Blogs

Bottom of Rover

1. Left Rear Motor
2. Left Rear Motor Power Extension
3. Right Rear Motor Power Extension
4. Audio Speaker for receiver to rover voice projection
5. Power/Wifi Indicator Light
6. Camera Extension/live audio plugin
7. N/A something to do with the Camera or Audio In (Can't figure out)
8. Camera Motor Extension
9. 4 Headlights Connected to 2 Power Extensions (2 On Each)
10. On/Off light located next to power switch Extension
11. Right Motor Power Extension
12. Wifi Hotspot Extension and Power Extension
13. Wifi Hotspot Reset Button Extension
14. Wifi Hotspot Reset Button Board 
15. On/Off Indicator Light
16. Power Board
17. Positive Power Extension soldered onto board
18. Negative Power Extension soldered onto board

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Top of Rover

1. Camera Up/Down Tilt Motor and Power Extension
2. Camera/Nightvision to Board Video Extension
3. Wifi Hotspot Antenna Female Extension
4. Wifi Hotspot Hardware Board
5. Speaker and Audio Out Power Extension
6. N/A something to do with the Camera or Audio In (Can't figure out)

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Every now and then we see some horrible pictures of people seriously injured after a sudden startup of motors during setup. Yeah, we all know that we should remove the props while setting up, but letś be honest: after the 10th time on the same night we get fed up and confident. That is when sh#t happens. Been there, done that...

I have seen some alternatives to removing the props, but this one is my favorite because it is quite simple and convenient: use a low amp 12v source instead of the battery. I am using a 1.5A 12v source that is enough to power the controler, but if any motor tries to start the voltage will drop and the controller resets. Even if it doesnt, 1.5A isnt enough to spin a prop to a point of hurting anyone.

It is simple because all you need is an adaptor (or solder your plug directly as I did). It is convenient because you problably have many low amp 12v lying around, and I actually prefer not to use my batteries so they stay fully charged to fly.

Do yourself a favor and just build one. :-)

by Dan White

Imagine if a ScanEagle had been available during Katrina. It could permit the clever separation of Search from Rescue. It could be in the air early and look for stranded rooftop victims. Then larger passenger helicopters would not be risking lives and wasting fuel looking for people.

You could first fly the UAV to search for those most needing immediate evacuation, and then the rescue helicopters would fly straight to their next high priority victim.

It looks like FEMA or municipalities can contract with these organizations to put a team on the ground in 24 hours. This could be an ideal way to affordably have “eyes in the sky” available during an MCI or disaster.

The two big hurdles to wider domestic use of UAV’s are regulation, acceptance, and pilot training. The FAA is currently working out regulation to allow civilian use of UAV’s in the USA.

The next challenge is acceptance. Some states are already proposing regulations to ban UAV’s. In my state of Missouri they are concerned about surveillance and privacy, so they are trying to ban UAV’s, perhaps without a full appreciation for their potential value. Oregon is looking at doing the same thing.

http://www.ems1.com/ems-products/cameras-video/articles/1432458-Eyes-in-the-sky-for-EMS/

By Patrick Egan

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has bumped back its timeline for a much-anticipated rule on integrating unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into the U.S. national airspace system according to HAI.

A proposed rule should go to the Office of Management and Budget — one of the final steps in the rulemaking process — by July 1, according to a new Department of Transportation report on significant rules. That July target is nearly four months later than was estimated in a report issued last month. DOT said that “unanticipated issues requiring further analysis” caused the delay. Under the agency’s newest timeline, the rule would be published in the Federal Register on Oct. 17.

The FAA, which will begin to license UAVs for commercial use in 2015, forecasts that 30,000 will fly American skies within the next 20 years.

Since humans are responsible for much of the damage to coral reefs, it makes sense that we should try and help repair them. That’s exactly what a team from the Herriot-Watt University’s Centre for Marine Biodiversity and Biotechnology is attempting to do with the development of underwater “coralbots.” Now anyone can add their support to this worthy effort with the launch of a Kickstarter campaign that will help make the robots a reality.

