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There are several "high risk" features of this aircraft design project. Not the least of which is the wing manufacturing process. I will be making fiberglass male tools and wrapping them with prepreg carbon tow (ribbon). This will create a thin mesh in the shape of the wing which will be covered with plastic film. A spar will add the structural support. The wing tool is made larger than the actual wing to allow for excess material. Tool Edge of Part dimensions here:. http://j.mp/WX9az0

The wing tool was made from CATIA generated sections of the wing which were cut out of thin foam. A balsa spar and trailing edge held it all together while I covered it with strips of packing tape. This created a smooth and stable surface to start adding fiberglass veil plys. 10 plys later the wing is pretty sturdy, fairly smooth, and actually quite light.

Bondo time. For those who don't know the joy of fixing old cars or motorcycles, Bondo is a paste like filler which hardens in about 5 minutes to a wood like hard sand-able surface. If you love sanding, this is your wheelhouse. For me however, I would have worn a bunny suit if I had one. That stuff got everywhere. There was a layer of dust in my garage so thick, it looked like it had snowed.

It was worth the trouble however, as I created a great mold for my wings. I will use my home-made filament winder and resin-ator to get the job done.

Hello,

This blog will serve to record my progress in the development of a new type of aircraft. This aircraft will combine the efficiency of low disk loading vertical flight with efficient, long range horizontal flight. I plan to design and build a functioning model using composites and electric powered RC components. Future designs will be of a larger scale and utilize more efficient components such as a heavy fuel power system and digital flight control systems.

The original concept for this vehicle came from noticing how some birds, like the kestrel hawk, can soar effortlessly for hours yet are also able to hover over a target with great precision  This is a difficult problem in aircraft since hovering and flying require two totally different mechanics and one often makes the other much less efficient. I am developing this new technology with a focus on flying wing designs and the modern need for vertical takeoff and landing in our ever more congested operating environments. I plan to focus on UAV missions since the technology I am proposing does not bode well for human passengers. (more to come on that later)

I am a professional engineer in the field of UAV design and development, as well as composite structures manufacturing. I look forward to seeing this idea really take flight.

I have completed a preliminary design. The model is built in CATIA V5 R19.

The wing has a 6 degree dihedral and a 22 degree sweep. The wingspan is 24 inches and the chord is 6 inches at the root and 2 inches at the tip. There is a 6 degree twist to the wings after the midpoint as well. I went with winglets to reduce washout and induced drag as well as to add directional stability. I used a NACA 2415 airfoil for several reasons.

1) It has a high L/D

2) It has all positive surfaces (it does not cut in on itself) which makes tooling a lot easier

3) It has a forward moment which will help stabilize the aircraft in pitch since a flying wing has limited elevator control. 

The rest of the design factors were determined using a lot of research into previous designs and some intuition.

Check out my 3d printed GoPro Hero 3 lens mount

Thingiverse link

Works great on QAVs, TBS Disco etc

Planning to add some protection (something like a lens hood maybe) for the lens aswell as a lens cover to keep lens safe during transport.Any other ideas are welcomed.  Still no black plastic , stuck in mail :'(

PS: Shoot me a PM if you're in the area and need some!

Here's a short hi-def video of a tilt/roll camera gimbal that's quick and easy to build, using parts from a nifty line of unique CNC'd aluminum hardware developed and marketed by Servo City (servocity.com) of Kansas and used mostly, it seems, for terrestrial robotics. (I hasten to add that I don't work for them etc., just want to pass on what I think is some really cool stuff.)

Before continuing I'll mention that I am aware of the drawbacks of driving camera gimbals directly with servos (more on that later), and I am also aware of the negative effects of the more or less random geometry employed here. But I'm not looking for professional results, but rather just a solid, simple mount for basic video that won't make the viewer seasick.

I don't like any of the cheap box-frame style gimbals I've been playing with for several years (on trad helis and now on multicopters) They tend to be rickety, sloppy and fragile and all look like they were cobbled together by a ten year old with an incomplete erector set. Yes, I know there's good stuff out there and I also know what it costs.

While experimenting with some alternative ideas, I recently ran across Servo City's modular servo mounting blocks. Two of these simply bolted directly together, with the camera attached directly to one of them, provides direct tilt and roll (a third one could provide pan, if desired). The structure is compact and rock solid with zero play or flex and depending on the servos used could handle a much heavier camera than my cased GoPro 3. The hardware connecting the assembly to the airframe is also from the same source, off-the-shelf, and no machining or other complications were necessary. All the pieces have (sometimes multiple) identical hole patterns (some tapped 6-32, some sized to pass a 6-32) so there are many ways things can be put together with no need for drilling etc.

