHAN HOUSE - Patrick Sherman, left, catches the drone, while Brian Zvaigzne, holding the goggles and the controller, looks on. The two men were flying the drone near a natural area in Wilsonville.
Patrick Sherman and Brian Zvaigzne want to make a couple of things clear about their drone.
First, they fly drones as a hobby, not a business. Sherman and Zvaigzne don’t get paid for any of the activities they engage in. (It’s an important distinction).
Second, they are not spying on anyone on the ground. “Our drone can’t see through walls or windows, and it cannot hear what you are saying,” Zvaigzne says, noting that drones sound like “flying lawnmowers,” so they are not going to be sneaking up on people.
The two Tigard residents and drone hobbyists plan to make a zany presentation titled, “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Drones,” at 11 a.m. Saturday at Portland’s Mini Maker Faire in OMSI’s north parking lot.
Sherman is an administrative analyst for the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. Zvaigzne is a small-business owner.
Although they have a website, www.Roswellflighttestcrew.com, Sherman and Zvaigzne say because they aren’t paid for flying the drone, they do not need a license from the Federal Aviation Agency to fly the radio-controlled aircraft, but they must follow certain guidelines.
Portland’s Mini Maker Faire Saturday and Sunday is a “showcase of invention and creativity,” says Andrea Middleton, OMSI events director.
Middleton noted that the event is called a “mini faire,” because the original Maker Faire in the San Francisco area features 800 to 1,000 makers.
What has impressed her most about the more than 100 participants in the Portland event is “the sheer variety. We have robots, rockets and crafts — we even have a guy who has wrapped his car in yarn.”
The event is family friendly, and will be enjoyed by late elementary school and high school students and adults, she says.
Sherman says that after their presentation Saturday morning, the two men will set up their equipment and give people “drone rides,” by letting them put on goggles and follow the drone’s progress as it flies over the Willamette River.
They are expecting a group of like-minded people to be at the OMSI event, Zvaigzne says, adding that the faire will be made up of “extreme do-it-yourself people. If you can make it, people are doing it.”
by: TIMES PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE - Brian Zvaigzne and Patrick Sherman have used the drone they built to aid first responders and perform scientific research.
Zvaigzne and Sherman first became serious about radio-controlled aircraft about two-and-a-half years ago. They built their “hexicopter,” a six-rotor helicopter, from scratch, using a bright yellow upturned Rubbermaid mixing bowl, six motors, propellers, a flight controller and other components, most of which were purchased online.
“A couple of years ago, local hobby shop owners looked at us funny when we asked about parts, but now they stock them,” Zvaigzne says.
The craft is powered by a lithium-polymer battery that is standard for radio-controlled cars and airplanes, Zvaigzne says, adding that their drones can fly five to 10 minutes before the battery needs to be recharged.
A key component of their drone is a camera, made by FLIR Systems, the Wilsonville company that began making infrared-imaging systems in 1978. Many fire departments across the nation use FLIR cameras to find people trapped in burning buildings.
“We are incredibly fortunate that FLIR is in Wilsonville. We make videos explaining how we do things, and they stumbled on our website and provided us with one of their cameras,” Sherman says.
The camera allows the drone to record both in visible light and thermal images, and it is the latter that is so crucial.
“The camera can see the heat coming off objects, which is useful when the drone is participating in search and rescue missions, because it can spot the humans right away,” Sherman says.
Research and rescue
“Drones have gotten a bad rap from stories about military drones dropping missiles on people,” Sherman says. “But our interest is in scientific research and helping first responders.”
In April, Sherman and Zvaigzne flew to West Virginia to work on a University of West Virginia river-restoration project.
The Cheat River is a native brook trout stream, and the trout thrive in colder water, “but you can’t tell just by looking at the river where the cooler springs, seeps and tributaries come in. We flew the thermal imager over the river and found those places with extreme precision,” Sherman says.
As for helping first responders, it is in the realm of public safety that the two men and their drone have made some great strides.
