Technically speaking there is no mention of any autopilot in my tutorial. But, as ROS (Robot Operating System) becomes more and more popular, I kinda felt like it was time to create a Tutorial for beginner that was actually fun to do (and watch, I hope).

So I decided to go for a real example. I had my Donkey Car (donkeycar.com) parked somewhere (too many things to do) and I thought that would have been a perfect robot to start with.

This video covers (it's long, but I wrote down the time marks in the description on YouTube):

• setting up a Raspberry Pi 3 with an SD card image from Ubiquity Robotics, with ROS Kinetic installed. 
• installing ROS on Ubuntu
• ROS master, ROS_MASTER_URI and ROS running on multiple platforms
• Packages installation and creation
• topics and messages
• writing a script (publisher and subscriber) in Python
• lots of fun outdoor

You are all welcome to contribute with your own packages!

CODE: Find the code on Github

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE

I interviewed Caleb Bergquist, a developer like us who posted a complete video course online about:

 - Setting up the developer environment

 - Mavproxy and Qground Control

 - Developing with dronekit in Python

 - more is coming...

I found it very helpful and I am glad I inspired Caleb with my Youtube channel.

For checking out the course and enrolling, use my discount below:

>> Click here to SAVE with my DISCOUNT

>> Whatch the video on my Youtube channel

Part 2 of my Tutorial about Precision Landing, using a Raspberry Pi, OpenCv, Arducopter and Dronekit.

> Plus my first Shout Out... at the very end!

> Plus the first Coding Challenge: submit your precision landing video and the best one will be in my next shout out!

Watch Part 1 here

Here I am again with a new tutorial. Find it on Youtube

Suggestions for further videos? >>> Write it down in the comments or on my YouTube channel

***** LINKS *******

- Github: https://github.com/tizianofiorenzani/...

- My company Xworks (home of the RDISt): http://www.xworkshd.com/

***** References ***

- Aruco Library: https://docs.opencv.org/3.1.0/d5/dae/...

- Aruco Marker online generator: http://keystone.umd.edu/html/markerge...

- Precision Landing project from GoodRobot: https://github.com/goodrobots/vision_...

- Ardupilot Store: https://shop.ardupilot.org/

- Rotation matrix to euler angles: https://www.learnopencv.com/rotation-...

***** REFERRED VIDEOS *****

- OpenCv setup on a Raspberry Pi 3: https://youtu.be/QV1a1G4lL3U

- Setup a Raspberry Pi 3 as Companion PC: https://youtu.be/cZVNndOaYCE

- Software In The Loop with Mission Planner: https://youtu.be/o6o5IcTAwgM

- Trajectory Tracking: https://youtu.be/yzeCuBjuEjc

If you want to connect your companion PC to the latest ArduPlane release, get telemetry data or commanding your custom path planning algorithm, I hope this little library of mine comes in handy.

The class Plane() is basically a wrap around dronekit: it simplifies some variable names and functions and make it easy on SITL to "arm and takeoff". Main functions are:

• connect() for connecting with the autopilot
• set_ap_mode() / get_ap_mode() for setting, getting the autopilot flight mode
• arm_and_takeoff() for arming and takeoff like copter
• mission_add_takeoff() for quickly adding a takeoff item to your mission
• set_ground_course() for setting the ground course in Guided mode
• get_rc_channel() / set_rc_channel()

Find my code on Github

A few years ago I struggled a lot to study and understand OpenCV, especially the calibration process. 

Now that I have just a little bit more the hang of it, I thought It might be helpful for people that are going to approach this incredible computer vision library starting from zero.

The process of installing OpenCV on some single board computers is not as straightforward as "apt-get install...." and you have no other choice rather than compiling it from zero.

The steps I followed are pretty much the same you find on pyimagsearch and on the Ardupilot Companion PC setup page

Hope it will be of help 

Hi everybody, this is my last short tutorial for setting up a Raspberry Pi as Companion PC.

That is easy stuff for experts, but definitely something I would have appreciated when I started.

Hi everyone, I posted a new video of my series. This time we are going to write a script for tracking a circular trajectory around a waypoint that we provide using Mission Planner.

Be sure you watch the previous video about Drone Delivery as we are going to use a lot of code developed before.

Find the code on my Github

Find the whole Youtube Playlist