3D Robotics

Great ABC News profile of Jordi

3689501210?profile=originalABC News/Univavision has a great profile of Jordi today. The video segment is here (embedding isn't working here) and the text is below. It's quite long, but here how it starts:

At 20 years old, Jordi Muñoz found himself in Riverside, Calif., an hour east of Los Angeles with not much to do. He'd settled there to wait for a green card after leaving Mexico to start a family with his wife, a U.S. citizen. He was away from friends and family, and he could not work or continue school in the U.S. either. So, with an internet connection and his programing skills, he began tinkering with a remote control helicopter.

"I was extremely bored," he said. "I could only watch TV or program something, so I decided to program."

In his bedroom he tweaked his toy, splicing motion sensors of a Nintendo Wii controller with the mini copter. He calls those eight months "the most productive months of my life." That's because his pet project put him at the front of a budding industry: the personal drone market.

His eureka moment came when he was able to stabilize the helicopter's flight using computer code. He posted his progress on DIY Drones, an online community started by Chris Anderson, who was editor of Wired magazine at the time. Muñoz also acquired more and better sensors, like a geographical positioning system, or GPS, probably the most important component on a drone, he says.

Anderson took an interest in Munoz's work. He found Muñoz's accomplishments "impressive" and began collaborating with him virtually.

"He was able to quickly learn about very advanced technology. He did all that by teaching himself on the internet," Anderson said. "He's that generation of people who don't know what they don't know. He didn't know he was supposed to have a PhD to invent a drone. He just did it."

Read the rest of the article here

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Comments

  • Buena esa Jordi!!

     

  • Jordi,

    I remember when you started, you have really made it my friend! All the hard work and collaboration with Chris and the DIYDrones Community is paying off in spades. Keep up the great work, and I look forward to seeing what the future brings for 3DRobotics and this incredible platform!

  • The way he states working with Wii sensors makes it sound like he was the first to create a MultiWii copter. Pretty sure he wasn't?

  • Jordi,

        Congratulations!! You have been successful in your technical endeavors but more importantly, you have shown us all how to be an entrepreneur - starting a business and hiring a great team! When I visited your facilities in San Diego, I was so impressed that you took the time to introduce me to many of your employees and it showed that you were proud of them. Keep up the great work!

     

    Dave

  • Developer

    I was starting to wonder where Jordi was these days... I loved those days when Jordi did everything from board design to code writing.

  • we need to lock him back up with a space shuttle see what he comes up with ;)

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