They flew the drone during a controlled burn of an apartment complex in Longview, Wash., and assisted Portland Fire & Rescue with a controlled woodland burn in North Portland.
by: TIMES PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE - Rather than buy a drone, Patrick Sherman and Brian Zvaigzne of Tigard decided to make their own.
On Aug. 7 and 8, Sherman and Zvaigzne worked with Eugene Fire and EMS, on a three-story burn house, a river-search scenario and a hazardous-spill scenario.
During the spill exercise, the fire chief directed them to fly over a nearby stationary train, and in an unplanned demonstration of the drone’s capability, it detected that one of the rail cars was emitting heat.
“We zeroed in on the car and switched to thermal imaging. We then were able to read the placard on the car and discovered that it was carrying molten phenol. We inspected the valves on top and there was no leaking. It was perfectly safe,” Zvaigzne says. (Phenol is
always shipped hot).
In this situation, no laws were broken and the railcar did not pose a hazard to anyone. But in real, potentially hazardous conditions, without the drone it would have taken “a dozen firefighters an hour to get the same information it took us two minutes to get. Hazardous material spills are a deadly threat to the public and first responders,” Sherman says.
- 3D Robotics RTF MultiCopter Iris -
Iris Teaser Video
Iris details: #1 The 4-1 ESC/Power Module
Iris Details: #2 Injection molded arms and Legs
Iris Details: #3 The camera attachment
Iris Details: #4 Android Apps Overview
Overview of PX4 and Pixhawk Board Series
- 3D Robotics Pixhawk -
What's LinkedIn you may be asking yourself?!
LinkedIn is a social networking website for students, and people in every occupation. You can connect and social network with all sorts of people that are professionals in your industry or field of study.
What kind of members on DiyDrones.com could benefit from connecting with fellow Diy Drones Members?!
Everyone!
- Student's aged 16-50+ can benefit from it because they can connect with people and find jobs, internships, and create relationships with people who will hire you or connect you with people who will
- Professionals in every industry (Robotics, Engineering, Biology, Agriculture, etc) can benefit from all the connections with possible interns and potential employees
Connect with me on LinkedIn and I will go through your Diy Drones Profile and view the content you have submitted (Discussions, Blogs, responses) and endorse all the skills that I think you possess. I'm very passionate about how much LinkedIn can help all my fellow Diy Drones members. So I'm willing to volunteer a lot of my free time to help Diy Drones members set up professional looking LinkedIn profiles and help you connect with the type of people that you need to become successful in whatever industry that you're in. You can connect with me on LinkedIn by Clicking on the www.LinkedIn.com/in/diydrones link at the top of the blog or the LinkedIn Button at the top.
Welcome to DroneCafe.com a place to hang out and talk about any drone topics including military applications, civillian applications, drone news Politics, etc. We've added a few new additions that include:
- Drone Cafe Chat Room (IRC Based)
- Drone Cafe Skype Chat Room
- Weekly Polls to allow members to determine the direction/development of the website at all times
- Forum set up to archive the chat room conversations daily so if anyone wants to go back and read a previous chat room conversation this will be possible :)
- Sharing awesome DIYDrones.com Content in the forums and setting Diy Drones content into personal categories to allow Drone Cafe users to easily find Diy Drones links and content while their enjoying their time on Drone Cafe
- No longer in beta testing mode. Now we're currently fully up and operational
- Vimeo Video Integration
- Sign in using social media accounts (Twitter,Facebook,Gmail, Linkedin, etc (will be finished Wednesday 7/24/2013 before 5PM CST
The Cafe
Weekly Poll #1
Thanks for checking out DroneCafe.com and what it has to offer :)
Hey Folks,
I'm currently working on DroneCafe.com to provide people with a place to hangout and talk about drone politics/politicians, drone/robotics news, and also a place to openly talk about militarized drones. This website is more for entertainment and not tech based or open source based like DIY Drones allowing for you to discuss things on DroneCafe.com that have no place/business being posted or discussed on DIYDrones.com!