The research team has already built a couple of prototype coralbots that can be equipped with onboard camera, computer, and flexible arms and grippers. These would come together to allow the robot to reattach healthy pieces of coral back onto a reef to help speed up the healing process. This time-consuming task is currently performed by scuba divers – or not at all. It also makes repairing reefs at greater depths difficult or impossible.

The team’s plan is to develop a swarm of robots that would autonomously navigate across a damaged coral reef and transplant pieces of healthy coral as they went. The Heriot-Watt researchers says they have already tested their coralbot prototypes at sea but need help both with developing the computer vision system that would allow the robots to visually identify healthy bits of coral and with configuring a manipulator arm with which the robots could pick up and place the coral pieces in the right spot.

The team is hoping to raise US$107,000 to allow them to put all the pieces together and build two robots to publicly demonstrate the feasibility of the technology on a coral reef in a public aquarium. They hope that this will help attract further funds to ultimately realize their goal of producing a team of eight coralbots that could be used on coral reefs around the globe.

Given the nature of the project, backer rewards are limited to recognition of involvement in the form of names printed on the project’s website or the robots themselves. But the real reward is the warm fuzzy feeling you’ll get from knowing you’re helping preserve one of the planet’s most important ecosystems.

Open source Hardware/Software:  Android-Linux-Arduino Single Board Computer

IiMX6 Quad Core A9 combined with Arduino Due atSAM3X8E = UDOO

Imagine the compute power available, possibly a hardware variant (minus the majority of the "pc" like connectors)

powering your next autopilot - kalman, opencv etc, backed in under 40 hours in kickstarter.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/435742530/udoo-android-linux-arduino-in-a-tiny-single-board?ref=category

Eric Schmidt is at it again:

... In comments made to the Guardian, Schmidt called for international regulation of civilian drone technology and, going a step further, for an outright ban of inexpensive “everyman” minidrones. Schmidt’s comments are the most forceful yet by a technology executive on the need to protect individuals’ privacy from a promising high-tech growth sector....

Read full article at link above.

Just a quick update on DroidPlanner. The new app (v0.7.0) will be on Google Play shortly.

The new version has the following updates ( v0.7.0 over v0.5.0):

• More compatibility with ArduCopter. Like Correct mode selection, an armed/disarmed indicator.
• More indicators on the HUD like battery voltage and current, GPS fix (with number of visible satellites)
• HUD layout improvements to better fit more screen sizes and densities.
• New plane and drone icon (thanks Jared)
• Code restructure, which improves the app navigation and fix some bugs.

For more information I suggest the DroidPlanner Wiki page. Or older posts on DiyDrones.

Thanks everyone for their support. And as always if you want to help consider donating for the project by buying this app, joining the development team, or reporting a issue/bug/improvement on GitHub.

PS: If someone don't want me to post this updates on DiyDrones please tell me.

World altitude record 8365m ?

This flight was near Murmansk, Russia (GPS location is in the video, at the top point).

This place is very sparsely populated, there are no air routes, and there is no restriction on height for models.

Disclaimer: Here in the USA it would have violated the 400ft ceiling unless it had been an FAA authorized event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngh6eGJcymE
From rcgroups:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1871228 "X-5 8000 meters altitude"
Aircraft - X-5 (without any alterations, but additional handset in the wing);
Battery - 2 x 3s 5000mAh

Earlier post: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/eva-a-new-open-source-autopilot 

Apologies for disappearing for such a long time; we have been discussing and figuring our way around how to do this. It took us a lot more time than we estimated, but we are almost ready to release our autopilot, and these are the things that we plan to provide along with the autopilot:

The above hardware will be sold at cost to the early participants of the Eva project! If you are interested, feel free to get in touch with me!

So to just keep you guys updated, we have managed to incorporate RC Touch with Eva, which is basically an open sourced ground control station for iOS. RC Touch allows manual flights and autonomous flights. It has functions such as one-touch take off and one-touch landings. It supports waypoint missions, target locks, tracking and many other functionalities already. Aircrafts can be controlled with the iPad/iPhone manually as well.

We are also currently in the process of making our website and getting more information online. We hope that by the end of this week we will have the code all set and ready to be downloaded from GitHub!

