Modding a Wikipad for use as a ground station

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Hi all,

I got a Wikipad (an Android tablet that targets gamers) to experiment with as a ground station / second TX, mostly because it has dual joysticks. There is a lot of work to be done until it has RC-controller like capabilities. First step was a workaround for the design flaw that no USB data ports are exposed when you have the tablet snapped into the joysticks. I did the mod and then made this guide:

wikipadMod.pdf

Hope you guys find this useful! I will be working to add Wikipad support to Droidplanner and maybe Andropilot too.

Aaron

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Comments

  • Sure, I'd like to experiment with the old version. Do you have the link? Would I have to compile it?

  • Unless you want to use an old version, though -- you can get that from github.

  • Hm. At some point I'll probably put it back in, but unfortunately I'm insane busy until March 2016... remind me then?

  • Would I be able to get the droid planner version with joystick support? They have taken it out in recent versions. I want to try it with my Ipega PG-9701.
  • Oh right, I guess Droidplanner is called Tower now too.

  • Sorta... I added joystick support to Droidplanner and it was taking input from the wikipad sticks  ( https://github.com/foobarbecue/droidplanner/commits?author=foobarbecue ). But before I actually flight tested it, I smashed the screen on my wikipad and never got around to buying another one... moved on to other projects. I know Droidplanner has come a long way since then and but actually I haven't tried it in over a year. I suspect it would work -- would be interesting to know.

    foobarbecue/droidplanner
    Ground Control Station for Android Devices. Contribute to foobarbecue/droidplanner development by creating an account on GitHub.
  • Did this project ever come to fruition?

  • Well, I for one , am mega excited about the idea Aaron. I'll be getting one as soon as is available. :) Thanks

  • Hi Wally, that is precisely the idea! I think a lot of people have this in the back of their minds. Many people are uncomfortable with the idea of more software layers between the sticks and the aircraft -- good safety practice until now has been to always maintain a traditional RC transmitter link for manual control. I think it should stay that way for quite a while until android joystick software is really proven. As for why the thread is not "taking off," threads here only seem to get lots of attention if they hit the "top content" and I have no idea what triggers inclusion in that list. I think once we can demonstrate that this actually works well, there will be a lot of attention. I still haven't gotten around to flight testing my own code.

  • I'm not sure if I fully understand. Will the Wikipad/Joysky be able to plan and execute missions through DroidPlanner AND manually control the drone using the joysticks? That's such a brilliant plan I'd love to have something like that. Why is this thread not taking off, am I part of a very small group that likes this idea, is it an unwanted feature for most?
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