Indoor fun with a tiny ArduCopter quadcopter

Do you have an Ardupilot Mega and shield and want some fun for little money? check this tiny quad... my last drone in family...

Some specs:
- Size : 26.5cm (10.4 inches) from motor to motor
- Motors : 18-11 200kv 10 gram motors
- Props : 4x2.5 (standard CCW props)
- ESCs : Turnigy 6A
- Battery : 3S610 (or 3S800)
- Sonar : Maxbotics LV-EZ0 [optional]

The nice part about this frame is that it use standard kite parts, so it´s very easy to construct and it´s perfect for some radical tests.
Itried to find a bit different design that also make the quad less simmetrical (it´s very easy to loss the orientation with a quad) and I wanted to do as small as posible to flight indoors...
At this size and weight it´s very safe and robust also. The props use prop savers and this help a lot in crashes...
I am not very good writing... so I took a lot of photos during the build phase and I created a build log: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fIZL-Ca2fx2RPhBQLzoOdqdCuikXRKePwKbxDlJWiss/edit?hl=es

This code supports a sonar for altitude hold and also has a battery alarm (2 alarms).
Thisquad works with ArduCopter code, but because how main board is mounted, actual code doesn´t work. This is the code that I used with this quad :
http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/source/browse/#svn/branches/Arducopter_indoor
(as zip format: Arducopter_indoor.zip )
note that this will be integrated on main Arducopter code. Now is temporarily in a branch.
ThePID gains are different than in standard ArduCopter, so you need to Initialize EEPROM on Configurator or put this ones manually:
-Stable mode: P : 4.8 ; I : 0.12 ; P_rate (D in configurator) : 0.4 ; Yaw : (4.5 ,0.15 ,2.8 )
-Acrobatic mode : P : 0.75 ; I : 0.1 ; D : 0 ; Yaw : (2.4 ,0.2 ,0 )

OK, but was all so perfect like in the video? I don´t believe that...
Yes, you are right, but fortunately this design is very crash resistance... and this part is also fun...

After all this battles I only needed a few drops of ciano in the crash with the lamppost :-)

What´s the real size?

On center, standard arducopter frame, on left, old ArduIMU quadcopter part III, on right-top this project.

And what about the automatic aerobatics on video?
I am starting to test a new function to do automatic aerobatics (Automatic Aerobatic Procedure). The idea is that you enable this function with a switch in the Tx to make an automatic predefined aerobatic and then automatically recover to a stable mode.
Thisis actually a proof of concept but works very nice. One limit here is the maximun rate of the gyros, in our case 500deg/s. If we exceed this, the IMU get confused...
An interesting point to note is that the IMU doesn´t loose the orientation in this hard movements...
Thestory is that I have never feel too much confidence doing flips manually with quads. Then I start thinking that with an automatic code we can get a precise timing and controled movement so maybe this could help to do better aerobatics. I started testing this function outdoor, on an open field but I was improving the code and got more tightly maneuvers, so tight, that I ended up doing flips with a quad inside my room!!!

Here is the code I was testing : (AAP function: AAP.txt )
I implemented this functionality as a state machine where there are three kind of states:
- fixed commands for a limited period of time. (example : Apply a throttle command)
- fixed commands until we reach some IMU state (example : roll until we reach a certain angle)
- And a mix between this categories and a control (example : Throttle command + stable mode on roll, pitch, yaw)
There are many things to test and improve here but the basic concept works very nice...

If I can get a bit of help from a friend, I will probably made a carbon fuselage for this prototype...

Enjoy this “Science & Fun” mix...

Jose Julio.
Arducopter Team

Horrible weekend... my tinyquad doesn´t fly. I think I have followed the instructions, but nothing seems work...

1. Esc, motors, frame and everything are the same as the original post.

2. First, I connect the APM to USB/PC and load the code indoor_quad. After a lot of tries I could upload the code to the APM using old libraries( the new ones seems not work with indoor quad code). In adittion I had to change MIN_THROTTLE to 990 because if not, the motors didn´t armed.

3. Once I have solved the first problem, I go to the Arducopter configurator (V1.2.2). First, I go to Initial setup and initialize EEPROM while I place my APM in a horizontal surface. Once I do it, I go to "flight data" and the accel roll (-35) and the accel pitch (27) is far from 0. At this point the reading offsets are 2048 for x, y z, accel offsets. If I see the “artificial horizon” it is not horizontal at all. So I changed the accel offsets until both accel pitch and accel roll are near to zero and the artificial horizon was horizontal. ¿is it wrong?

4. Following the initial setup, I continue with transmitter calibration. Everything seems to go ok, but when the software asks me to save it, the message is always the same… ““Update unsuccessful”. Sheet!!

5. Avoiding last step, I go to tune the PIDs proposal for this quad in “Stable” and “Acrobatic” mode, but if I try to update them, always the same… ““Update unsuccessful”. I don’t really understand.

6. The result: It doesn´t matter the flight mode, it is inestable, I can´t separate 1 cm from the floor because its instability.

I would appreciate any help…

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T3

healthyfatboy January 22, 2011 at 8:39pm

Jose, with those kite parts from the UK, are they kind of soft or are they more like a harder ABS plastic? If they are a tad soft, May have a lead on a source for US parts.
pizcolq January 22, 2011 at 8:29pm

Horrible weekend... my tinyquad doesn´t fly. I think I have followed the instructions, but nothing seems work...

1. Esc, motors, frame and everything are the same as the original post.

2. First, I connect the APM to USB/PC and load the code indoor_quad. After a lot of tries I could upload the code to the APM using old libraries( the new ones seems not work with indoor quad code). In adittion I had to change MIN_THROTTLE to 990 because if not, the motors didn´t armed.

3. Once I have solved the first problem, I go to the Arducopter configurator (V1.2.2). First, I go to Initial setup and initialize EEPROM while I place my APM in a horizontal surface. Once I do it, I go to "flight data" and the accel roll (-35) and the accel pitch (27) is far from 0. At this point the reading offsets are 2048 for x, y z, accel offsets. If I see the “artificial horizon” it is not horizontal at all. So I changed the accel offsets until both accel pitch and accel roll are near to zero and the artificial horizon was horizontal. ¿is it wrong?

4. Following the initial setup, I continue with transmitter calibration. Everything seems to go ok, but when the software asks me to save it, the message is always the same… ““Update unsuccessful”. Sheet!!

5. Avoiding last step, I go to tune the PIDs proposal for this quad in “Stable” and “Acrobatic” mode, but if I try to update them, always the same… ““Update unsuccessful”. I don’t really understand.

6. The result: It doesn´t matter the flight mode, it is inestable, I can´t separate 1 cm from the floor because its instability.

I would appreciate any help…
pizcolq January 21, 2011 at 11:56am

I need help to load the code, I have no experience with ardupilot and may be I am missing something. The code I am trying to load is the original for this tinyquad but always having compilation error. As you can see there are 9 files in this code (Arducopter.h, Arducopter_indoor.pde, DCM.pde,etc) ¿do I need to add any other file to these? ¿what does it mean a branch?. About the libraries, I take them from Arducopter RC2 beta code ¿is it ok?.
Mike January 20, 2011 at 3:00pm

IMPRESIONANTE!!

Lo he visto 3 veces seguidas!!

Buen Trabajo!
robert bouwens January 16, 2011 at 4:03am

i just watched the crash video above.

yes, i also saw something similar with my tamed devil.
robert bouwens January 16, 2011 at 3:57am

i tamed the tasmanien devil :)

my normal flight height is 30 to 50 cm.

the level of trust is not yet high.... :)

when i push the trottle fast then all motors do stop.

i assume that the max rating of the esc's (20 amps) is somewhat low.

one esc has sometimes a few probs like starting not all.

i use a 3 pos switch for all modes - there is a situation/position where i am unable to un-arm the motors because all motors start to spin high ...
Ralph S. January 16, 2011 at 3:03am

Tasmanien devil - and how I did the exorcism.

This the the procedure I used:

1) Put all motors upright

2) Load the software posted at the beginning of this thread

3) Startup the ArduCopter and switch to acrobatic mode

4) Slowly increase throttle

5) If the devils starts to spin, pull the throttle down. Tilt the front left and rear right motor just a little more and repeat the previous stop.

6) If the devils does not spin and is about to lift off, pull the throttle down and switch to stable mode. Then have a great first flight - preferably with nothing really valuable nearby ;-)

(see also Jose's doc about using acrobatic mode)
robert bouwens January 16, 2011 at 12:13am

kevin,

me having s slightly larger tasmanien devil :)

my mid sized quad is extremely sensitive as well.

i'm using the smaller diydrones motors on the small jakub frame.

yesterday i switched to the pirate version of arducopter after i tried out what yaw is (elevon stick being used, no sw changes).

the motors did spin up and it was not possible to un-arm the motors (?!?)

i can build an indoor quad too - i have the parts for the frame.

now i really need the props ;-)

thanks for sharing the info.

robert
robert bouwens January 15, 2011 at 4:11am

ok, the stuff fro the frame is in.

now trying to locate usefull propellers ...

@kevin:

what kinda combination of motor and propeller do you have?

just making shure i don't re-create a devil - i appreciate smooth flying :)
robert bouwens January 14, 2011 at 12:42am

kevin, i see no cw and ccw version. so one type of propeller only?

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