this is the first images from VR Lab . In these pictures you can see our entry level frame VR CopterX4-8
The frame make using good materials as Carbon Fiber and Ergal .
The frame configuration was an idea of Flavio Taborelli , that inside Virtualrobotix.IT is the CTO of mechanical department. This frame doing 2000 hours of flight without chrash so we decide to use this approach for develop our affordable frame.
The production of this frame will be start at the end of August .
The main advantage is that is a fully customizable and available as DIY KIT on in RTF configuration. This kind of frame is very good for hacking is possible to customize the cover with your color or layout :
or fully customize your frame this is an example :
All the frame is developed inside VR Lab using advanced mechanical 3D Cad.
In the next week will be some updates about the status of the project.
If you need more info or have suggestions we are happy to disucss with you about our last VR Copter
For each channel we have 3 high power pwm 5 Amp output .
I2C IMU that support 3 axis . It is on camera module , so we can know exactly the position of camera and control in realtime the 3 Brushless motors. MPU6050 (6 DOF) + HMC5883 (3 DOF)
1 USB port.
1 Serial port that support mavlink protocol.
1 Power module that support until 3S battery.
4 Radio RC Input for :
Control ROLL Setup.
Control Pitch Setup.
Control YAW Setup.
IR control repeater.
4 Analog Input 0-3.3v
1 IR Out , so is pssible to control a remote camera by its ir receiver.
On new revision 2.0 we add :
customizable push buton.
support for motors ampere monitor for each motors.
Very intuitive Firmware update tools.
Simple and powerfull VR Gui for VR Gimbal configuration.
Serial driver on USB port.
A complete and updated wiki repository with media gallery with last video from our user.
In this video is possible see the utility available for measure the current used by different kind of motors. This feature is very usefull for evaluate the specification of motors.
Is available a new tools for firmware update you can found more detail here :
Last revision of code is 1.0.5 this is good for end user all function of standard brushless gimbal is available and is possible also to manage the 3th axe using rc radio. This firmware is a porting and BruGi_049B_r161
Completed PID mode on Roll and Pitch, with support of RC commands.
Manual (RC) mode (to be used on Yaw for now) working but requires improvement.
So if you want to join in development you are welcome .
This is a screenshot of VR Gimbal Gui developed using .net technology, so could be work also using mono on mac and linux , test on that platform is welcome ,you can connect directly by usb to VR Gimbal or by radio link as 3dr module , blueetooth or other ttl wireles adapter :
With VRGimbal is possible to control this kind of gimbal ;
Handheld and Air Drone Gimbal 2-3axis Entry level gopro gimbal.
Handheld and Air Drone Gimbal 2-3axis Heavy dslr gimbal.
This is an example of video doing by our user of VRGimbal on heavy dslr gimbal :
This is official thread in virtualrobotix community is here join us for have more info and support :
after hard work on firmware doing by Arducopter and Virtualrobotix Dev Team , we are happy to present the result of this incredible test ... this is only first test VRBrain vs DJI Wookong .
The firmware is ARducopter32 rev 3.0.3 , this revision of firmware use AP_HAL library to interface the Arducopter application . The firmware is mantain by Arducopter devteam , the last improvment doing by Leonard that solve some glitch in loiter , and gps override mode.
The result of work doing by Randy and the other member of the team is incredible , we fly the quad in gps mode and it fly as robot ... as Dji Wookong .
This is a video doing during VR Lab test of new VR Lifter frame.
But if you like fly in stabilize mode you can enjoy you a lot. :) I prefer a lot fly my quad in stabilize and acro mode it's nice.
The power of VRBrain with its STM32F4 microcontroller have 164 mhz of clock with internal dsp have a more power of DJI Wookong cpu that use SAM3X micro processor at only 96 mhz and don't have dsp processor for hardware math processing.
Now the new revision of VRBrain 4.5 can support also an external IMU so we can solve the vibration problem with mechanical patch.
Whe have a great new wiki page for support the user :
A new tools for update the firmware is available and will be release in the next days , so you can choose your code download local and program the board without problem.
This is the first picture of VR BRAIN 4.5 + VR IMU GOLD.
Thi new imu expand the number of imu available for VRBrain .
