Blogs

3D Robotics

A little bit of history

Posted by Chris Anderson on December 21, 2013 at 3:00pm

3689564451?profile=originalNow that Pixhawk, our new 32-bit autopilot, is shipping, I dug up all of its predecessors just to remind myself how far we've come. That takes me back -- that first ArduPilot was designed by Jordi and manufactured by Sparkfun, long before 3D Robotics was even a company. I still have a fond spot for APM 1, which was the first board 3DR made and is still supported today. 

Three of the biggest changes were the shift from thermopile to IMU stabilization between ArduPilot and APM 1 (2010), the shift from mostly fixed-wing UAVs to mostly multicopters with APM 2 (2011), and the shift from 8-bit platforms to 32-bit platforms with Pixhawk (2013). 

E-mail me when people leave their comments –
Follow

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

  • Developer
    Marco Robustini December 23, 2013 at 12:37am

    @Darrell: thanks!

    Nice video Robert, my goal in 2014 is help you in the development with my T-Rex 700E if you want.

  • Sam Kelly December 22, 2013 at 9:51pm

    Hey guys, you didn't hear this from me, but here are some hints about what's coming next: Son of Pixhawk, Double Quarterpixhawk with cheese, Western Baconhawk, and my personal favorite, Pixhawk Pixhawk animal style.

  • Rob_Lefebvre December 22, 2013 at 5:19pm

    Here's another interesting comparison:

    2012:

    2013:

  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson December 22, 2013 at 3:15pm

    Pixhawk is shorter than the APM version with side pins, which is the standard model. In the picture above, I shot it with the version of APM with top pins, which is shorter than the side pins but no longer made (because it's a hassle to insert cables from the top in most airframes). 

  • Matthew Coleman December 22, 2013 at 3:13pm

    @Hein,  A quote from 3DR marketing wrt. Pixhawk 

    "it's the same size as APM (actually slightly shorter)"

    So your wrong.  It is not getting larger, you are just looking at it from the wrong angle

  • mP1 December 22, 2013 at 1:45pm

    I find it interesting that sonar is no longer a mentioned option for the Iris. I wonder what layout will come after the deadcat. How much flight time does the Iris get with the gimbal + Gopro attached ?

  • 100KM
    Hein du Plessis December 22, 2013 at 11:26am

    @Chris: I was so hoping for just that, thank you - really looking forward to the new formats, credit card at the ready :)

  • Charles lakins December 22, 2013 at 9:31am

    Ahh ok :) its like car years :)

  • Developer
    Marco Robustini December 22, 2013 at 9:27am

    2014 because we always look ahead of the others... ;-)
    And also because in a few days will be an actual video...

  • Charles lakins December 22, 2013 at 9:12am

    Hey Marco @ 2:05 did you happen to take a ride on the delorean to 2014 :)

    I cringed on the first crash ..ouch

This reply was deleted.