Feel free to make an account on DroneCafe.com and mess around with blogs/photos/forums/etc! It will help me get an idea on how I should finish setting up the website. Also you can check out Ning 3.0 which is what DIY Drones will be migrating to very soon. Ning 3.0 also allows for very easy posting of Vimeo videos so you can test that out if you are an avid Vimeo uploader
Take it easy DIYDrones.com,
Joshua Johnson (DIY Drones News)
It's customary and a tradition that we celebrate every new 1,000 members here and share the traffic stats. This time it's 40,000!!!!
There were 2 million page views in the last month! (we get around 62,000 pageviews a day on average). It took us just 25 days to get this latest 1,000 members--we're averaging one new member every 35 minutes.
Thanks as always to all the community members who make this growth possible, and especially the moderators who approve blog posts and otherwise answer questions and keep things ticking here.
Best Wishes,
Joshua Johnson - (Assistant Administrator)
By Evan Ackerman
Posted 6 Jun 2013 | 14:48 GMT
We hear about lots of robots that could potentially be used for "search and rescue" or "disaster relief," because that's kind of what you say when you've made a robot that doesn't have a commercial or military application but you still need to come up with some task that it might be useful for. It's much rarer that we see these robots actually performing search and rescue or disaster relief tasks, which is why it's especially nice to see this firefighting robot from UCSD doing something that firefighters would find immediately useful.
The UCSD robot is called FFR for "firefighting robot," although FLR for "firelocating robot" might be more technically correct. The robot uses a stereo camera and a thermal camera to generate 3D pointclouds with thermal overlays, allowing the robot to autonomously generate maps showing hot spots and humans even through smoke. The sensor hardware on board the robots doesn't look especially complex, meaning that the 'bots might ultimately become inexpensive (and replaceable) enough to deploy in swarms. So, instead of running around burning buildings looking for people, firefighters can just deploy a bunch of robots first, and rapidly build up a thermal map telling them where to go.
Incidentally, that nifty stair climbing system is something we first wrote about back in 2009, and it's great to see that it's been turned into something useful. Now, if they'd just give iFling some water balloons, it really could be a firefighting robot.
This video demonstrates a new robotic bird, "Robo Raven," whose wings flap completely independently of each other, and also can be programmed to perform any desired motion, enabling the bird to perform aerobatic maneuvers. This is the first time a robotic bird with these capabilities has been built and successfully flown. 'Robo Raven', developed by University of Maryland Professors S. K. Gupta and Hugh Bruck and their students uses two programmable motors that can be synchronized electronically to coordinate motion between the wings. 'Robo Raven' can now be programmed to any desired motion patterns for the wings which allows new in-flight aerobatics—like diving and rolling—that would have not been possible before, bringing the 'Robo Raven' team a big step closer to faithfully reproducing the way real birds fly.
The Maryland Robotics Center is an interdisciplinary research center housed in the Institute for Systems Research within the
A. James Clark School of Engineering. The mission of the center is to advance robotic systems, underlying component technologies, and applications of robotics through research and educational programs that are interdisciplinary in nature and based on a systems approach.
The center's research activities include all aspects of robotics including development of component technologies (e.g., sensors, actuators, structures, and communication), novel robotic platforms, and intelligence and autonomy for robotic systems. The center consists of faculty members spanning the following academic departments: Aerospace Engineering, Bioengineering, Biology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Kinesiology and Mechanical Engineering. Research projects in the center are supported by the major federal funding agencies including NSF, ARO, ARL, ONR, AFOSR, NIH, DARPA, NASA, and NIST.
Current research areas
. Collaborative, Cooperative, Networked Robotics:bio-inspired robotics concepts, time-delayed robotics, robotic swarms, robotic cooperation under limited communication, and distributed robotics.
. Medical Robotics: MRI-compatible surgical robotics, haptics-enabled AFM, exoskeletons for rehabilitation, and magnetic micromanipulation for drug delivery.
