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DIY Drones teams dominate Sparkfun Autonomous Vehicle Competition

Posted by Chris Anderson on June 21, 2014 at 11:39pm

3689601960?profile=originalCongratulations to Leonard Hall, whose incredibly fast ArduCopter (shown above) won the Sparkfun AVC copter category, and Philip Rowse, whose ArduPlane did the same in fixed wing. In rovers, my own ArduRover came in first in the micro rover category, and there were Pixhawks and APMs throughout all the other categories and contestants. A fantastic day! 

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Comments

  • Developer
    Philip July 3, 2014 at 5:59am
    It is true, but you should not do it. Unless it stated that the USB is able to supply more than 500mA, then you should assume it can't.

    In reality, it may work, but please don't do it.
  • Developer
    Philip July 3, 2014 at 4:26am
    Power via the pm, and use servo rail as backup with Zener diode. Keep servo rail voltage at 5.1-5.3v nom
  • Developer
    Philip July 3, 2014 at 4:24am
    It can pick automatically between the three sources, but that does not translate to triple redundant.

    Step 1. Powers via Power module.....
    Step 2. Power via servo rail if all voltage (including spikes) remain under 5.7v
    Step 3, if servo power stays above 5.7v, the I/O chip will stay alive, but FMU will die..

    Powering on the bench.... USB is last option for power, max 500ma, this is not enough for reliable flight operation with telemetry and GPS running......
  • Developer
    Philip June 25, 2014 at 10:16pm
    @DOM, please do not use the USB in this way, it will give you unpredictable results, the presence of the USB is taken by the system as if you are in a testing mode, power is also limited via this input, so it may not function as expected.

    Basically, don't do this........
    Phil :)
  • Rob_Lefebvre June 23, 2014 at 7:04pm

    That's what Sparkfun wanted.  The NASCAR of robotics.  They're probably sad they didn't get video of my heli going in the lake on Friday night. Pretty good splash, and one terrified stork. ;)

  • Reuben June 23, 2014 at 5:50pm

    Wow so many crashes !

  • Developer
    Philip June 23, 2014 at 3:03pm
    The point missed in the above analysis is that the Pixhawk has a brilliant redundant power system. It requires a primary power to be supplied to the Pixhawk at 5.3v, and can take a second supply from the servo rail up to and NEVER above 5.7v.

    Powering ANY autopilot via the servo rail is NOT recommended, unless it is a backup supply only, and must have protection supplied to protect from digital servos putting spikes above 5.7v on the rail.

    under NO circumstances should the servo rail be used as the primary supply.

    Roberts comments about cause are critical here, we know exactly what caused the Heli crash at AVC due to the onboard BLACK BOX that is the Pixhawk, without the autopilot onboard, similar could hav occured, but investigating this without the BLACK BOX would not be possible.
  • Rob_Lefebvre June 23, 2014 at 11:47am

    Yep.  That is why I generally just avoid the whole mess and use a 2S LiPo with HV servos.

  • Rob_Lefebvre June 23, 2014 at 9:00am

    It was difficult to judge from the video, but there were at least 3 crashes that made me fairly nervous, with the 550 Heli crash you mentioned probably the one with the most potential for harm.  Did they move the crowd back after this one?

    Nope, of course they didn't change anything.  They just laughed about it.  Safety is a joke at AVC.  I was one of the very few who understood the risks with that 550, and I was hiding behind a table during the flight!  Everybody else was blissfully ignorant.  

    Why do you suppose there have been so few incidents involving big helis and crowds at all the big 3D etc. events? It's maybe because of the combination of pilots who have excellent manual flight skills and fine, generally mature equipment that has been properly set up. No newbie pilots relying on an autopilot, no Brand-X parts from some unknown dirt-floor factory in China, nobody stupidly overloading their BECs. The airframes, power systems and flight controllers we are all playing with are all still highly experimental, in comparison, and anything large (say 450 and up) really has no business being flown anywhere near people, let alone crowds, unless the crowd is behind a net.

    This is actually a fairly interesting comment for several reasons.

    First, I think the reason why there haven't been any spectator incidents at 3D heli events is because they are organized properly, and they have a sensible location for the spectators.  

    Second, it's certainly not true that 3D heli pilots are perfect, nor are the machines, if you consider the rate these guys are killing themselves, getting hit by their own helis.  Think is though, we never know what the *cause* of the crashes are, because there is no data, and that community is interested in learning why anyway.  Any attempt at an investigation is met with a "Dude, it's not right to blame the pilot.  It was a freak accident.  He died doing what he loved.  Think of his family."  Compare that to this situation, where, within 15 minutes we knew with high certainty exactly what the cause was. 

    The comment about the equipment in use is particularly interesting.  That 550 was a high-quality kit, using good name-brand electronics (including the BEC).  Brownouts using this equipment happens all the time, and is NOT only a problem with the Pixhawk. Though the Pixhawk may be more vulnerable, it is possible to almost completely eliminate the problem.  I've been doing this for 3 years and have NEVER had a brownout.

    I do use mechanics from various sources.  Some of it is good, some is not.  It's an economic reality of developing this code that you need to try to keep costs down.  And you can't figure out what is good or not without testing.  And the idea that simply paying more for name-brand is going to guarantee you good mechanics or electronics is totally wrong.  Lots of the top brands still make junk.

    However, I knew that the heli I brought was NOT mature enough, and chose not to fly it even after I fixed the yaw problem, even though it might have been just fine. Some people think I'm overly cautious, but that's how I operate.

  • John Githens June 23, 2014 at 7:30am

    Not positive if that is the crash that I witnessed, however on takeoff a quad flew directly toward and just a few feet above the sitting crowd and into people standing near the top of the hill. About 15 feet from me. Fortunately, they all were able to move out of the way before the quad hit the ground. Good thing the two EMTs nearby didn't need to take action.

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