As Chris mentioned a few posts previously, we went to the East Bay Mini Maker Faire.  I really enjoyed myself and wrote up a trip report here.

http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2012/10/east-bay-maker-faire-demo.html

HK has just released some parts specifically for quad or other multi-rotor use.

Interesting features:

• ESCs support high refresh rate out of the box.
• Advertised as being ATMEL based and firmware upgradable.
• Overload protection... detects jammed propellor and will shut dow
• System is being pitched as "solder free".  All wires come with connectors, and compatible extension/breakout cables are part of the system.

Another interesting point that I didn't think of is that their ESC programmer is jumper style instead of pushbutton style. This makes it easy to identically configure multiple ESCs to the same setting without a lot of button pushing, and presumably with much smaller chance of getting one out of sync.

The YT page has links to everything:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3kXtYGOCq0

Not sure how to link to this directly, but it's on their facebook page now:

http://www.facebook.com/flitetest

Let them know what you think!

HobbyKing has introduced an adaptor that makes it easy to flash Atmel processors such as those found on ESCs.  Flash SimonK firmware without even taking them off of your multirotor!  I've started a product summary here:

http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2012/09/atmel-flashing-tool-from-hobbyking.html

Larry Abramson came out and flew with us one morning, and filed this story.  The only downside of it being a radio story is that you can't see Andreas in his bucket-style video goggles!

http://www.npr.org/2012/08/02/157441681/drones-from-war-weapon-to-homemade-toy

Chris speaks DEFCON...

"The do-it-yourself (DIY), open-source drone movement is turning into a real business that could disrupt the commercial and military drone industry. It’s another case of how exploiting the curiosity of hackers can turn into a commercial opportunity.

"That’s the view of Chris Anderson (pictured), editor of Wired magazine and a drone hobbyist and businessman on the side. He spoke about this DIY trend and his own efforts to lead it in a talk at the Defcon hacker conference in Las Vegas today."

[...]

Venture Beat

via sUAS News

In case you weren't able to catch the webinar, here's a screen capture of the session.

I thought the webinar was great -- there were a few technical glitches, but the material was nicely organized and the participating developers did a great job of stepping through the code.  I enjoyed it and learned a lot. 

I thought I was capturing the session in super hi res mode, but apparently I suck at screen capture and the resolution isn't great; but it's good enough for following along what the speakers are saying.  The beginning was cut off as I was trying to figure out how to turn on the sound.  If someone has a better capture let me know and I'll add it here.

Update: now using much better quality screen capture by YureZzZ.  Thanks YureZzZ!

Many thanks to Andreas M. Antonopoulos for putting together a great outline for this webinar.  I'm certainly looking forward to seeing more of these! (private note to Andreas: SITL!)

Somebody mentioned on a previous post that they would like to see some notes on this.  Here's mine!

Full Build video and detail photos now available.  Thanks for all the feedback so far!

http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2012/07/black-sheep-eats-tasty-crow.html

As part of a friendly bet with Trappy on facebook, Andreas built and flew one of his signature wooden quads in under an hour.  A more detailed build video is being edited, but here's a timelapse of the process.

An exploration into the fascinating world of competitive indoor free flight aeronautics.  Beautiful cinematography -- I had to watch it twice to realize some of the clips weren't in slow motion, but in real time.  And a surprisingly interesting group of flyers as well.

Help put this project over the top!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bensaks/float-documentary

http://vimeo.com/18557380

"If you have an iPhone or an Android, you have all the sensors and technology necessary to fly an airplane," Chris Anderson says. Anderson is editor-in-chief of Wired magazine. He started a popular drone website and founded a company that sells drone parts. He says business is growing 50 percent a year. "Right now, the vast majority of people are doing it for fun, education, learning, you know, just the sheer thrill of having a flying robot," he says.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/assignment_7&id=8706281

tl;dr: nice!

http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2012/06/checking-out-arducopter-26.html

and a demo of Failsafe with a Turnigy 9x / FrSky module.  Binding the failsafe to "land" and then switching off the Tx.

I've been looking for a good flying tiny quad for indoor use, and had a chance to look at (but not fly) Chris's Ladybird.  I've been waiting for a sign as to whether or not to get it, and here it is.  I know other people here have been looking for a good quality small indoor quad, so I thought I would mention it here.

I'm interested in the included transmitter, which includes two-way telemetry (not supported by the Ladybird, as far as I can tell).  You can get it with either a Mode 1 or Mode 2 transmitter, or as a bind-and-fly if you already have a Walkera.

Ladybird with Mode 2 Tx

Ladybird with Mode 1 Tx

Ladybird BNF

"The AMA Executive Council has agreed that it may be time to revisit FPV. Many of our members have been forthcoming in offering constructive suggestions about what might be done to modify our current policy so that it is more reflective of what is occurring today in the field. These suggestions will be taken into consideration as we move ahead with the review.

Many prominent members of the FPV community have offered their help. We intend to take advantage of their background and expertise as well."

http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/blog/2012/06/07/the-growing-world-of-first-person-view-model-aviation/

Chris needed to do some prep for the upcoming SparkFun Challenge, so he asked if anybody wanted to get together for a Memorial Day fly-in.  I drove up with Andreas and Charlie Burtoff; there were about 15-20(?) people all together, although I didn't actually count.

Here's a shakycam of Andreas flying the Zii, a hex, some of the flyers, and Andreas with his fine-looking FPV mask.

http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2012/06/short-clip-of-recent-diy-drones-fly-in.html

Here's an interesting bit from a recent news interview with me and Andreas... for my segment, I had parked the quad so that it would be visible in the background over my shoulder as I talked to the interviewer.  While he was recording the quad, the quad was recording him!

If I would have planned ahead a bit I would have framed the shot better, but I was happy with how it turned out. The wind was coming over the hill at about a 45 degree angle which explains the lateral motion.

http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2012/05/aerial-view-of-kgo-interview.html

Prompted by Andreas M. Antonopoulos' comment regarding the possibility of breaking off the USB connector, I made a strain relieving case that also makes it easy to conveniently mount the module on the back of my laptop.

Details here:

http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2012/04/strain-relief-carrier-for-3dr-ground.html

With the arrival of my 3DR radio, I discovered that I had quite a collection of boxes from open source hardware companies.  I think it's safe to say they may be setting the pace in the world of electronics delivery packaging!

details here:

http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2012/04/review-open-source-cardboard-boxes.html

I'm thrilled to report that my radio kit arrived and it works well.  Andreas is likewise happy with his kit.

Writeup here:

http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2012/04/review-3dr-900mhz-radio.html

Fixing the air unit network id:

http://eastbay-rc.blogspot.com/2012/04/setting-network-address-on-3dr-air.html

Thanks 3DR, Tridge, and everybody else that worked in producing this unit!