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Another view of ArduCopterMega's new Fly-By-Wire mode: fly the compass, not the quad!

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 7, 2011 at 10:00pm


If Jason's onboard view of the fly-by-wire mode in the ArduCopterMega alpha code made you dizzy, here's a view from the ground. It's really cool: you fly north-south-east-west, and the code reads the magnetometer to figure out what that means in terms of quad orientation. So you can have the quad spinning and still fly it as if it were stationary--no more worrying about orientation and where the "front" is. You fly the compass, not the quad!

 

 

Here is the test rig in Flash:

Just a reminder for those who aren't following ArduCopter development closely: ArduCopterMega (ACM) is the code name of the next version of the ArduCopter code being developed by the original ArduCopter team. ACM is based on the relatively mature ArduPilotMega code on fixed wings, and is designed for full UAV functionality (missions, waypoints, ground stations, etc). There is also great work in ArduCopter development done by the ArduPirates, but that's a different code base. Choice is good!

 

Right now the ACM code is in private alpha, but it looks like it may be ready for public beta in a couple weeks.

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Comments

  • Shawn March 19, 2011 at 11:56am
    nice.
  • Developer
    Jason Short March 19, 2011 at 11:53am
    Yes, It's already implemented. We're calling it "SIMPLE" in the CLI where you set your mode switch.
  • Shawn March 19, 2011 at 11:46am

    Just to confirm, will this "carefree" mode be available and included in the next ACM code release?

     

  • Cliff Dearden February 9, 2011 at 7:43am
    Excellant, well done!
  • Tom February 9, 2011 at 5:54am
    This is going to be very cool hope to see it soon    Tom
  • John Reynolds February 8, 2011 at 6:25pm
    Pretty cool. Just set the "virtual north" to the yaw angle when the quad is powered on and now it just flies in the direction of the stick.

    With that kind of magic, I might be able to fool some friends into thinking I have pilot skills......
  • Developer
    Jason Short February 8, 2011 at 1:38pm
    @Tom,
    yes, this is what I was going for. More for tuning the nav controller but the result is the same. Sorry I didn't get to it first! Oh well. I'm a bit late to the game.
  • Tom February 8, 2011 at 8:56am

    is this some what like MK  carefree mode 

    http://vimeo.com/groups/mke/videos/13726420

      

  • Benjamin February 8, 2011 at 5:08am

    Nice.

    Now put a magnetometer on the controller to dynamically set your own (virtual) north and kids  won't be disoriented when flying. You would point a direction with the controller, push the joystick and the quad would fly in that direction. =)

This reply was deleted.