Many years ago, I tried building a model heli autopilot out of some old mouse position sensors, an 8031 micro, and my Hirobo shuttle. The whole thing seemed to work on the bench, but quickly broke a few blades when I slammed the throttle on for an air test. Such is life.
Now - its happening all over again, but this time, due to the excellent work done by the Ardupilot teams, I expect much better results.
So I got my APM for xmas, and its taken a month of playing to decide to put into a heli (as opposed to one of my planes).
So far, I have the following setup.
- APM with the shield.
- GPS (mediatek)
- EZ1 sonar sensor for low altitude above gnd. - Landing / takeoff assistance.
- Airspeed sensor with pitot tube (designed for plane but I think I'll put it on the heli too)
- Magnetometer
- Custom rotor RPM sensor
Airframe is Gohbee Stinger 50 (AKA JS models TZ50) - Raptor copy.
Radio is Spektrum DX7. RX is AR7000 with header board removed.
The plan is to build an autopilot system based on Arducopter, that lets you fly the @&#^$ out your heli, and not crash - regardless of your level of experience. (mine is pretty average, but I'm determined to get better). This will be the tool for the job I hope.
When I get the hang of this blog thing, I'll post some pickys.
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