. Miniature Robotics: mesoscale robots; bio-inspired sensing, actuation, and locomotion; cell manipulation (optical, AFM based, and micro fluidics); and micro and nano manipulation (optical and magnetic).
. Robotics for Extreme Environments: space robotics and autonomous deep-submergence sampling systems.
. Unmanned Vehicles: micro air vehicles, unmanned sea surface vehicles, unmanned underwater vehicles, and planetary surface rovers.
SYDNEY |
(Reuters) - Moving carefully along a row of apple trees, two of Australia's newest agricultural workers check if the fruit is ripe or the soil needs water or fertilizer.
Meet "Mantis" and "Shrimp", agricultural robots being tested to do these tasks and more in a bid to cut costs and improve productivity in Australia's economically vital farm sector, which exported $39.6 billion ($38.8 billion)of produce in 2012.
Australia is one of the leaders in the field and, with a minimum wage of $15.96 per hour and a limited workforce, has a big incentive to use robots and other technology such as unmanned aircraft to improve efficiency.
It hopes to tap fast-growing Asian neighbors, where the swelling ranks of the middle class increasingly want more varied and better quality food from blueberries to beef.
"The adoption of new technology is going to be crucial for Australia to maintain its competitiveness in terms of the global agricultural sector," said Luke Matthews, commodities strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
"If we don't adopt new technology, we can give up on these high-flying ambitions of being the food bowl of Asia."
Agriculture now accounts for 2 percent of Australia's gross domestic product, but the government forecasts it could reach 5 percent by 2050. Its growth is particularly important now the once-booming mining sector is slowing.
Australia is the world's second-biggest wheat exporter and arable farmers are already using specialized technology aimed at improving efficiency, including satellite positioning software to allow farmers to map out land and soil to determine optimal inputs.
Using such technology to optimize the use of fertilizer can boost profitability at grain farms by 14 percent, according to a study by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
COLOUR RECEPTORS
A robot effortlessly plucking fruit is some way off, though a range of simpler tasks are within reach to add to existing technology such as automatic steering of harvesters.
Salah Sukkarieh, Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at the University of Sydney and developer of Mantis and Shrimp, says the next phase aims for robots to do increasingly complex jobs such as watering and ultimately harvesting.
"We have fitted them with a lot of sensors, vision, laser, radar and conductivity sensors - including GPS and thermal sensors," said Sukkarieh, speaking at his laboratory housing a collection of both ground robots and unmanned air vehicles.
The technology could have the biggest application in horticulture, Australia's third-largest agricultural sector with exports of $1.71 billion in the last marketing year, since a fixed farm layout lends itself better to using robots.
Robots and an unmanned air vehicle that are being developed at the University of Sydney had passed field tests at an almond farm in Mildura, Victoria state, said Sukkarieh.
Propelled by sets of wheels and about the height of a man, the robots were named after the native Mantis shrimp because of the marine crustacean's 16 different color receptors, capable of detecting up to 12 colors. Humans only have four, three of which pick up colors.
This capacity to recognize color already allows the robots to sense whether fruit is ripe.
The data can then be processed by computer algorithms to determine what action the robot should take. This could be to water or apply fertilizer or pesticides, or to sweep and prune vegetation, and eventually the aim is to harvest the crop.
"If tomorrow we got an apple, orange or tomato farmer that wants a robot to go up and down these tree crops reliably and accurately, we can do that within six months to a year."
"The question is can we make them more intelligent," added Sukkarieh, who also sees the technology being attached to standard farm vehicles and foresees a fully automated horticulture farm within 10 years.
BRUISED APPLES
Australian farmers, who depend on seasonal labor for jobs such as picking fruit and vegetables, said they would welcome high-tech help.
"Berry picking by a robot would be difficult but if they could produce a robot, I could make a significant saving," said Allan Dixon, co-owner of the Clyde River Berry Farm in New South Wales, who typically takes on five people every year.
To get enough agricultural workers, Australia allows in some labor from neighboring Pacific island countries and East Timor, as well as using backpackers on temporary work visas.