With this addon is possible to have two active imu controlled by VR Brain.
On VR IMU Gold there are 3ACC 3GYRO 3 MAGN and a EEPROM for store temperature drift correction table.
With this kind of option we intend to improve a lot the quality of VRBrain for GOLD (Prosumer version ) and VRBrain PRO.
Now we are in development stages :) This is a good hack for your VR Brain 4.5 ;)
The main advantages for Arducopter32 rev 3.1rc3 is that with external IMU is more simple to have less problem with vibration , and is possible to put the magnetometer far to electromagnetic fields.
This two option is very important so is possible to have a affordable and very high quality sensor data for your high speed cpu.
Is yet available in the code repository a branch that support external imu for your VRBrain 4.5
The imu is connected to SPI3 of VRBrain , but the onboard imu still available on other SPI1 so is possible to implement a code to read the two imu at same time to have more affordable data for your ahrs algorithm.
With this configuration i doin 3 hours of fly test , normally the drone fly for 20 minutes with this configuration this is a good result for us.
With Arducopter32 rev v3.1rc3 our drone fly very well i testing all functionality :
Stable mode.
Loiter - Atti GPS mode with ovverride of position.
Return to landing point work fine .
Waypoint navigation work fine , too
I found only a problem on hard stop when reach waypoint and RTL , some suggestion about the reconfigure parameters for have smooth stop instead of hard ?
It is suggested that you test it only if you know what you are doing and are able to take the risks on a breifly tested firmware.
This is a version of the Arducopter 3.0 release. It is 1:1 with it’s original firmware. So please refer to the Arducopter site and Diydrones forum for more information on the software new functionalities:
Inertial Navigation for Loiter and Auto meaning much more accurate control
3D navigation controller follows straight lines in all dimensions between waypoints
WPNAV_SPEED, WPNAV_SPEED_UP, WPNAV_SPEED_DN, WPNAV_ACCEL allows configuring speeds and acceleration during missions
“compassmot” to compensate for interference on compass from the pdb, motors, ESCs and battery
pre-arm checks to ensure all calibration has been performed before arming (can be disabled by setting ARMING_CHECK to zero)
GPS failsafe – switches to LAND if GPS is lost for 5 seconds
stability patch improvements to stop rapid climbs in very overpowered or overtuned copters
Circle mode improvements including “panorama” when CIRCLE_RADIUS set to zero
These are the release notes specific for VRBRAIN. Please read carefully:
The External GPS port and the Telemetry port have been swapped. So please invert the two ports to have both working again.
This firmware is only for standard PPM radios. Previous problems with Futaba and FRsky should have been resolved, please report any problems.
You will loose all previous settings, so please backup your parameters if you need to go back to 2.9.1.2
You need to make all pre-flight calibration routines otherwise copter will not arm. So proceed with:
Radio calibration through Mission Planner
Accel calibration via Terminal (at the moment via mission planner is not working)
Compass calibration via Mission Planner
Make extensive pre-flight checks before fliying
At the moment only QUAD and HEXA frames will be released, so please for any questions or suggestion refer to e.castelnuovo [AT] virtualrobotix.com
RC Radio compatibility list
All previous radio problems SHOULD be resolved, but as we don’t have all you should report any issues.
Before using RC radio verify in Mission Planner planner if there is any latency > 1 second or bad Jittering.
If there is don’t fly!
In the preflight check , control the radio rensponse also with already tested radio.
Ludwig Färber will be the developer that will receive the first VR 3 axis Gimbal is this is our donation for his great work on : http://code.google.com/p/brushless-gimbal/ What there is in kit : Hardware :
VR Gimbal : Micro Controller is STM32F1 at 72 mhz. 3 Axis Brushless Direct Drive gimbal :
Roll (MOT1)
Pitch (MOT2)
Yaw (MOT3)
For each channel we have 3 high power pwm output .
1 USB port. 1 Serial port that support mavlink protocol. 1 Power module that support until 3S battery. 4 Radio RC Input for :
Control ROLL Setup.
Control Pitch Setup.
Control YAW Setup.
IR control repeater.