Following on my Carbon H-Quad, I have now built a foam one!! (Ok, it has a bit of carbon too)

The problem with the full carbon one was weight. Yes, it was super stiff but it was around 300g heavier than my X525 frame and thus my flight times were 3+ minutes shorter, thinner carbon plate would've helped but it's fairly expensive, difficult to come by (here) and difficult to work with.

My main priority was portability, it has to fold as small as possible and I also really do prefer flying the H-frames, orientation being the major advantage but also no props in onboard video.

I had a few blocks of a hard black EPP foam and I picked one up the other day and it was really firm (no twist) AND light (100g for the whole block), suddenly... bing!... I had spare arms for the X525 so why not.

A quick drawing in CAD to check the angles and sizes and some problem-solving with mountings and construction and here it is... took about 2 hrs to make and another 2-3 to assemble. I used the carbon pivot plates cut off from the old frame and they're just cyanoed to the foam with 2 bolts right through and 2 through just the arms and plates. Flies really well with very little twist (not enough to cause the yaw problems associated with twist)!

Weight is 925g ex-battery so 78g lighter than the X525 with the same components (The carbon frame was ~1300g).

Before attaching the motors, closed	Open, no components
3	4
5	In the old box!

Today I did a lot of testing and tuning with the new unreleased beta version of ArduCopter code, known as "2.9.2ß" (V3 i think for the official exit), quad with APM V2.5 and U-Blox GPS by 3DRobotics.
The inertial control developed by Leonard and Randy, with the support of Jason, is finally giving the results that for over a year all we are waiting.
To be perfectly sure I've repeated this test at least 10 times in three different flight, with the same great performance.
As you can see from this image and video the max radius in Loiter is now not over one meter in windless/gusty winds and max two meters in strong crosswind, near the position hold performance of the best commercial product, DJI Wookong-M.
We are trying to improve the waypoint navigation but now we're here, the next release will be really a milestone.
We still have to solve a few problems related to the inertial control x/y/z, but I am sure that the excellent results achieved so far are to mean that we are on the right track.
I attach the telemetry log.
DJI, here we come...

Ciao!

Marco
-= AC Dev Team =-

EDIT: in my video you can see the version "3" of the code, nothing secret of course, is the current master branch on GitHub called at the moment "2.9.1b-DEV".
Jason Short on the dev list has proposed to move version from 2.9.1 to 3.x for the massive changes inside the code (ap_hal, PX4 support and other), and following its proposal I have appointed as such in my videos, that's all.

2013-04-14%2014-04-46.tlog

Another use the FAA did not see coming.

Local engineers’ drone declares WAR on troubling wild hogs in Louisiana

Kris Wartelle

WHITEVILLE — It is well past 8 p.m. on a Thursday, and engineers James Palmer and Cy Brown are a long way from their day jobs at Raven Research and Development in Lafayette.

Palmer and Brown are in the middle of an expansive rice field in rural St. Landry Parish. It is pitch dark and mostly quiet.

They are on a mission.

“We do this every weekend,” said Brown, who is the team’s computer operator. “We will be out here all night.”

Armed with state-of-the-art gear, computers, infrared cameras and thermal imaging scopes, they are hunting.

Their target is a herd of wild hogs that has been devastating a local farmer’s rice and soybean crops.

Enter the “Dehogiflier,” the name Palmer and Brown have given their invention.

It is a domestic drone that can fly above dense, grassy fields and see into the night. The drone is almost silent and deadly accurate.

“It’s not really hunting,” Palmer said. “There is not much sport to it. It’s about getting the maximum advantage in order to get rid of the hogs.”

Across the country, drone technology, once used only by the military, is being developed for many other practical uses from taking aerial real estate photographs to monitoring oil pipelines.