Some fruit farmers remain skeptical.
"Apples will always need to be harvested by hand, due to their fragile nature. They bruise very easily," said Lucinda Giblett, director at Newton Orchards in Western Australia.
"We see no current opportunities offered by agricultural robots. Even as a pruning device, application is very limited," added Giblett
PRODUCTIVITY
Further productivity gains will be needed if Australia is to reach its target of being the main food supplier to Asia.
A 2011 study by the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences said around two-thirds of the increase in the monetary value of agricultural production in the last 50 years in the country was down to gains in productivity
Another survey by the Grains Research and Development Corporation showed 67 percent of respondents in 2011 used auto-steer technology to guide machinery such as harvesters and sprayers, up from 47 percent in 2008.
Obstacles to using more technology remain, however, including the cost of buying or renting equipment and slower growth in research and development spending. Some studies show growth in the use of satellite imagery and soil mapping has stagnated in Australia and the United States in recent years.
Regardless of whether it can meet its targets to supply more food to Asia, Australia is expected to play a big role in global food security by being one of the test beds for new ways to produce food more efficiently in often harsh conditions.
(Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Michael Urquhart)
As is customary and traditional, we celebrate every new 1,000 members here and share the traffic stats. This time it's 39,000!
There were 2 million page views in the last month! (we get around 65,000 pageviews a day on average). It took us just 24 days to get this latest 1,000 members--we're averaging one new member every 35 minutes.
Thanks as always to all the community members who make this growth possible, and especially the moderators who approve blog posts and otherwise answer questions and keep things ticking here.
Best Wishes,
Joshua Johnson - (Assistant Administrator)
Venturing Forward: The Sky’s Not the Limit for UAV Enthusiasts
By: Kevin Solar of DIYDrones.com (DIY Drones News Journalist)
We live in a uniquely dynamic age influenced heavily by technological advances surging in every direction. It’s a time to look around, reassess ourselves and focus our energy and potential towards greater influence over things to come. If you’re an individual with an interest and passion for ‘drones’ that fly, it’s a time to gaze upwards and realize that even the sky… is no longer the ‘limit’ it was once thought to be. Instead, the sky has become a boundless ‘proving zone’ for what is possible, now and in the near future. For UAV enthusiasts, at any level of expertise, it’s a time for ‘venturing forward’.
The expanding world of Unmanned Arial Vehicles is filled with new realities, problems, demands and opportunities. It’s a great time to take advantage of the moment and get personally involved in a new and challenging venture, or perhaps rekindle interest in something that you’ve neglected, or put off for a while. Taking action now can also provide numerous health benefits, both physical and mental, that may pay big dividends for years to come. Personal involvement in active hobbies, like creating and flying UAVs, can play an important role in a person's overall perspective and well-being, often by increasing creativity, self-esteem, and sense of accomplishment.
Whether looking to immerse yourself in a new hobby, explore the possibilities of a cutting-edge career, or experience… firsthand, the surging evolution in remote controlled aircraft… the DIY Drones community provides an ‘open-source emporium’ of innovation and information specific to the needs of those interested in becoming more involved with autonomous, or pilotless flight.
After several months of research and observation on the outside edge of a few web forums devoted to UAV technologies, I finally decided to venture forward and join in on the experience of designing, building and flying my own multi-rotor aircraft. By doing so I’ll be putting myself in an environment where I’ll learn something new and challenging, while offering my experience, skills and creative abilities to others in the process.
As a newbie, entering the world of UAVs, it’s easy to feel excited, nervous and… at times, overwhelmed by the scope and speed with which advances are currently taking place. After all, the goal here is not simply to build, or buy and fly the traditional RC airplane that your grandpop enjoyed years ago. Rather, a major objective at DIY Drones is to focus on the quest to interact collaboratively, to help bring about the safe and efficient integration of structural, electronic and critical system processes, thereby guiding amateurs like myself, to a point where our home-built creations become capable of carrying out specific tasks during autonomous flight!