4 Analog Input 0-3.3v
VR 9DOF I2C IMU
Inside the VR IMU there are : MPU6000 (6 DOF) + HMC5883 (3 DOF)
I2C IMU that support 3 axis . It is on camera module , so we can know exactly the position of camera and control in realtime the 3 Brushless motors.
Cable for inteconnect the VR Gimbal Board with VR 9DOF I2C IMU
A Jumper for put the VR Gimbal in bootload mode.
Firmware :
The bootloader we use maple bootloader ported on VR Gimbal board. On board we put first 32 bit release of BruGi 049B r69 (Martinenz board's firmware) . This version of firmware , support only 2 axis gimbal , the 3axis version is coming. All the boards is yet ready and tested for 3 axis managment.
Software : We develop a VRGimbal Gui .net it's compatible with Windows 32 and 64 bit.
What do you need :
You need to download the Universal ide follow this link :
We are working on usb serial will be available in the end user product. The hardware will be the same will be only update the serial library.
Today we open pre order for first 20 pcs of board . We'll send a mail to first 75 developer that ask me to reserve the VR Gimbal. The revision for end user will be available in some weeks a new batch is in production .
Some usefull link :
The code repository here you can find workspace with library and code and also VR Gimbal GUI.
this is the first test of VR Gimbal that control 3 axis ... it's only pre alpha revision of code.
At the end of this week 31 / 05 / 2013
We finish to implement the VR Gimbal LT library .
The i2c imu with mpu6000 + hmc5883 work fine .
The SPI imu with mpu6000 + hmc5883 work fine.
The 3 driver motors work fine : we check at different refresh rate and with different qty of force.
Radio decoder library work fine : with ppm and ppmsum.
AP_LIB work good and save the parameter on internal eeprom .
Now start to implement
PID control and FORCE control lib ... in this video is possible to see the first revision of firmware with the pre alpha code . Not yet available PID only P control and we are using same code used in the past for contol servo with external potentiometer.
In the next week start to work on complete PID control and absolute control approach.
with this version of firmware we are testing :
if imu on i2c work fine .
if the hardware motor work fine .
if the 3° axis control work togheter with other axis without problem.
if the serial port for setting parameter working fine . We test also wireless control of gimbal and all work fine.
if the radio encoder work fine.
if the ap_parameter work and is serialize right in eeprom.
All is ok so the board is ready for prodution :) That's good step for us :)
So in this early test on 3° axis we found that we need more force on 3° motor on yaw respect of other 2 axis when we are in limit situation . So wee need to use bigger motors with more couple.
About the developer sorry for delay but before to confirm the start of pre order we prefer finish to test electronic board of first batch .
Dear Friends, with great pleasurewe presentthe latest developmentsof the prototype#1of our firstdroneRTF.
Theidea for thisdrone , beganwhen Carlo a studentof the facultyof IndustrialDesignin Milancame to usto do histhesis...we tried tothinkofsomething completely newandthat it was notthe classicdroneMKorDJI450.
In additionto the aesthetic aspect ,appreciatedby the community,we haveespeciallytried to makethe dronein a very functional, easy to maintain, expandable withoptionswhich will be releasedin the future. The frameinitiallywas made with3D printing, combined withinsertsfrom epoxy glassand carbon fiber.
OurdesignerCarlo... ,nowofficially came intoVRI , withFlaviostudiedthe FEMof the droneto achieve a goodlevel of resistanceto twistingof the drone.Particular attentionwas held forthe themeof the vibrations.
This is the BOD Logo.
The BOD have inside :
VRBrain4.5
GPSUblox6H
3DR Radio
4 30 Amp ESC with WiiEsc firmware.
use 4T-Motordengines.
with 12 inch propelles.
3S - 4S 4500 mah battery
The feature available are the same available in arducopter32 rev 2.9.3
Flight in acro and stable mode.
Loiter , return to home and auto navigation.
Auto landing and takeoff
After makingthe firsthoveringEmilewill take careto test itin order toputa little'under pressure the drone.
VR Lab is happy to present our last updates in the project in last week we doing a great upgrades :
The entry level mechanical GoPro Fiber Carbon Gimbal is ready only 158 gr with motors, in the video you can see the first test, It's very simple to balance the camera to obtain better result.
