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ArduCopter beta flying!

Posted by Chris Anderson on June 26, 2010 at 5:30am
Here's one of the first test flights of the ArduCopter quadcopter setup, from team leader Ted Carancho. Try doing that with a Parrot AR.Drone!

This is using the ArduPilotMega hardware (APM board and IMU shield) on the original AeroQuad platform. The ArduCopter platform is in final design tweaks before it goes into production. The merger of the AeroQuad and ArduPilot Mega software is going well and a public beta is probably a few weeks away.

Great job, Ted!
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Comments

  • Michael Vowles July 21, 2010 at 7:42am
    Brilliant job!! Definitely looking forward to the code release.
  • Yun Youngjun June 29, 2010 at 5:57pm
    It's cool!
    I'll try ASAP

    Yun
  • Ted Carancho June 27, 2010 at 9:21pm
    @TCIII, using a beta AeroQuad frame cut from polycarbonate. X and + mode fly the same for me. I made it X mode, so I can mount a camera in-between arms when I get to that point.

    @Taylor, the AeroQuad will share it's acro mode with ArduCopter which will enable flips. Here's a test video, still working on getting tighter flips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1OK5jn7eno
  • Alex June 27, 2010 at 5:43pm
    Cool! I can't wait to get my hands on the final version!

    My question is kinda a safety one. As a university-endorsed researcher, my team is subjected to an (incredibly long) list of safety checklists and requirements. I'm curious to what safety procedures you use for flying near high-power lines.

    Also: Props for doing (even unintentional) EMI testing. As an EE working with lots of Aero Engr's, its good to see someone accounting for possible electrical failures.
  • Xander June 26, 2010 at 8:12pm
    Thanks Chris. Good to know. I'm a bit surprised the AR.Drone can't handle the outdoors better. With gyros plus optical flow running on an ARM9 it should be pretty capable. Hmm, unless the response time of the actual motors isnt great.

    Taylor, pretty sure you wont see any quads flying upside down. Typically the motors can't be reversed in flight, so with fixed pitch they're always pulling in one direction. Flips are possible, and i suppose you could fly at the ground, but there's really no way to stay upside down for long.
  • Earl June 26, 2010 at 7:58pm
    I have lots of room to hide them !
    Earl

  • Jhon June 26, 2010 at 7:23pm
    w0w there are a lot of cables involved in this beta,
    final one will be more clean?
  • Earl June 26, 2010 at 4:01pm
    Any chance we can test the software on the bench ?
    Earl
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson June 26, 2010 at 12:23pm
    Xander, when you get an AR.drone you'll see that it's not great outdoors (it can't handle much wind), really not designed to fly much off the horizontal plane, and not designed to fly above ultrasonic sensor height (about 15 feet). I've had one for about six months and I love it indoors. But it's only acceptable outdoors on the stillest days.
  • Taylor Cox June 26, 2010 at 11:55am
    Didn't it fly upside down for a little bit? Not to mention this arduCopter will be able to do much more than the A.R.Drone once everything is completed.
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