From the top down I used an aluminum disk (again with all sorts of predrilled/tapped holes, which makes for all sorts of options for mounting it below the airframe), a tube-clamp fitting bolted to that disk, a short aluminum tube, then another tube-clamp with an integral extension having, again, the same bolt pattern, to which the first servo block is mounted.

These servo mounting blocks are the heart of the matter. They are made in versions for HiTec and for Futaba standard (full) size servos. There's an even larger version, probably not of much interest to us, but unfortunately they don't offer smaller ones, which might be useful here. They look expensive (at least to anyone who has bought trad heli or r/c car CNC upgrade stuff) but they're not. Rather than trying to describe them further here, I suggest having a look at them at servocity.com and in the photos in my video.

So. The second servo block is bolted to the first at a right angle, and the camera is bolted to the second servo's output shaft/flange. With this arrangement the first servo provides tilt by rotating the second servo and the thereto attached camera, while the second servo provides roll.

The camera is a GoPro H3 Black in its hardshell case (I refuse to fly my GoPro out of the case, tempting though it is). The case is attached to the output flange of the servo block by four 6-32 screws passing through holes drilled in a spare “deep” GoPro case back, the kind that comes with rear-mounted accessories. (In an earlier version I had mounted a thin aluminum plate to the servo output shaft and then used an industrial-grade Velcro-like material to attach the case. I didn't like that so much, next thought about gluing but since I had several deep backs on hand I ended up drilling one and bolting it on.)

I'll mention the servos briefly (as this is a topic that can go on forever). The servos de jour are HiTec analogs, model HS485HB. This is the third model I've tried, and so far gives the best results. I started with HiTec digitals, model HS562MG. The results were not good, with a lot of jitter in the video. Next I tried a pair of very inexpensive HiTec analogs, HS322HD. These were smoother but still pretty shaky. On the advice of a Servo City tech I installed the analog 485s, (cheap enough at under $20) and they are noticeably smoother than the others. I would like to try a pair of the new brushless Futabas, but they are over $100 a pop and I'd also need to buy Futaba-compatible servo blocks ($26 each) so I'm hoping someone else will try these and let us know how they are. From all of this it might be concluded that analog servos are categorically smoother than digitals, but I don't claim to know that, I just know what's happening here at the moment. And as indicated in the beginning, this is not a path that will likely lead to perfection, but it looks like with a little more tweaking it might deliver quite good results.

Which brings up another issue, one that's not limited to this setup, regarding the gimbal outputs on APM 2/2.5. As has been noted elsewhere, the supposed “fast” (490hz) outputs (RC8 -7) don't seem to work at all. Everything I've done, digital and analog, has been off of RC 11 and 10, which are supposedly running at 50hz. I don't know if the faster outputs would make a visible difference. It would be nice to be able to find out and I'm hoping this will be possible after the next firmware upgrade.

Folks to whom light weight is a primary issue probably won't like this setup. This hardware is robust, it's not designed for aircraft. But it's not all that heavy. Personally, I don't have a problem trading some flight time for the extra stability and smoothness that comes with weight, especially when flying manually.

Random Notes:

The 6-32 washerless Phillips-head (yuk!) screws supplied with the above referenced hardware are subject to backing out if not dead tight. Use Loctite.

If you want to replicate my setup and can't figure out exactly what to order PM me on DIYD and I'll give you a list.

Comments, suggestions and questions (other than “Why the f. would anyone do that?” ) are welcome.

For the record, the gimbal is currently mounted on a DJI Flamewheel 550 Hex (“The Witch”) with upgraded T-Motor model MT2216-11 900 Kv motors spinning Graupner 10 X 5 inch carbon “E-Props” and driven by 30 amp “Opto” ESCs which in turn are powered by a parallel pair of 3300 mAh 4S Turnigy “Nano” Lipos. Control is through a JR 12X Tx to a JR 921 Rx with two satellite antennas, feeding an APM 2.5 w. Ublox GPS. Electronics are powered off the mains via a 20 amp Castle BEC. Camera gimbal servos are powered via a separate 1200 mAh 2S Lipo (overkill) and a 10 amp Castle BEC. Two strips of ultra-bright LEDs, red and green, are powered directly off the mains and provide orientation. Weight is 6 pounds 12 ounces. Flight time as configured is 10 minutes with a 3 minute reserve.

I hope all of this is of some use to someone. I'll update as appropriate.

Have Fun & Fly Safe!