The VR Gimbal is ready for developer we put online the opensource repository , in the next days will be update with recent workspace : library and code the code is compatible wit VR Universal IDE .
Today we finish to implement the first version of code that manage motors on pitch , roll and yaw . In the first test we are using only P not yet ID for improve corretion but the result is yet very good , in the nexts days put online new video:)
Now is possible to setting the parameter with a serial port interface : sensor calibration , PID , on and off of motors , power for control the motors , step / degree ecc ecc . We start to develop a console for end user. We would use mavlink for interconnect the Gimbal to Console application ... in our test we are yet using also 3DR Radio and it work fine !
When Richard Van As, a master carpenter in Johannesburg, South Africa, decided to make a set of mechanical fingers, it wasn’t just for fun. He’d lost four of the fingers on his right hand in an unfortunate work accident. For a tradesman like Rich, having a disabled hand is a big professional detriment, so Richard decided on the day of his the incident that he would use the tools available to him to remedy his situation. Watch the inspiring video above to hear how Richard’s project, Robohand, is changing lives with patience, spirit, and a MakerBot Replicator 2.
Getting Started
MakerBot heard about the Robohand project in January 2013. Richard had been trading ideas with Ivan Owen, a collaborator in Washington State, for several months. Ivan used his prior experience with mechanical prop hands to make design suggestions, while Richard attempted to replicate the designs in his workshop.
The process was taking weeks and months per cycle. For us here at MakerBot, that was too much wasted time. We knew our 3D printer, the MakerBot Replicator 2, could take this important work to new heights. We saw their collaboration and the work they were doing as groundbreaking, and we asked Ivan and Richard to accept a donation from us: a MakerBot Replicator 2 for each of them, one in Washington, and another in South Africa.
If the tool was useful to them, we hoped they would share their work on Thingiverse.com for the world to download. It turns out the MakerBots were incredibly useful, and the guys have followed through on their promise. Just hours after they received their packages from us here in Brooklyn, the two collaborators were sharing files back and forth, testing the design in one place and doing another iteration on the other side of the world. Richard says it took the prototyping process down from weeks to just 20 minutes.
But that’s only half the story.
Giving A Hand
Robohand has grown far beyond the goal of making a set of fingers just for Richard. When the power of desktop 3D printing and MakerBot entered the picture, Richard began to realize how quickly he could refine a design for other people who have lost their fingers, or who were born without fingers. After posting his own story, he received emails and Facebook messages from parents whose children were candidates for a Robohand of their own. One of these children was five-year-old Liam.
The condition Amniotic Band Syndrome is poorly understood, but the effects of it are pretty clear. Children are often born without extremities, especially fingers and toes, when fibrous bands in the womb prevent these parts from developing normally. It’s this condition that caused Liam to be born with no fingers on his right hand. The cost of purchasing a traditional prosthesis was far too much for the family, especially since Liam is a young and fast growing boy who would outgrow a prosthesis in a few months.
Liam was given a Robohand just days after Richard and Ivan received their MakerBots in January, 2013, and he has already been fitted for his second. The word spread, and other kids in the Johannesburg area like Liam with Amniotic Band Syndrome have received their own Robohands, sized just for them. The files, including the assembly instructions, have been posted online at Thingiverse, and they have been downloaded over 3,800 times by people around the globe.
What Is A Robohand?
A Robohand is a set of mechanical fingers that open and close to grasp things based on the motion of the wrist. When the wrist folds and contracts, the cables attaching the fingers to the base structure cause the fingers to curl. Nearly all the parts of a Robohand are 3D printed on MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D printers.
Ivan, who played a big part in the initial design stages of Robohand, says he studied the anatomy of crab legs and human fingers to get the basic muscle and tendon structure. The result is a simple assembly that Richard believes anyone can make themselves. While a full set of prosthetic fingers may cost thousands of dollars, all of the Robohand parts that are made on the MakerBot Replicator 2 add up to roughly a few dollars in material cost, with the total mechanical hand costing around $150 (USD).
Who Needs A Robohand?
Amniotic Band Syndrome affects 1 in 1,200 live births.
About 80% of cases of Amniotic Band Syndrome involve the loss or malformation of fingers and hands.