Right here in southwest Louisiana, Brown and Palmer have come up with their own groundbreaking application that may one day help farmers control this extremely destructive species.

http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20130414/LIFESTYLE/304140013/Local-engineers-drone-declares-WAR-troubling-wild-hogs-Louisiana?nclick_check=1

Find more video on Cy’s YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/cybrown?feature=watch

The RC groups thread http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1478852

This video shows the accuracy of the IMU, is the demonstration that the ArduCopter code has achieved a great stability.
The bottles simulate huge variations in weight and trim, quad always tries to maintain his seat during the flight but also in changes in weight when cut with scissors each bottle (at the end).
I had already tried before with four bottles in one of my quad and I was quite sure what I was doing, but it's always interesting to add items to these challenges.
The specifications of this quad are in the video description.
Please note that these experiments can be many dangerous, multicopter is not a toy, i know i'm crazy (in a good way), anyway don't try to emulate me!

Bests, Marco

-= AC Dev Team =-

Volume warning!

Like most things hexapod, it's equal parts cool and scary.

http://www.hexapodrobot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=12

Inspired by Jake Wells and his BoxCopter, I decided to try my hand at making a BoxCopter of my own. I found a suitable plastic container at Target and used some 1/2" square lengths of wood from Lowe's for the arms.

I took it out for a few test flights and after I got the hang of flying it I put a GoPro on top of it and took it out for a spin to get some aerial video.

Flight Video

My piloting and video editing skills are definitely amateur...

Parts List

Sterilite Large Clip Box from Target

1/2" square wood from Lowes (bought an 8' length and cut it down to around 20" for each of the two arms)

HobbyKing KK2.0 Multi-Rotor LCD Flight Control Board: http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=24723

Turnigy Plush 25A Speed Controllers:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=2163

D2830-11 1000kv Brushless Motors:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=12921

Slow Fly Electric Prop 9047 & 9047R:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=22443
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=22442

Turnigy 9X 9Ch Transmitter w/ Module & 8ch Receiver:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=8992

3200mAh 3S LiPo battery

GoPro Hero3 Black Edition

Assorted zipties, industrial strength velcro, nuts & bolts, duct tape.

My personal blog has more detailed information about the parts and build if you're interested: www.quadcoptergarage.com

Hi

  I have an Autoquad Cube challenge to post.  I'm a farmer and as soon I saw the first quad I knew that I wanted to use that type of aircraft as a tool for farming.  For the last seven years I've built multicopters using many of the opensource autopilots. The Autoquad is the first autopilot that is getting close to the precision that I'll need to do the tasks I have in mind for multicopters.

  Everything to do with multicopters has been a challenge for me because of little background in computers or electronics.  Without the help of the people on many forums there's no way I could have been able to do this challenge.  Steve (Kisssys) has help me with my octo  many times. 

104-AQL%20Cube.kml

Larry

One wonders what Eric Schmidt’s opinion is of the Google staff that we know using the technology. Perhaps the technology is just dandy in their hands?  The issue of regulation does need to be addressed in the USA. As ever though the shuffling of chairs and meetings to organize meetings seem to top of the agenda for the FAA.

The BBC reports:- The influential head of Google, Eric Schmidt, has called for civilian drone technology to be regulated, warning about privacy and security concerns. Cheap miniature versions of the unmanned aircraft used by militaries could fall into the wrong hands, he told the UK’s Guardian newspaper.

Quarrelling neighbours, he suggested, might end up buzzing each other with private surveillance drones. He also warned of the risk of terrorists using the new technology. Mr Schmidt is believed to have close relations with US President Barack Obama, whom he advises on matters of science and technology.

“You’re having a dispute with your neighbour,” he told The Guardian in an interview printed on Saturday.

“How would you feel if your neighbour went over and bought a commercial observation drone that they can launch from their backyard. It just flies over your house all day. How would you feel about it?”

http://www.suasnews.com/2013/04/22242/google-chief-urges-action-to-regulate-mini-drones/

This is really cool feature set, I wonder what the price is going to be, but it looks awesome with an extra 3 pos switch, side controls and audio!

see http://www.frsky-rc.com/NewProducts/

• 16 Channels
• Internal Radio
• JR module support
• Supports full duplex telemetry
• And support for long range 12CH system as well (3 times range of normal radio)
• Audio Support
• Programable and can be reflashed with new OpenTx (was Open9x) updates