Joshua Ott's Posts (67)

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Drone Con 2013 !!!1

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All your PIDs are belong to us!

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Drone Con 2013:

3D Robotics is proud to sponsor a day full of talks by people who know drones

We've gathered a high caliber group of developers and operators -- from a variety of specialties -- all related to autonomous vehicle control and applications.
They will each be giving a short talk on a dense subject, hosted in a small and informal space.
All of this knowledge will be streamed live and recorded for posterity, so don't feel bad if you can't make it out to Boulder. You are all invited to attend at your convenience -- in person or virtually.
The live video will be streamed at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/3d-robotics
The recorded videos will be on our YouTube channel after the event: https://www.youtube.com/user/3DRobotics

We have five open spaces left in the audience! If you are interested in attending, please respond to this post, in the comments below, and we will hook you up (first five people to respond). 
 

The event is at Sparkfun HQ.
SparkFun Electronics
6175 Longbow Drive
Boulder, CO 80301
Friday, June 7th, 2013
 
9:30 - 10am - Registration / Coffee
10:00 - 10:45 - Pat Hickey - SMACCMPilot - 45 min
10:45 - 11:30 - Doug Weibel - Advanced UAV control system design - 45 min
11:30 - 12:15 - Brandon Jones - L1 Control Algoritm in Arduplane - 45 min
LUNCH
1:15 - 2:00 - Chris Miser - Falcon UAV / Mapping - 45 min
2:00 - 2:30 - Ryan Beall - Embedded GPS INS - 30 min
2:30 - 3:00 - Robert Lefebvre - Arducopter for TradHeli - 30 min
3:00 - 3:45 - Leonard Hall - Control system design of Arducopter V3 - 45 min
3:45 - 4:30 - Jason Short - How we got here...hacking for non-engineers - 45 min
4:30 - 5:00 - Wrap-up / flex time
The agenda speaks for itself, this is a prime learning opportunity for anyone interested in drone tech.
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Don't forget about the Fifth Annual Sparkfun AVC, taking place the following day (June 8,2013)
For spectator tickets-http://avc2013.eventbrite.com/
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Thirty Days (#23): New Product Preview

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Chad Amonn, one of our mechanical engineers, has been busy designing some new products. He created this package to hold electronics designed by:  Craig Elder, Sam Kelley, Kevin Bretney, and Jeff Wurzbach.

Any ideas on what this thing does?

(Edit)

MAV Station is part of MAVelous
What is MAVelous?
MAVelous is a browser based Ground Control Station that John Wiseman, Pat Hickey, and now Kevin Hester have been working on.  It is an alternative to Mission Planner or Droid Planner, QGC etc.  In order for MAVelous to function you need a server that converts MAVlink messages into HTML.   MAVStation is that server in a box.  It is small enough you can easily carry it around and take to the field with you.
Basically you have a radio and MAVLink between the vehicle and the MAVStation, and Wi-Fi link between the MAVstation and a tablet.
Inside the MAVStation is a Raspberry Pi computer running the server, plus a rechargeable battery to power it.  There is a Wi-Fi connection allowing you to connect to a tablet running a browser.  You also get a GPS and a 3DR radio to connect to the vehicle.  There is a charger that runs off of a USB connection or an external power supply and there are also servo outputs available to steer an antenna tracker.
But wait, there's more....By the time you have all of those elements in place, you only need to add a handful of additional buttons and you now have a box that can be used as a Follow Me device.
In the best of all worlds, the Follow Me device would be optimized and made smaller and easier to carry around, but this is a great development platform and a great place to start.
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Our friends at Instructables have announced a contest looking for the best step-by-step Instructable for building a project involving airborne autonomous and radio controlled vehicles!

You can find all the details here: http://www.instructables.com/contest/drones2013/?show=ENTER

I can't imagine a more perfect group of participants than the DIY Drone community. There are a lot of sweet prizes to be won. You have until July 8, 2013.

Let's represent!

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Thirty Days (#19): Office IR

Moving out of the near IR from the last post, we go into the far infrared. This is footage shot with a 40g, uncooled, 8-14um spectral band camera. Half the size of a GoPro and perfect for mounting on a small flying machine!

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Excerpts from the Telegraph

May 27, 2013:

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The small, lightweight, battery-powered Falcon drones can be launched by hand in minutes and fly over a range of five miles for up to 90 minutes. Fitted with high-resolution infrared cameras, they can pick out elephants, rhinos and lions as well as anyone that might be tracking them.