Finger amputations are the most common amputation in the US, accounting for over 90% of all amputations, according to various reports.
How Do I Get A Robohand?
Robohand was not imagined as a service or a product. Instead, Richard has shared the design files and instructions for creating a Robohand on Thingiverse so that people around the world can download, customize, print, and assemble Robohands for themselves or for others.
So far, we’ve heard stories of Robohands being made for children and adults in the US, Canada, and Thailand. Are you a MakerBot owner who can give this incredible gift to someone in your community?
Get Involved
There’s still a lot to be done. Richard has given hands-on help to a few of the people within his reach, but Robohand needs your help in order to get to the people who need it most.
● Want to spread the word? Share this video with your friends on Twitter or Facebook. ● Looking to to support the cause? Check out Robohand’s Indiegogo campaign. ● Are you an occupational therapist or prosthetist? Leave a comment below!
Make a Robohand
The design files and assembly instructions for Robohand can be found on Thingiverse.
Robohand’s creators would like to empower others around the world to use their files and create and print in 3D Robohands of their own, and they are not in the mechanical hand business. They created Robohand out of the goodness of their heart. Now it’s time to provide the files to the world and see what other good can come from them!
Robohand uses the following tools to make their mechanical hands:
after one week of work to first sample of electronics , we are ready with workspace enviroment for developer that want join our team.
Electronic Specification:
In VR Gimbal We decide to use this kind of electronic parts :
as micro we use STM32F1 64 pin.
1 MPU6000 + HMC5883 for Z axis Direct Drive CAM using i2c bus.
1 MPU6000 on spi bus. for Roll and Pitch cam.
EEPROM for storage the parameter of gimbal.
3 ST Driver for manage 3 Brushless Motors with 9 Hardware PWM Output.
1 input for Ublox GPS.
4 PPM Radio Input or 1 PPMSUM radio input until 8 channel or more.
1 Telemetry port for mavlink control.
As developer enviroment we use VR Ide Universal (based on eclipse) compatible with VRBRAIN and MP32 board now also with VR GIMBAL.
The developer lib and hal at the begin will be compatible with our APM_LIB ported to STM32F1 library the same used on MP32F1 board.
That support all the APM library available and arduino language sintax .
In our code we decide to port on VR Gimbal :
AP_COMMON
AP_VAR
AP_InertialSensor
AP_IMU
AP_Camera
AP_Mount
Mavlink
and other utility yet available on our standard F1 package ...
We would develop also a utility for manage the board on pc and on android smartphone.
If you are interest to join our work in developing stage will be a special price for you of 75 euro for 3 axis control board + 15 euro for IMU (at the moment is available only 20 board) .
Your name will be in the list of developer of this project. The code will be opensource as other in this great community ... the support in development and donation are welcome .
For more info about the project contact me at info@virtualrobotix.com
In our roadmap the first stable version of code will be available in 1 month.
In the next week will be available the enviroment , with hal and library , then starting to implement the code functionality for manage the first opensource 32 bit 3 axis direct drive.
I hope that you like our project and join us in development.
In VR Lab mecatronix group are working hard and is yet available a good gimbal for GOPRO
And also is coming Gimbal for pro and semi pro camera.
Then after a long selection and technical evaluation of platform doing on 3d cad , testing the frame with FEM simulation and then send the prototype to our maker company.
The next step is test on air. Inside we put our flight control platform VR Brain , 3DR Ublox GPS , 3DR radio telemetry module , VR ESC and VR Radio .
We are working hard on a lot of component and we'll be on air in one month .
The VR Copter design is from italy :)
This Copter is in a 550 category.
The weight of frame is around 330 gr.
Below support different configuration of payload ad in front will be available a revision of VR Copter with VR Direct Drive Gimbal that's coming ,too
The tile is removable , so if drone crash you can change the tail or in future will be different configuration available.
We are available also to customize the frame with your colors or texture on it . With our modular approach we haven't limit to customize our platform.