Hi,

I've have been lurking for some time - been using an APM in a Multiplex Xeno for about 2 years, and have recently started scaling up to an x8 to enable me to carry more gear (Samsung NX1000) and cover more ground. My primary interest is DEM generation for wind and hydro resource assessment, and I'll certainly share both findings and progress over the next few months - I really believe that drones will change the way we carry out land surveys in future, especially as our ground based computers become more powerful: allowing us to use the data for much more detailed CFD based resource analysis. (I am also looking at the feasibility of a semi-automatic toolchain from visual SFM to Meshlab and then open-foam as an alternative to Agisoft and Ansys Fluent which I am currently using..) So now that's out the way lets get onto the good stuff:

I've been building an antenna tracker for use with mission planner using a Servocity pan/tilt gimbal. All the gear I normally take to the field has been placed inside an enclosure thats got a tripod quick release mount on the bottom of it, significantly reducing setup time and clutter.

I'm using an apm1 with oilpan as the tracker controller, and have re-written/updated the Ardutracker code for the newest versions of arduplane using the HAL layer. It would be great to use the ahrs, compass and gps from the apm to provide fully automatic tracking, and allow a moving ground station that does not rely on a pc for data. This would be especially useful in the UK as we are currently allowed to operate up-to 500m away from our control point - being able to move easily from one location to another would enable surveying of larger areas in a single flight.

Though in theory this should be simple, and I can see all the peices of the puzzle are there, I'm really struggling to put them together. I think what should be going on is somthing like this:

1. Initialisation
   • Define tracker variables (servo max/mins for pwm and angle)
   • Begin serial comms
   • Get sensors up and running
2. Loop
   • Find where it should be pointing
   • Update ahrs, compass and gps
   • Use APmount to point tracker in correct direction

I've got some of this stuff done and have put a copy of the code up with this post, but would really appreciate some help in getting to the next step: intercepting a mavlink stream (and opening it/sending heartbeats to keep it going if required) and calling amount to control the servos.

Incase anyones interested the enclosure on my tracker contains:

1. Powered USB2 Hub

• Fdti-USB adapter to a 433Mhz 3DR module (not shown in the pics as I'm updating the Moxon I use for comms, and building a mount for it. I cannot recommend this antenna design highly enough: compact easy to manufacture and great performance similar to a 2-3 element yagi, it will be mounted horizontally 6" above the floor of the camera mount to give good performance when no camera is mounted, and hopefully acceptable performance when one is...)
• Pinnacle DVC100 video capture
• 32Gb Storage (I use a 64Gb macbook air so it's appreciated!)
• USB cable to connect to APM

1. Power distribution

• 12v Buck-boost for video receiver (with heavy RC filter on output)
• 5v BEC for APM
• 6v BEC for tilt servo
• 7.4v BEC for pan servo

1. External Connectors

• 5m USB lead for GCS connection
• Deans connector (can run off 4-6s battery - I pretty much use 5000mAh 4s batteries for everything... )
• Composite Video out - for connection to monitor/dvr

Once I've got the core code up and running (hopefully with some help! :) ) I've got a few projects planned for this thing: I've used a camera pan/tilt for a reason, as a connected APM would effectively become a "follow-me" box for ground based applications, which would allow a whole new world of applications (eg. wire-cams, telescope control etc...) with appropriate hardware.. On a personal note I'm really interested in the possibility of wire-cams for filming mountain biking with a cinestar or rusty type gimbal - it would certainly make setting them up a lot easier if you didn't have to get the tension so high to eliminate unwanted movement (which is minor, ie slow, in comparison to a multicopter).

Lastly I'd like to apologise for the people who's code I have butchered and not attributed, this community really is a beacon of light in the world of OS hardware, and the codebase that the contributors have produced is a testament to this. It does however exceed my abilities at this stage! to misquote a film it certainly an "abstraction to far" for me to get my head round at the moment, but once I've got this nut cracked I'd love to help out in anyway I can.

tracker_gcs_ahrs_gps_mount.zip

Chris Anderson shares his personal journey into the world of UAVs and discusses the future of personal drones with a packed Serendipity audience.

Serendipity is a monthly event hosted by Message Bus and Smile by Webshots that brings noteworthy individuals to speak on a topic of their choosing. It's a celebration of tiny interactions and experiences that transform everyday lives.