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When the Falcon drone's creator Chris Miser arrived at Olifants West conservancy at the foot of the Klein Drakensberg mountains of Limpopo last weekend, he planned to run some simple test flights to get used to the bushy terrain.

These were abandoned when a call came through on Saturday afternoon from a neighbouring reserve that two of their rangers had been shot at by suspected poachers – one taking a bullet in his hand-held radio.

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Full story here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/10082727/Drones-join-war-on-rhino-poachers-in-South-Africa.html

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A few snap-shots of the action around our booth at Maker Faire Bay Area 2013. There are many more photos to sort through, but I wanted to share some now. The light was actually very poor inside the hall, not the best for photography.

From the top:

Brandon answers tough questions from a discerning customer; Brandon, Joe, and Justin; as a rule, kids asked the best questions and kept us on our toes; Andy was able to bring his family on Saturday, including his eight-year-old daughter who is a huge fan of flying robots; Carmen; John; Edna

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Hero 3 with interchangeable lens mount

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My dream has come true: a GoPro with interchangeable mounts.

Thanks to Radiant Images and View Factor Studios, this now exists!

I was talking to the Drone Dudes at Maker Faire and saw this camera amongst all their other awesome gear. It is a sweet little piece of kit.

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The groundbreaking Novo digital cinema camera, available exclusively at Radiant Images, is the ideal solution for cinematographers who are enamored by the capabilities of the GoPro Hero3 but held back by the Hero3’s cinematic limitations.

The Novo, developed and engineered by View Factor Studio in collaboration with Radiant Images, is a completely re-engineered GoPro Hero3 making it a much smaller and more robust cinema camera with the flexibility to allow more creative choices.

Key new enhancements include a C-mount lens system with adjustable back-focus which allows for extreme macro shooting. As well as exposure control capabilities that open up a wide-range of artistic possibilities for cinematographers and camera operators. An internal CPU interfaced to the camera permits users to disable the auto exposure feature and then adjust the aperture manually via the lens. This feature gives a cinematographer the control to set a desired exposure and stops. 

The lightweight aluminum housing itself is 20% thinner than the GoPro Hero3 and includes three 1/4-20 and two 10-32 mounting points. Also, four buttons on the front (REC, PWR, WiFi & AUX) are assignable to several functions depending on the application. The Aux button turns the auto exposure on/off, but in the near future will also be utilized for other functions, such as digital zoom, a tool to check critical focus.

The Novo offers more robust features while retaining all of the key functionality and accessories of the GoPro Hero3, such as the LCD touch screen, power backpack and WiFi connectivity for wireless camera control.

The Novo addresses the needs of cinematographers without compromising the power and versatility of the most advanced GoPro ever. 

Like the GoPro Hero3: Black Edition, the Novo is capable of capturing cinema-quality video at 2x the resolution frame rate of previous models while delivering twice the performance in low light. – 1440p 48fps, 1080p 60 fps and 720p 120 fps video and 12MP photos at a rate of 30 photos per second, plus the ultra-high resolution 2.7KP-30 fps and 4KP-15 fps video modes.

Radiant Images offers rental packages that include the Novo, custom geared C-Mount lenses and all the required accessories.

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Joe and Justin give the Maker Faire 2013 crowd a demo of their new heavy-lift 12-rotor creation -- including an example of flying with only six motors operational. The downwash from this monster could be used for clearing leaves off the lawn or removing snow from the driveway, in addition to keeping a large camera aloft.

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New prop mounts

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Now standard on the 850Kv AC2830 motors, or as replacement kit.

Bill Bonney recently made a blog post about these -- including a how-to on replacing the shaft. 

I just checked the runout on a couple of these and found no more than .004"

Please note that the prop should go on first so that it fits down over the unthreaded shoulder of the shaft. This provides a slop-free fit on the shaft. The spacer goes on top of the prop, followed by the cap nut. 

Alan and I were talking this over today, and realized that the spacers are not needed at all. The prop nuts have enough internal depth to seat on the prop directly without bottoming out on the top of the shaft (NOTE: if your prop hubs are thinner than the 6.5mm APCs then you may need the spacer). One less part to fiddle with and a little less rotating weight!

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Thirty Days (#12): Freeing Fozzie

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After Brandon (3DR's Applications Engineer) rescued "Fozzie" from an undisclosed lab at UC Berkeley, the getaway car proved to be barely sufficient. We kept the angle of attack well into zero-lift angles, and the little Mazda stayed on the ground.

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