That’s right! The aircraft engineered by members of the DIY Drones community are being developed and programmed to fly and perform on their own. Just imagine… your homemade, ‘Aerial Robot’ making its way across that limitless sky, performing tasks without real-time, pilot intervention! How cool is that? Quite honestly… it’s amazing! It borders on mind-boggling to say the least. However, if you have the passion, skills, personality, and dedication to learn the complexities of this unique pursuit, your involvement can be very rewarding!
So, aside from all the tools, cash, time and project components necessary to build say… a typical Multi-Rotor style UAV… here’s a partial list of things you probably already have, but might need to sharpen, or dust off in order to get started, or restarted as an active UAVer at DIY Drones.
Obviously… these items are not required, but you’ll likely benefit by possessing some of the following:
- A willingness to be actively involved in the DIY Drones community.
- A supportive spouse and/or partner, especially one who loves UAVs.
- An ability to build things from scratch and fix things that get broken.
- A thick wallet, a financial budget, a good set of tools and a place to use them.
- A familiarity with fire extinguishers and first-aid kits.
- An investment portfolio heavy on manufacturers of zip ties.
- A functional recollection of the philosophy associated with Murphy’s Law.
- A huge dose of common sense and a Swiss Army knife in your pocket.
- A steady temperament, control over frustration and ability to laugh at yourself.
- An inquisitive mindset and a passion for discovery and adventure.
- An optimistic point-of-view backed by a healthy grasp of reality.
- An aptitude for following a set of directions printed in your native language.
- A talent for analyzing data and learning from the results.
- A propensity to reexamine basic assumptions and seek broader perspectives.
- An intuitive sense of what is correct and/or appropriate in a given situation.
- An ability to accept constructive criticism, and the tact to offer it to others.
- A determination to except failure as a stepping-stone towards future success.
- A self disciplined work ethic and a healthy respect for team dynamics.
- A problem-solving, creative, out-of-the-box method of thinking and processing.
- A desire to get things right, tempered by the ability to admit when you’re wrong.
- A capacity to learn by reading the experiences and ideas expressed by others.
- A set of communication skills to share what you know, via text and video.
- An affinity for synthesis of information and close attention to critical details.
- An ability to maintain focus and persevere in the face of disaster.
- An aptitude for audio-visual discrimination and strong eye-hand coordination.
- A tendency to assist folks in need and a will to bounce back from adversity.
- A focus geared towards pushing beyond limits, yet knowing when to take pause.
- A desire for fun and a determination to set high standards of accomplishment.
- An interest in lifelong learning and a passion for sharing knowledge with others.
- A true appreciation of the Laws of Gravity and a realization that crashes happen.
What makes this hobby so enjoyable and rewarding is, that while we all come from different walks of life, the deep common denominator is our passion for tinkering with and improving upon the capabilities and performance of our flying machines.
For those who have been active UAVers for years, the newbies will certainly be looking your way for guidance and knowledge over the long haul. For others who may have chosen to ‘lurk’ on the periphery simply to glean knowledge unobtrusively, the influx of additional hobbyists may provide opportunities to establish new relationships, or even revive friendships forged, long ago, via the blog posts and comments that continue to form the backbone of this community.
Most hobbyists tend to enjoy things more when they are provided the opportunity to share experiences with other like-minded individuals. The trials and tribulations of amateur UAVers offer a very compelling reason to stay connected to folks with similar interests and aspirations.
Hobbies which require expertise tend to be more satisfying to participants. That’s especially true for UAVers, because the expertise required to design, build, program and fly a Multi-Rotor, for example, demands a very high level of commitment. In turn, it’s that commitment that often results in a higher level of engagement and enjoyment.
What better way to stay active and enrich your life than by doing something you seriously enjoy? Increased involvement in things like the DIY Drones community could well be your prescription for a healthier, more satisfying future. It’s sure to engage you physically and mentally on multiple levels.