Hello,

Just for the laugh and DIY competition spirit, we saw two recent blog posts about how to do the cheapest as possible landing gear for quads. Here is my formula : estimated cost : less than 2 dollars for four legs using swimming pool foam sausages (i do not know how you call this in english, we say "boudin" in french but American do not eat "boudin" , sausage is the closest I find ;). So here it goes with my recipe:

-One long foam "sausage" , found in any sport's shop for old ladies needing support in swimming pools

-Cut the foam sausage in four equal pieces of length = original 3DR leg + one or two inches

-Cut at 60° the bottom of each piece

-Tie each foam piece with zippies on the 3DR leg

Other view:

Who can do cheaper ?

Congrats to Team Ziphius, who won Engadget's Insert Coin innovation competition with their FPV mobile-controlled aquatic drone, and are now $25,000 further on their way to production 

From Engadget:

Now that our Insert Coin: New Challengers contestants had duked it out and the judges have made their decision, we have a winner: Ziphius. Not only did the bot win $20,000 thanks to deliberation by our judges, but it came home with our $5,000 reader's choice prize too. Victorious and $25,000 richer, the brains behind the aquatic drone joined us backstage to chat about their project. For the full interview, check out our video after the break.

Hi there,

Well.. as the title suggests.. truly the cheapest way is by avoiding a hard landing, but let's leave that aside.

This solution cost me about 2 dollars and five minutes.

In this short video I demonstrate how to add rubber caps with foam inserts to both soften a hard landing as well as prevent the legs from sinking into muddy ground, due to the larger footprint.

No glue or screws needed :-)

Hope you like it!

Is this a project you would like to tackle as a community and is this a project you would like to see become more serious?!  As a community would you like me to build a discussion or group around this project?! Let me know what you think.

Voice Controlled Takeoff Video

Link to Voice Controlled APM 2.5 Project Discussion

Voice Controlled AR. Drone Blog By - John Wiseman

Link to HobbyTron Webpage Featuring the Voice Controlled Heli

Helicopter's Product Description:

Get your hands on the GYRO Heli command 3.5CH Electric RTF Voice Control RC Helicopter. You can actually control the movements of this amazing helicopter with your voice! Use voice commands like "Take Off" and "Turn Around" to control the helicopter. There are a total of 16 voice commands that you can speak into the included headset as well as a full function transmitter. Use both voice and transmitter controls at the same time for a new and unique way to fly your RC Helicopter. It can also be operated with two people at the same time with one using the Transmitter and one using the Headset! The Heli command features a coaxial rotor and a single rear rotor for precise movement and increased stability whether flying or hovering. This RC helicopter has a metal body making it strong yet light weight so you don't have to worry about breaking anything when you land it a bit too rough. It can go forward, backward, up, down, left, right and hover. At 8 inches long, an 8 inch wingspan and at 4 inches high this RC is the perfect size for indoor use! This product is suitable for ages of 8 and up and is ready to fly, there is no assembly necessary. The Heli command's integrated rechargeable battery charges off the transmitter, all you need to do is put 6 AA batteries (not included) into the transmitter and you're good to go. A must have for fans of helicopters, get the GYRO Heli command 3.5CH Electric RTF Voice Control RC Helicopter today!

Features:

• Electric Powered
• Built In GYRO
• 3.5CH Transmitter
• Coaxial Main Rotor
• Single Rear Rotor
• Metal Construction
• Ready To Fly
• Voice Commands:
  • Take Off
  • Fly Up
  • Fly Down
  • Backward
  • Forward
  • Turn Left
  • Turn Right
  • Turn Around
  • Spiral Up
  • Drop Down
  • Dance
  • Three Point Maneuver
  • Circle Strafe
  • Orbit
  • Drift Maneuver
  • Double Dash

Includes:

• GYRO Heli command 3.5CH Electric RTF Voice Control RC Helicopter
• IR Transmitter
• Headset
• Spare Rotors

Specifications:

• Length: 8 Inches
• Wingspan: 8 Inches
• Height: 4 Inches

An excerpt today's New York Times, entitled Domestic Drones on Patrol:

The first to offer a degree program in unmanned aviation, the [University of North Dakota] is one of many academic settings, along with companies and individuals, preparing for a brave new world in which cheap remote-controlled airplanes will be ubiquitous in civilian air space, searching for everything from the most wanted of criminal suspects to a swarm of grasshoppers devouring a crop.

“The sky’s going to be dark with these things,” said Chris Anderson, the former editor of Wired, who started the hobbyist Web site DIY Drones and now runs a company, 3D Robotics, that sells unmanned aerial vehicles and equipment. He says it is selling about as many drones every calendar quarter — about 7,500 — as the United States military flies in total.