We need your help to understand if you like our new and innovative drone platform and what kind of feature do you like on it :)
We are searching farm in the world that have competitive price for production of this frame . We have two kind of version of project one for going in production with professional 3D printer. We are evaluation also to buy one . If someone have some suggestion about a good product at competitive price that's welcome :)
The other opportunity is to produce by molding technology process , but we need a good price for it :) In italy is not enough competitive price :)
if you can help us comment this post or contact us at info@virtualrobotix.com
After 4 months of work we finish to port AP_HAL library to VR Brain.
so now we are ready for test Arduplane on VRBrain and see our VR Plane fligh in the sky :)
In this video you can see only first test that we doing last week.
Our configuration are :
VR Brain 4.0
Mediatek GPS
Radio Hitech aurora 9
Battery 3S 1800 mah
We decide to use a Sail Plane EasyGlider Pro for our first test , it fly very well :
We are using 3 servos configuration 1 for control the roll of plane connect to two servo , one for pitch control and other for YAW control.
We try to fly 3 mode :
manual for have a full direct control of Plane .
stabilize for control auto stabilization of plane when we putted the stick in the center.
return to landing , this is the fist automatic functionality that we test on our VR Plane :) It's work very well and when reach the point start to Circle .
Fly a Plane is a lot different that fly a Multicopter , I fly for 4 years only multicopter but my first impression is that the plane fly in more natural way than a multicopter ... less problem .... more simple to control but could be only a first impression :)
So the plane have a lot of limit respect of Multicopter but it could be a very long flight time respect to Multicopter especially in Sail Plane configuration.
The video is developed by VR Media division , the Chief of division is Daniele that's our beta tester of VR Plane.
Thanks to the DevTeam and beta tester for this great result.
This is main board normally put on Gimbal frame near the Quad .
This is the two options imu available normally is on camera module:
2 axis with 3 accelerometer and 3 gyroscope 3 magnetometer in one version we use mpu6050 and in other we use mpu 9150 1 chip 9 DOF sensor.
Some friends start to design different kind of gimbal for our new board. The main difference respect of standard gimbal is that the mechanical frame need to be develop for each video sensor that you would like to use for your video. This frame is for Gopro Hero 2-3 in the design is important to move CG of camera for obtain better result during gimbal stabilization :)
This is the caratheristics of our : VR Gimbal :
Micro Controller is STM32F1 at 72 mhz.
3 Axis Brushless Direct Drive gimbal :
Roll (MOT1)
Pitch (MOT2)
Yaw (MOT3)
For each channel we have 3 high power pwm output .
I2C IMU that support 3 axis . It is on camera module , so we can know exactly the position of camera and control in realtime the 3 Brushless motors.
We are developing two option :
more traditional approach : MPU6050 (6 DOF) + HMC5883 (3 DOF)
new sensor from inversense MPU 9150 (9 DOF)
1 USB port.
1 Serial port that support mavlink protocol.
1 Power module that support until 3S battery.
4 Radio RC Input for :
Control ROLL Setup.
Control Pitch Setup.
Control YAW Setup.
IR control repeater.
4 Analog Input 0-3.3v
1 IR Out , so is pssible to control a remote camera by its ir receiver.
The first batch of production will be available in 3 week it's better to reserve your board because there is a big request of this gimbal.
for more info send a mail to info@virtualrobotix.com
Today Marco doing a great test with his Hexa and VRBrain he used firmware Arducopter32 2.9.2b developed by official DIYDRONES Team and ported on VRBrain and supported by VRI Lab Team.
The Dev Team doing a great work :) The main advantages of VRBRain is that is 30x faster of standard APM 2.5. The main difference is processor: VR Brain use STM32F4 168 mhz and integrated FPU . APM used a standard AVR 8 bit processor at 16 mhz.
On VRBrain the scheduled time task is respected at 99% , we have 80 % of cpu time in idle and 3/4 flash free for future development of firmware and 1 year of test by our VRI flight team.
With this feature you have a great smoth flight and the attitude is processed at 500 hz , sensor is update at 1 khz instead of 250 hz in APM 2.5.
In this test the VRBrain is controlled directly by AndroPilot. The application is available on Google Play and supported by Android 4.x Pad and Smartphone.
The AndroPilot is connected to VRBrain by 3DR radio telemetry module directly connected to USB port of ASUS Pad.
In video is possible to see the guided mode and Follow me functionality available on AndroPilot application.
