Blogs

The rain has picked up, but we all got a good round two in. Here are the current standings, in order:

1. The custom Rabbit-powered wing ("Robota") had a great run, with an auto takeoff (hand launched, so it didn't count, but still impressive) and an autolanding that just nailed, stopping right on the box line. He got a 30 second deduction for that, so his 34 second run turned into a time of 4 seconds, for first place
2. The U Arizona Paparazzi team ("UoA Robotics")had a 35 second run, but nailed a perfect autonomous landing, for a 5 second second place.
3. Doug Weibel tried an autonomous takeoff with ArduPilot w/IMU Skyfun ("Death by Pine Tree"), but it didn't quite pull up in time. He was allowed a second start (manual this time) and blasted through a very tight 20 second run for fastest overall time, but no bonus points, and thus third place
4. The rain let up enough to let Jordi ("DIYDrones") do a slightly faster and very smooth second run of 37 seconds with the stock ArduPilot and EasyStar, giving us 4th place
5. Both of the UAVDevBoard planes were recovered (one from a fence, another from a roof) but both are unflyable. Fortunately, Ben Levitt ("Donuts, Coffee and Muffins", a play on the DCM algorithm that we all use) had a backup AcroMaster. He did an autonomous VERTICAL takeoff, then a couple autonomous barrel rolls, then some calibration loops upside down, then did the course upside down. Awesome tight control, and pretty fast at 30 seconds, too, but unfortunately he clipped a corner and didn't score that round.

The rain is getting pretty heavy, so we thermopile guys may not do a third round, which would leave it to the IMU teams to win. Nail-biting suspense!