3.1 was released just in time for the holidays, but I felt the new Acro Mode we have developed has not been adequately demonstrated. So I shot this video to show that Arducopter now has a competent Acro mode to go along with all the other functions. This is kind of a big deal to me, as I am interested in learning acrobatic flying, but I really appreciate having a system which can "bail out" if I lose control. Throughout this video I was flipping between Acro and Stabilize, with Arducopter generally doing a good job of saving the copter after I lost orientation.
This is also one of the few demonstrations of a new Pixhawk controller on something other than an Iris. But don't be fooled, Acro works just as well on an APM2.5. :)
While developing and testing this code, I have also done quite a bit of high speed acro flying, on both the quad and my helicopters, but it was simply too cold to bother hearing out to the flying field. So this video is just some basic flips in one place. I will try to get out for some better video in a few days. If it warms up. :)
Comments
Hey thats a great example of what I'm talking about with my quad setup not being done for acrobatics. Look at how that is built. 8" props vs. 10". Makes a big difference. Then he probably has about a 3s 2200 battery or similar? I have a big 4s 5000 that weighs twice a much. Simple engineering will tell you that the arms on mine are stressed at least twice as much as mine for any given rate. That means more flex for given manoever.
The video is also a very clear demonstration of how soft the frame is. Look at how gently he is flying compared to his other videos. You can actually follow the manoevers.
I can and have flown mine in similar style with about half as much skill. Arducopter will now do that.
I don't hate this DJI frame. It's fantastic for many things. I had a clone before and the real thing is better. But the reality is its just not stiff. The 3DR quad frame is stiffer. The Iris is stiffer. My own frames are even stiffer, I can stand on mine and they only flex about 1/2".
The F450 frames are great knock-around frames as they crash really well. Thats why I'm using it for development. The flex actually helps it absorb impacts.
Anyway the point of this blog was not to talk about frames. It about the code. I only mentioned the frame because people shouldn't be judging the code based on what the see in the video. The quad is not set up for acro, and I'm rusty. Spent the last 2 months in my basement messing around with a PX4, not flying.
John, what other frames do you have experience with? This is a real DJI frame and its very flexible compared to an aluminum or carbon fiber frame.
CP I'm tired of your negativity.
Greg, actually thats not accurate. Learning mode is Leonard's work. But what I am showing here is the vastly improved pure acro mode. The learning mode was reworked to run on top of the new basic controller. So you can run with the learning features running and then gradually relax them as you learn. Thats what I did and was able to transition from Stab only to pretty decent acro with no crashes.
Chill out Crash, Ardupilot has always had an acro mode. This is just the addition of an acro training mode. Ond you don't need a 32 bit chip, it does just fine on an APM 2.x board. Robert's post has nothing to do with Chris A. hyping(selling his product). This is just Robert showing off something the he worked on as an unpaid developer.
Have fun with your ladybird;)
Well, thanks for deleting my post but sincerely what is that acro stuff to write home about? Absolutely nothing. Multiwii does that for years and even my ladybird does that better. Wait! Autoquad is not designed for that, maybe it shows that arducopter can do more than it. Whoooo! Chris Anderson hyping that stuff is even more rediculous as if you would even need 32 bit for a flip on a copter frame design that isn't even meant to do it. - But the hype will protect his cashflow for sure.
So, nice video have a nice Xmas and a happy new year.
I was just going to say "punch the throttle before flipping", but then I saw the soft frame explanation.. :)
Rob, you just about have it right. The only thing you got wrong is the yaw. When you push the yaw stick, it turns. When you release, it stops and holds, it does not keep turning.
So what is different with the Acro mode for 3.1 is the way it flies when you have Trainer mode turned off. With 3.01 and prior to that, leaving Trainer mode on resulted in an experience that is very similar to Stabilize. However, when you turned Trainer mode off, you had a simple rate mode. However, the rate control was REALLY bad. It was basically unflyable. Nearly impossible to control.
With 3.1, in pure rate mode (trainer off) it is much much more stable and predictable. It is pure rate control, but it tracks any errors and corrects them. It's very much like a flybarless controller for helicopters.
If you've never flown acro before, it's hard to understand the difference. But it's flies much much better. I've flown up to 20 m/s in Acro mode, doing flips and barrel rolls, something that you could never do with 3.0.1.
@Soren: The loss of altitude is largely due to the fact that these F450 frames are really horrible. Very flexible. And the white arms are softer than the red arms. Thus, when I punch the throttle, the copter darts off forward. It's pretty bad. So I have to take it easy. If I had 8" props on it, it would probably be more flyable, but this just isn't an acrobatic quad.
I have seen skilled pilots do those flips manually with less loss of altitude. Even did it myself.
I would love to have a rate-stabilization only mode with a panic switch to return to level. Maybe even return to home-look if the panic switch was pulled for longer time. More fun for the pilot.
Regards
Soren
Merry Christmas Rob, thumps home that folks are all over the world I am sat in shorts here ;-)
Excellent! Love seeing the Pixhawk videos coming in. Merry Christmas and huge thanks for all your contributions this year -- one of the top dev team members!
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