Of course, hauling your gear to that far away field to launch, follow, and/or retrieve your craft, certainly qualifies the effort as physical activity. Okay… maybe it’s no triathlon, but it’s certainly not uncommon to find yourself walking, jogging, climbing and at times, frantically searching the countryside for a fly-away, or downed UAV. Although not always planned or expected… the frequency of such occurrences most likely provides a physical benefit to those involved. Your initial intention, as a UAVer, may not have been to keep physically and mentally active, or to reduce stress in pursuit of a sense of accomplishment, but as many can surely attest, those outcomes are often a beneficial result.
From a hobby perspective, I often think of my DIY Drones involvement on three levels. The first level provides a diversion, or temporary escape from the stressful things in life. Plain and simple… UAVing can help me pass the time. The second level reflects a passion that engages me in something I truly enjoy. The third level relates to something that links to a sense of purpose. I suspect we all need that at times. Personally, when I sum it all up, being a UAVer is ideal for me, because it affords a powerful combination of all three levels.
My new hobby and my involvement with DIY Drones has become important and rewarding, especially because it has opened a unique ‘portal’ through which I am able to connect with others involved in the same meaningful endeavor. It’s a pursuit that allows me the freedom to fly! And… since flight is my passion, venturing forward into the limitless sky, not only helps me to pass the time, it makes me unaware that time is passing.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Links to Websites used to gather information for the Newscast Video:
- http://www.suasnews.com/2013/05/22964/drone-aircraft-help-grand-forks-police-fight-crime/ (North Dakota FAA Drone Integration)
- http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/thirty-days-14-12-rotor-demo-at-maker-faire-2013 (6 Arm, 12 Motor/Prop Setup)
- http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/big-product-news (Y6 Conversion Kit Blog)
(We removed the Chat Feature until we can integrate it onto the site without causing Page Loading time delays and any user errors! I'm going to work with Ning tomorrow afternoon on trying to fix the chat so that it doesn't affect any of our users. If that doesn't work we can either wait 1-3 Months until Ning 3.0 is available to us or create an IRC)
We are trying to integrate a chat room feature without slowing down the page loading times on DIYDrones.com and we need your feedback and help.
What we need from the community:
- Do you like or dislike the chat feature? (Please explain why)
- Does it slow down your page loading times and alter your overall user experience on DIYDrones?
- Is this something you would like to see be perminent on DIYDrones.com?
- Do you have any suggestions on how to improve it?
This is the News Team for DIYDrones.com! We are just getting things set up so please be patient with us during the first couple weeks. We're looking for amateur journalists who are interested in writing Drone News Articles that will be published on the front page on a daily basis. If you're currently in college for journalism it will be an awesome thing to be able to put on your resume! Also if this team is successful enough we are lined up to get our articles put in a few newspaper outlets in the Tech Section!!!
If you're interested in joining The News Team please let me know!
(More goals will be added once the "Short Term Goals" are met)
Short Term Goals:
- Find journalists interested in writing articles
- Get The Team and Group all set up and functioning
- Post 1 Article from the Team each day in a blog
- Set up the journalists on DIYDrones with a DIYDrones Journalist title across the bottom of your profile picture (Very Easy to Do like how mine says Assistant Administrator Under my Photo)
Intermediate Goals:
- Create a FREE downloadable, printable, weekly newspaper featuring the groups articles to allow DIYDrones members to enjoy the Team's articles while on the Go!
- Create a DIYDrones Android & Apple app for the News Team that will allow us to Link all of our news and articles onto a easy to use news app for our members and journalists
Long Term Goals:
- Create a fully function DIYDrones News Team that consists of paid journalists based off of pay from newspaper company compensations
As is customary and traditional, we celebrate every new 1,000 members here and share the traffic stats. This time it's 38,000!
There were almost 1.9 million page views in the last month! (we get around 65,000 pageviews a day on average). It took us just 22 days to get this latest 1,000 members--we're averaging one new member every 32 minutes.
Thanks as always to all the community members who make this growth possible, and especially the moderators who approve membership applications and blog posts and otherwise answer questions and keep things ticking here.
