Here's a semi-scale Predator. Pretty cool, but it's an ARF so I can't do too much bragging. I just modded an inexpensive ($80) Nitro Models kit with a AXI 2208 brushless motor and added some proper landing gear and

an airscoop to cool the motor in the back. (BTW, Nitro sells two Predators. Get

this one, not the similar…

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From Army Times:

WASHINGTON — The use of unmanned aircraft in Iraq has surged by nearly one-third since the buildup of U.S. forces began early this year, and drones are now racking up more than 14,000 hours a month in the battlefield skies.

The increase in unmanned aircraft — from high-altitude Global Hawks to short-range…

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There's nothing like a big project for a crash course in a new technology. After choosing the Basic Stamp platform for the embedded processor version of the autopilot, I've now learned the hard way about the complexities and limitations of embedded processors. They're not insurmountable, but they're important to…

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Great news on the Lego UAV front. Ralph Hempel, who has been helping me on adding GPS waypoints and navigation to my Mindstorms Autopilot, has cracked the tricky bluetooth integration code problem. Just the review the challenge, it appeared that the easiest way to connect the Mindstorms NXT CPU with a GPS

receiver is via its bluetooth interface. But the native NXT bluetooth stack and

API is very limited, and we couldn't find a good way…

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From the MAKE blog:

Here is a link to pictures of an attempt by a group of Calpoly engineers to have a UAV glider bring back pictures from 100,000 feet. After some sleepless nights and an overwhelming amount of work on hardware and software we launched a glider in California Valley. The…

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Flew the Lego Autopilot UAV and the cellphone autopilot UAV (sans cellphone) on Sunday to test some new stabilization calibration. Again, if the definition of a successful test is useful data and no crashing, this was a success, but it was a little tense at times. Lessons from these flights:



1) The Lego autopilot suffered a mechanical malfunction. One of the gear linkages came off in midair, freezing the autopilot in the "on" position. This meant that I had to fight a hard-left rudder… Continue

* List here



Commerical UAVs:



* Boomerang UAV (with AttoPilot) ($15,500 foam wing)

* Procerus Kestrel ($10k foam flying wing)

*… Continue

Description: This UAV is not functionally very different from GeoCrawler 4, with its off-the-shelf Picopilot GPS-guided autopilot, but it's so much cooler! If you're going to build a UAV, why not make it look like a UAV?… Continue

From Wired's Danger Room blog:

"The number of flying robots in the American armed forces' arsenal has gone up by nearly 1400% in four years, military documents show. A relatively-modest unmanned fleet of 217 machines has grown into a 3211-drone…

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[NOTE: This post describes the original version of the Lego Mindstorms autopilot, which is a navigation-only (rudder and GPS) autopilot. Since then, we have created a full navigation-and-stabilization (aileron and elevator and GPS) autopilot. However, since it uses prototype hardware that is not yet commercially available, I'm not posting full building… Continue

1. I've updated the GeoCrawler 2 (Lego UAV) instruction page. It now has a list of steps and parts necessary to complete the compass-sensor version of the UAV. The GPS version software is still in development. That should be ready later this summer.
2. I've switched GeoCrawler 1 (Picopilot UAV) to a more appropriate airframe.…

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My kids and I actually had the first successful test flight of the sub-$1,000 UAV two weekends ago, but I haven't had time to edit the video properly until now. The good news is that a) it didn't crash, and b) it works. We tested stabilization, autonomous navigation (only using compass headings this time, although GPS is in the works), and the real-time video downlink. Everything worked well enough that we're able to see what we have to improve, which is the definition of a successful…

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May 13th, first test flight of both the Lego UAV and the stealth "minimum" UAV at Alameda Naval Air Station. Video coming soon.

'

Subsytems tested:



--Flight stabilization: Worked. a little rocking, but nothing too serious

--Autopilot: Sort of worked. Rudder throw needs to be increased. Heading change induced expected counter force by stabalization, which increased rocking. As a result the turning was very gradual. That needs to… Continue

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