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3D Robotics

ArduPilot 2.0 update

Posted by Chris Anderson on March 4, 2009 at 8:00am
I'm in LA hanging out with Jordi and geeking out over the ArduPilot 2.0 code. You're going to love this--it's got all the capabilities of the FMA Co-pilot built-in, including a "fly by wire" option that just helps you stabilize the airplane when you're flying manually. In autopilot mode, it's now closer to AttoPilot in capability (save datalogging, which we'll save for ArduPilot Pro) and has a similar set-up procedure it's optimized for the EasyStar but can also fly aircraft as different as the Funjet. Stores IR calibration info and home lat/lon in EEPROM so you can restart the autopilot without having to reset those values. Right now we're still having you enter waypoints int the Arduino code, but Jordi's developed a desktop app/Ground Station that will make that process easy for you, with no need to see the code. It won't be ready next week, when we'll release ArduPilot 2.0, but do look for that in the next month or two. It's amazing how much Jordi's managed to squeeze out of the Atmega with careful use of interrupts and registers. We thought we would need two processors to do all of this, but we're doing it in one. There's a lot of capability in that little $24 board--and even more to come!
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Comments

  • Pumuky March 7, 2009 at 3:45pm
    Dont forget that we use to implement in V1 to record the home point in the EEPROM please. Thx.
  • Michael King March 5, 2009 at 12:46pm
    Guess it is time to jump on the ArduPilot band wagon! Great job!

    I think I need to field another UAV or I am going to go crazy! This sounds like my cup of tee.
  • Michael King March 5, 2009 at 12:44pm
    Is there going to be the ability to do inflight retasking?
  • Jhon March 4, 2009 at 3:09pm
    so dataloging finally will not be implemented in ardupilot ? i thought you said it will be implemented with the new atmel chip :s
  • helitron March 4, 2009 at 12:25pm
    Wow, great news again and I'm looking forward to test it here in Austria and to compare it with the AttoPilot 1.6 betatests last year :-). Got two ArduPilot boards already but didn't have the chance to test it so far due to bad weather conditions.
  • OlivierD. March 4, 2009 at 11:40am
    This is amazing, you guys are doubling the value of this little board!
    Can't wait to test the code!
  • Mike March 4, 2009 at 11:39am
    And better than ours in Liverpool...

    Encouraging news Chris thanks.
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson March 4, 2009 at 11:38am
    Yes, Jordi has been flight testing it for the past two weeks. Luckily his weather in LA has been better than ours in San Francisco.
  • Mike March 4, 2009 at 11:34am
    Hi Chris great work and looking forward to testing it in Angola (good check on the nav algorithms...) in coming weeks. Will it have been flight tested before release?

    Cheers and keep up the good work!
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson March 4, 2009 at 11:13am
    Praelian: Not sure what you mean. ArduPilot 2.0 is just new software (free) for the standard ArduPilot hardware ($24.95).
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