Best Wishes,
Joshua Johnson - (Assistant Administrator)
***Special Announcement***
April is Safety Month on Diydrones.com to check out how you can help (Click Here!)
I want to share with all of you some really awesome videos made by National Geographic!
Published April 18, 2013 - Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Legislature has passed a bill limiting law enforcement agencies' use of the remotely controlled aircraft known as drones.
The House unanimously approved the Senate's bill (SB 92) 117-0 on Wednesday with no debate.
It now goes to Gov. Rick Scott. The governor has previously said he would sign it into law.
The measure restricts the use of drones to the prevention of imminent danger to life -- a kidnapping or a missing child -- or serious damage to property.
It also makes police get search warrants before using drones to collect evidence. An exception would be a credible threat of a terrorist attack.
Only three law enforcement agencies in Florida are currently licensed by the federal government to fly drones. None are yet using them.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/18/florida-lawmakers-pass-drone-control-bill/#ixzz2QqwS5Maf
Bottom of Rover
- Left Rear Motor
- Left Rear Motor Power Extension
- Right Rear Motor Power Extension
- Audio Speaker for receiver to rover voice projection
- Power/Wifi Indicator Light
- Camera Extension/live audio plugin
- N/A something to do with the Camera or Audio In (Can't figure out)
- Camera Motor Extension
- 4 Headlights Connected to 2 Power Extensions (2 On Each)
- On/Off light located next to power switch Extension
- Right Motor Power Extension
- Wifi Hotspot Extension and Power Extension
- Wifi Hotspot Reset Button Extension
- Wifi Hotspot Reset Button Board
- On/Off Indicator Light
- Power Board
- Positive Power Extension soldered onto board
- Negative Power Extension soldered onto board
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Top of Rover
- Camera Up/Down Tilt Motor and Power Extension
- Camera/Nightvision to Board Video Extension
- Wifi Hotspot Antenna Female Extension
- Wifi Hotspot Hardware Board
- Speaker and Audio Out Power Extension
- N/A something to do with the Camera or Audio In (Can't figure out)
________________________________________________________________________________________
I hope you folks enjoyed my overview of the Brookstone 2.0 Rover. In my next blog (Part 1) I'm going to include tons of video footage from the rover's Camera and Night Vision Camera (Going to use it when it gets dark tonight). If you have any experience with intercepting commands from the Device/Controller to the Rover so I can use the codes/commands to reverse engineer the rover. I'm going to need all the help that I can get!
To Do List:
1. Purchase an Android Tablet
2. Upgrade Telemetry Kit
3. Switch out current power source (6 AA Batteries) to a LiPo Battery System
4. Get Mission Planner Working/Running
5. Integrate an APM 2.5
6. Get it to work with ArduRover
7. Get it to work with AndroRover (Once step 1-6 are complete)
Brookstone Rover 2.0 Specs:
| Video Stream Format | .mp4 |
| Video FPS | 25 fps |
| Snapshot Format | JPEG |
| CMOS | 300,000 pixels |
| WiFi Antenna | 802.11 b/g |
| Microphone | Yes |
| Movement Motor | 6500 revolutions per second, DC 9.0V |
| Age Grade | 14 and up |
| Compatitbility | iPod touch® (3rd & 4th generation), iPhone® 4S, iPhone® 4, iPhone® 3GS, iPad®, iPad® 2 and iPad® (3rd generation), Android™ 2.2 and later, Apple iOS: 5.1 and later |
| Batteries | 6 AA (included) |
| Running Time | Approximately 2.5 hours |
| Maximum Range | Up to 200 ft. |
| Weight | 2.3 lbs |
| Dimensions with Antenna | 10.25"w x 7.75"l x 7.75"h |
| Distance | Approximately 200 ft. (unobstructed), 100 ft. (obstructed) |
| Camera | 320x240px at 25 frames per second |
| Stealth Night Vision Lens | 850nm |
| Social Media Compatibility | Email, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr |
