Hello fellow DIY Drones members, I'm excited to announce our Fighting Walrus Radio project on indiegogo. We are crowdfunding a hardware accessory that allows you to use your iOS device as a ground station.
Key Features
- Communicates with MAVLink devices
- Compatible with 3D Robotics telemetry radios (433 and 915 MHz)
- Open-source software
- Rugged Metal Design
- Compatible with iPads and iPhones
Check out our indiegogo page here:
Engadget Expand
Chris Anderson is speaking tomorrow at Expand on "Robopocalypse: Now" from 11:15am-12:30pm
We will be doing a flying demo outside of the Expand pavilion at 12:30pm (At Fort Mason in San Francisco)
We also have a booth in the "Indie Corner" if you want to come check us out.
For DIYDrones, By DIYDrones
Since we got into the Made-For-iPod program we've been kicking around the idea of making a drone-compatible device. When Claudio Natoli posted his proof-of-concept iOS app, the project moved into high gear.
Check out Claudio's original post here:
With the jump start on the software we were able to focus on hardware and mechanical design, allowing us to go from concept to Crowdfunding prototype in two and a half months.
Open Source Software
In the spirit of the DIYDrones community, we are making the iOS software open-source. You can find the source code for the app here http://github.com/cnatoli/iGCS Feel free to send us a pull request!
Other upcoming events we will be attending:
March 23-24th -- Innov8tive Designs First Annual Multirotor Challenge
March 30th -- NSMeetup: Hackathon at Sincerely
Comments
2 questions:
1. Is this compatible with the 3DR radios? Is it just the transmitter piece to be used with a 3DR receiver on the drone, or does your project have both transmitter & receiver?
2. Is there a technical reason that prevents you from simply using the 3DR USB radio through the Camera Connection Kit USB dongle? (I'm guessing that Apple hasn't made an appropriate API available which would allow that)
Thanks, and congrats on what looks to be a terrific project.
Looks awesome!
I'll definitely be getting one. Nice work!
Thank you both for backing us! The delivery date is september 2013. We plan to give some early models to diymembers for testing and feedback so we get it right. There is also a lot of SW development to do. The base features work great, but things like the configuration of the radios and so forth isn't done. For demo purposes we are focused on the most flashy features, but all the configuration screens, while relatively simple take time.
I just backed it. Can't wait!
Sadly no right now we don't plan to support the iPad 1. Mechanically it is so thick and rounded on the back, that it is a problem for our design. We did recently add a list of supported devices to our product description page.
Will test the laptop and FWR thing, get back to you on that one. I think that should work.
(The iPhone4 is my daily driver)
Here is some pics to hold you over. Will shoot video in the morning. I don't have a nice light, and it is raining in San Francisco.
We expect about a 80% reduction in size on the back piece (nicknamed the diving board) from prototype to production. We left room for extra debug, and jumper wires.
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