The AndroPilot use internal GPS Pad for position of Marco and send every some times and when Marco move the new point to drone that follow Marco during his travel in the field.
I think that this result is very impressive . The integration of different technology is developed very good , It's only an early stage prototype but the result is yet very good .
The board use by Marco is VR Brain 4.0 with enclosure and 3DR Ublox GPS the quality of fix is very good.
Thanks to Marco , Emile , Randy and the other guys of devteam for this great result. Thanks to Kevin for his great CGS Android Application Andropilot.
After an hard work VR Lab team finish the porting of AP_HAL library to VRBRAIN.
Now we start doing first test on Arducopter rev 3.0 and Arduplane 2.71 .
Emile yet start to do first test on Arducopter rev 3.0 the great news is that in the next week we start to doing the first test of Arduplane on VRBrain . Our beta tester is Daniele Avagadri . He is member of Virtual Robotix Italia team and have a 12 years of experience on RC airplane.
here info about VR Brain the price start from 150 euro.
Taulab is a fork of Original Open Pilot project , some guys decide to fork it and develop a code that support a lot of different platform .
The main advantages of this project is that native at 32 bit , use a operating system and all the code is write in pure c , not use c++ class.
A lot more complex of other project but very interesting for developers.
The other advantages of work doing by Stefan is the opportunity to doing some benchmark between two firmware that use same hardware VR Brain .
Could be interesting evaluate the quality and performance of firmware ported to 32 bit platform as Arducopter32 rev 2.9.1.1 and TauLab that instead use an Operating system and is 32 bit native.
This is only a introduction of work doing by Stefan he promise me that create a post with more info about his works :)
So this is some example of how vrbrain fly with TauLab Project firmware
Stable fly :
Simple Fly :
The next step will be : return to home , auto landing and navigation waypoint :)
In last two months we are working to new special console for control our drone , gimbal , rc models ... we develop a special application on android and some hardware interface for interconnect different kind of tx radio module. Our idea is to virtualize the hardware interface and have a flexible enviroment for control different kind of application.
This is only a preview of our work in the picture above is possible to see the direct interface with Jeti radio tx module.
In this kind of configuration the VR Droid PAD connect directly by a custom hardware the Jeti Tx module.
So is possible to use same reciver on your drone without change it.
Description
VR Droid RC is software that turns your Android smartphone or your pad into a powerful digital remote control for use with your radio model. Is designed to be used on Rover or Drones or professional use. It 'sa project dynamic and evolving based on feedback from users of our community: www.virtualrobotix.com
The main features are: - Ability to manage up to 8 channels. - 4 Channel standard for management ROLL, PITCH, YAW and Throttle.
- Auto Repositioning of 2 main stick when you put the finger on the screen.
- 5 additional channels of digital or analog. - Management of the minimum and maximum for each channel. - Management Trim - Management subtrim. - Reverse channel management. - Configuration management esponeziali on standard channels. - Management of up to two simultaneous feedback with vibration and sound feedback to throttle on the second audio output. - Management mode 1,2,3,4 as standard RC trasmitter. PPMSUM standard output compatible with the most 'popular radio modules tx. Manages two modes: configuration and live to allow the maximum fluidity of the commands and the maximum configurability by users.
The current version is a preview suitable only for beta testing use it carefully.
Check the forum for have more detail about the application development
If anyone want to share their experiences testing/using this app, or want to discuss anything in my blog post´s this forum thread can be used here we add also the schematics of op amp for interface VR Radio RC to your pad.
1) New name , we change the name to application the old was VR DROID RC Trasmitter , we change it in VR Radio RC , more simple , we change also the link in google play:)
2) We deactivate the limit inside the application and add some special function for customize the widget available on main screen , we prefer mantain priority on control of drone . So on the scrreen you choose to have only virtual stick.
3) Add the configuration of radius of virtual stick it's customizable directly inside the option pannel.
4) Improve Option pannel its more simple and better organized.
5) Add the Expo control for the stick.
5) Add feeback on 3 channel : gas ( on 1 speaker channel) and pitch (on vibro) is fixed and you can add 1 other feedback and decide if is on yaw or roll on vibro .
This is the link at : Vr Radio RC rev 1.4 in google play :
