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3D Robotics

ArduPilot now available to buy!

Posted by Chris Anderson on January 6, 2009 at 9:00am

Great news! ArduPilot is now available to buy at Sparkfun. The price is $24.95 (or buy 100 at $19.96 each ;-)). Note: there is a limited number available now, but Sparkfun can make more pretty quickly so get your order in now and they'll be filled from backorder in the order they were received.

[Update on availability from Sparkfun: ~15 coming out of production today/morrow. 63 more PCBs ready. Waiting on xtals (probably about a week).]

You'll also need an EM406 GPS module, and for all but the most stable planes, an FMA Co-Pilot, so unless you already have those items, the total cost of the autopilot will be around $155.

Huge thanks to Nathan Siedle at Sparkfun for helping us get through the production snafus and otherwise taking this project under his wing. Now let's win his autonomous vehicle competition with an ArduPilot-guided plane!

Tags: ardupilot
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Comments

  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson January 7, 2009 at 4:53pm
    @Paul: You're correct. An FTDI cable will work equally well. But Sparkfun only sells the board, not the cable, so we thought we'd keep our linking in-site ;-)

    If you're looking for an FTDI cable, this one works great.
  • Paul Marsh January 7, 2009 at 4:51pm
    Chris,

    Is the FTDI board itself necessary? From reading the ArduPilot thread, it looks like an FTDI cable will connect the ArduPilot to a computer for programming. What would the FTDI board be used for?
  • Peter Clay January 7, 2009 at 4:13pm
    I'm very interested in these for low cost indoor or low altitude outdoor hyperblimps.
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson January 7, 2009 at 12:30pm
    @Paul. The FTDI board has a mini USB connector. If you already have a mini USB cable (and you probably do--most digital cameras come with one) that will be fine.
  • Paul Marsh January 7, 2009 at 12:08pm
    Sparkfun is recommending that an FTDI board and USB cable be purchased along with the ArduPilot board. Is that really necessary, or is just an FTDI cable needed for programming? I can't figure out where the mini USB cable would be needed that Sparkfun is recommending.
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson January 7, 2009 at 10:46am
    @tychoc: This one.
  • corey January 7, 2009 at 10:14am
    just put one on backorder!
  • copperclad January 7, 2009 at 8:39am
    good work Chris!
    just put one on backorder , looking forward to recieving it , thanks
  • dincer hepguler January 7, 2009 at 3:09am
    sigh.... i could only backorder...
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson January 6, 2009 at 7:39pm
    @Jack: Nathan is a nice guy, but that has nothing to do with his decision to make this. The initial costs are low (we did the design and he tweaked it for his production facility) and he'll make up his costs with the first hundred he sells. And he will indeed take a pitch from anyone. Here's his tutorial on submitting one.
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