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quadcopter attempt - phase 2

Posted by dan on February 28, 2011 at 12:30am

 

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This is the sequel of my previous post, that I had to abandon more than 1 month ago, without actually being able to fly it... Ok, it's still not flying, but after:

  1. burning part of the Razor 9DOF IMU
  2. adding a Wii Motion Plus (for the gyros) to it
  3. replacing the .net micro framework board (Fez Domino) with an Arduino 
  4. replacing the Arduino with another Arduino based on AtMega 328 (as the code was too big)

I'm back in business ! :) And to prove it, here are 2 videos that show some proper balancing !

 

 


Actually, all this was only so that I can update the code, to feed  the gyros raw data directly into the PID controller algorithm (only for  the D part), as using solely the Euler angles from the DCM  transformation is too slow to react...
 
Again, it's not yet flying, but looks much more promising than 1 month ago... wish me luck ! :)
HERE you can find more details and the full history of this build...

 

dan

Tags: accelerometers, arduino, gyroscopes, motion, plus, quadcopter, wii
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Comments

  • Guil Magalhaes June 10, 2011 at 12:50am
    Very cool stuff! I must resume my .NET quad project....
  • dan March 1, 2011 at 7:08am

    I know, that's typically how "normal" quadcopters work. It's easier mechanically, but the pusher propellers are way too expensive, and hence I wanted to use only "normal" ones.

    You obtain the same effect by mounting 2 of the motors at an angle, even though you loose some of their power for this...

  • Developer
    Randy March 1, 2011 at 6:49am
    you don't need to mount the engines at an angle, you can just get pusher + puller props (ones that spin in opposite directions from each other) and then change some of the wires around on the engines so half of them also spin in the opposite direction.  then set it up so opposite propellers spin in the same direction as each other (i.e. so front and back go clock wise, left and right go counter clockwise) and the yaw from the engines will all negate each other.
  • dan March 1, 2011 at 1:18am

    Thank you Rana for your comment.

    However to make most of it, could you please explain:

    - what is wrong with the way the motors are mounted ? Is it the fact that 2 of them are at an angle (which is because all the 4 propellers are normally rotating and hence I need a different way of compensating from the induced yaw rotation) ? Or is it the mount itself ?

     

    - why will I need to change the frame for the long run ? Is it vibrations or something else I'm ignoring ?

     

    thanks,

    dan

  • Rana February 28, 2011 at 6:32pm

    Your test setup is great but the way you mounted motors is neither contemrary nor it is much promising.

    You require to change the quad frame for long run.

     

    I wish you all the best for the flying !

This reply was deleted.