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Soon to be Released: Full HD Capable Micro Brushless Gimbal for 200 Sized Quads

Posted by HeliStorm on February 22, 2015 at 9:00pm

RCLogger, the company who brought one of the least expensive mini brushless quads to market with the EYE One Xtreme, is now working on a micro-brushless gimbal for 200 sized quads. The gimbal will be capable of carrying the 1080p capable Mobius camera, a favorite among hobbyists for its size, quality, and price. The entire setup, including aluminum-framed brushless gimbal, dampened mount, control board, JST connector for power, AND camera is expected to weigh in between 100 and 110 grams. Early production models tipped the scales at 108 grams with camera mounted, and 70 grams without, according to RCLogger.

The gimbal can auto-detect power from a 2s or 3s power source, which can be provided from a separate battery or a split lead from a flight battery. Out of the box the gimbal will be pre-tuned for the Mobius camera, but does provide a USB port to allow users the opportunity to change parameters, or upgrade firmware. It will also allow the user to manually adjust the pitch and roll of the gimbal in-flight, if the users radio system is capable of such control. The mount is designed to work with most 200 sized brushless quads.

Price and release date have not been officially set, but an April release has been hinted. RCLogger has also hinted pricing will make it extremely competitive in the 2D gimbal market, especially considering its small size.

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Comments

  • Jolyon Saunders February 25, 2015 at 12:05pm
    To clarify my last comment, the overpriced motors I were referring to were these:

    http://m.ebay.com/itm/291366891119?nav=SEARCH
  • Jolyon Saunders February 25, 2015 at 11:53am
    It seems those 1806 motors mentioned earlier are not available until 20 march (pre order). They are also very overpriced.

    The motors in the link below are only $13 each and weigh 22g. They are also available now:
    http://www.goodluckbuy.com/emax-gb1806-450kv-brushless-gimbal-motor...

    Im considering getting some. Would they work for a Möbius?
  • Gary McCray February 25, 2015 at 10:39am

    Hi mP1,

    Their are several problems with servos which brushless gimbal motors don't have that make them much less desirable for gimbals.

    They all have gear backlash which shows up as jitters, especially when constantly reversing to relevel the camera in a gimbal.

    They also have lag and resolution issues.

    Brushless gimbal motors are basically continuously held in a state of balanced magnetic forces and when the gyro senses a change in angle, it simply applies the force necessary to re-level the gyro which is done smoothly and very rapidly.

    We have already tried servo driven gimbals, and the reason they have for the most part been abandoned is that they really do not work adequately in any application.

    The reversing gear backlash seems to be the most insurmountable problem.

    The fact is for miniature or micro gimbals we need a new actuator based off of the design of the brushless gimbal motor, but simplified and lightened.

    Possibly a balanced coil design of linear actuator similar to some of the actuators used to control some of the tiniest indoor RC airplanes.

    If you are only moving a tiny camera chip, lens and gyro you don't need the torque generated by the many poles of a conventional rotating motor design. and you only need to move through a limited range (<90 degrees) in any axis anyway.

    The smallest Brushless gimbal motor I have been able to find is the HobbyKing 2206 at 32.3 grams:

    http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__57140__2206_140Kv_Brushl...

    The other small ones are 2208s in the 40+ gram range.

    For a Mobius a gimbal motor in the 1806 size range should likely have plenty of torque and would only weigh 18 grams or so as does this KDE motor.

    http://www.kdedirect.com/collections/xf-multi-rotor-brushless-motor...

    What we really need for the Mobius are gimbal motors in this size range.

    Once we separate the camera chip, lens and gyro from the heavy stuff (battery, case, SD card and unneeded user interaction buttons and display) then we will need a different actuator completely.

    Best regards,

    Gary

  • mP1 February 25, 2015 at 12:57am

    Im not saying servo gimbals are the greatest, but for a small pitch gimbal for a camera on a 250, they are small enuff and do the job just fine. Even the gimbal motor on this is overkill, something half or quarter its size would be more than able to do the job and the size and weight and form factor would be a much better fit.

  • HeliStorm February 24, 2015 at 10:41am

    MultiR-Concept...this one is 70 grams with everything BUT the camera, so the weight should be a little more manageable for 200 sized quads, which is the targeted audience (for lack of a better word). Thank you for sharing your design too. Understand, I am making no claims regarding this product as smallest, first, what-have-you. I am just sharing the information. 

    Gary...good points. The technology is coming along, and I do think that the virtual gimbal concept will be seen more in the future. You are correct that it is not perfect, but for smaller applications it may be the direction to go. For more commercial and mainstream applications, an actual gimbaled shot will still be the gold standard.

    Thanks everyone for the thoughts and opinions. As I have stated before, smaller (and thereby safer) UAS is something I am interested in as a whole.

  • Gary McCray February 24, 2015 at 10:30am

    Hi Helistorm,

    I checked and the BeBop's stabilization does work exactly the same way as my Sony AS100V (which also claims to be stabilized in all 3 axes):

    http://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/video/news/new-parrot-bebop-dro...

    it's just that in reality its compensation in (rotation around the lens plane) is no where near as good as it is in up/down or right/left motion.

    And this appears to be intrinsic to the technique used.

    Since the image pixels, themselves are rotating around the image plane, it is necessary to calculate a separate axial compensation offset for each pixel of the image (because the compensation amount increases as it gets further away from the center of rotation).

    Whereas for side to side or up/down motion a single calculation and offset will compensate all the pixels of the entire image.

    If you look at actual raw image output from the BeBop you will see that it suffers (the same as the Sony) when the copter is adjusting in roll (which effectively rotates the camera lens about its center.)

    They haven't solved this problem yet either.

    Best Regards,

    Gary

  • MultiR- Concept February 24, 2015 at 10:29am

    @heliStorm> weight is 88gr for the complete frame (frontal) with two 2206 motor

  • HeliStorm February 24, 2015 at 9:25am

    I haven't taken one apart, but I knew that the sensor could be separated. It would be an interesting experiment to try. Thanks for the comment, as it now has me considering such an option.

  • Simon Wunderlin February 24, 2015 at 8:25am
    Have you guys opened up the Mobius case yet? The sensor is separate from the processor. There are even extension cables available from sensor to proc. Up to 15cm I think. Not sure how this works out quality wise.
  • technicus acityone February 23, 2015 at 8:21pm

    http://www.rclogger.com/RC-EYE/RC-EYE-One-Xtreme/ 39 bucs planform ? O_o

This reply was deleted.