Blogs

Flying without a RC transmitter

Posted by Arthur Benemann on May 7, 2013 at 5:00pm

Here is a video of Droidplanner + SmartAP flying a quad-copter without the use of a RC transmitter, video made by user Kirill.

The flight is made by using only a tablet, and I think that is impressive. The hardware used was a SmartAP, which handles all the hard work like landing. The UI is a tablet running Droidplanner (which is also compatible with Ardupilot).

If you want more info just post a comment, or go to the above links.

android, droidplanner, smartap

E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

Pedro J Panana February 2, 2014 at 5:55pm

This a very nice video. However, I am looking to flight a completely autonomous Quadcopter UAV without using a RC transmitter with the Ardupilot Mega 2.6. Is this possible?
Developer

Arthur Benemann June 21, 2013 at 7:37am

@Joe:

Where is a issue I have opened some time ago: https://github.com/arthurbenemann/droidplanner/issues/106. It's a great start, and a nice place to discuss about this feature.
Joe DeMarco June 21, 2013 at 7:20am

Ok, thanks. I'll look into it.
Developer

Arthur Benemann June 21, 2013 at 6:35am

@Joe

It may work, but I think there is a better solution. ArduCopter has a mode to do a takeoff right? Maybe is just a question of activating this mode.
Joe DeMarco June 21, 2013 at 5:42am

Yes that is what i meant. I am using ArduPilot so I guess that is my problem. I was thinking about writing a "launch" routine where inside DroidPlanner. It would override RC similar to what the RC mode does but then hand over control to the autopilot and hold pos. Do you think this would work?
Developer

Arthur Benemann June 20, 2013 at 3:31pm

By RC mode you mean the RC control screen on DroidPlanner? If yes, it's nice to see more people using it.

Kirill is doing the entire flight using only the tablet because he has developed his own flight controller, and he has made it in a way that is possible to use only the tablet running DP to fly. ArduPilot still needs some development before that.
Joe DeMarco June 19, 2013 at 8:38pm

How did you do that?! Has anyone been able to repeat this experiment? I have been trying, but have had no luck. I can get the quad to arm using the rc mode, and fly in rc mode, but when I switch to hold pos it just sits there. Please let me know what I'm missing. Thank You
Kirill May 10, 2013 at 1:40am

Thanks!

Amazing stuff, thanks for the link! This is really great to see more advanced approaches in uav navigation.
uavster May 9, 2013 at 11:48am

Hi, Kirill. This is very cool. Congratulations! I have another solution to the problem using a camera and some Computer Vision (no GPS). I've got no tablet app, though, and it's not compatible with ArduCopter (yet?). Watch the video here: http://www.uavster.com/projects/MAVwork-support-for-the-LinkQuad-qu...
Mike T May 8, 2013 at 8:00pm

this is fantastic. keep up the good work