Sparkfun has released its recap video of this year's great Autonomous Vehicle Competition. It was a great weekend for us, and a huge amount of fun, as you'll see. APM-powered vehicles won the air and ground category (the latter using custom-code), and the next day's Multicopter Competition, too. Really proud of all the teams.
Comments
Brian, people keep coming up with these ideas for dead-man switches, watchdog failsafes, etc... it's all a complete non-starter, IMO. These systems will not prevent crashes, it may at best change the nature of the crashes, but is also likely to cause more crashes.
I think what needs to happen is simply better spectator setup. The spectators are way too close to the flight line, first of all.
Matt: we did post it hear at the time. Maybe search for "multicopter rodeo"
Chris, was there any footage of the multicopter competition that came out, or did I miss it on the blog?
Man, watching that makes the "no quadcopter" rule seem very irrational. Thse 1/5th scale cars could definitely break legs, and how many airplanes headed for the crowds?
Brakar: No. It's fully under the FAA's non-commercial use rules. 400ft, VLOS, etc.
The vehicles were obviously operated under recreational guidelines.