The burst of activity in remotely operated planes stems from the confluence of two factors: electronics and communications gear has become dirt cheap, enabling the conversion of hobbyist radio-controlled planes into sophisticated platforms for surveillance, and theFederal Aviation Administration has been ordered by Congress to work out a way to integrate these aircraft into the national airspace by 2015.

So a few more bits and pieces arrived since the last update.

I decided the existing frame was too small for the set-up I had in mind and wanted things tucked away rather than wrapped and hanging off poles. I fabricated two new carbon fibre plates. Strengthen with 8 pole brackets within the frame. Programmed the ESCs. Mounted the power distribution in the middle along with, sonar and optical flow sensor.

So far have tested sonar, optical flow, transmitter and receiver, telemetry. programmed the fail-safes as well as testing the effects of WiFi from the JVC Axxion.

Turnigy 9XR has been calibrated. Just need a couple of M3 spacer mounts for the original Talon top mounting plate and rubber vibration mounts the APM 2.5.

All that remains is to test the motors and direction, do a test flight and set-up autotrim. 

Next

Landing Skids= back-ordered

Alex Mos Brush-less Gimbal comtroller and IMU - back-ordered

Brushless DC motors - shipped

Gimball - 1/2 built.

Have uploaded more pics to the Photos section.

I´m going to start testing Roberto´s New VrDroidRC Android app.

To have a platform where I can use my Nexus 7 tablet as a combined Ground Station and radio (using AndroPilot or VrDroidRC), I have made a combined Nexus 7 dock and enclosure to mount the electronics.
 Maybe later VrDroidRC have telemetry and FPV support, so I don´t have to use AndroPilot ?

Here I have mounted a G10 plate and some 30mm standoffs on the back of a Nexus 7 protective back-cover

The other side

The other part, where I have made hole to support an Futaba style TX module and a 3DR 433Mhz telemetry module

From the other side (I´m using an ASSAN TX module in my test setup)
In the other hole I plan to Mount a display showing my TX LiPo status

From the side

Front

Running Roberto´s great app :-)

As it is now, it can be used as a mobile AndroPilot ground station (only need an USB OTG cable between the 3DR telemetry radio and the Nexus 7 tablet).

I´m waiting for some Components that I need to make Roberto´s OpAmp adapter that is needed to Connect the TX module to the mini-jack on the tablet.

I also need a battery (plan to use a 9,6V LiFe Tx battery) to Power the TX module + an 5V UBEC to get 5V for the OpAmp module.

I have used a small USB hub between the Nexus and the 3DR radio, so now I have 3 free USB if I want to test other modules..

I´ll continue when my OpAmp adapter is ready - showing how I made it..

When it is ready, I plan to test The App controlling a quad in a SIM, and if it Works my next test is controlling a Q-BOT micro quad.

Use this forum thread to discuss The app

Sorry about my bad speling..

Original post by  Oyvind Amundsen :http://www.virtualrobotix.com/profiles/blogs/vrdroidrc

Airframe: Finwing Universeye Penguin
Autopilot: APM 2.5+ with Power module
GPS: 3DR LEA 6
Telemetry: 3DR 915 Mhz
Motor: Finwing stock M2220 1350kv
Propeller: Master Airscrew 3-bladed 9 x 7 Pusher
ESC: Finwing stock 40 A (5V/3A BEC)
Battery: Turnigy 5000 mAh
Radio: Turnigy 9X stock
Camera: GoPro Hero 1 and iPhone (ground)
Location: Near Princeton, NJ

More info: http://ConservationDrones.org

This is my first contribution, is the PX4 Electronics Chassis for the Bixler based on the 3DR chassis (Images for the angles) and the files from Simon referred in this post, I modified the shape in order to make it geometric and added some holes in the structure to make it lighter, the electronics base is designed as a damping structure but the 2mm acrylic plastic (methacrylate) might be too stiff. I also added two supports for the Pitot Tube for the Air Speed sensor.

This are the parts after the laser cut, the dark dirt is a result of the heat from the laser, just used alcohol to clean it.

This is the assembled chassis, it contains the uBlox GPS, the Freescale Diff pressure sensor, the arming button and the buzzer for the PX4:

Now its time to start the development inside the PX4, so hopefully I'll be flying by the end of march.

This are the design files:

Chasis-MR.dxf

Chasis-MR.pdf

Unfortunately I have not test it on my Bixler since I have it in another place, feel free to comment and give me some (good xD) feedback.

I invite you to check an old but nice project I made when I was in my bachelor.

Hi to all drones community.
I would like to present here my TurniDrone 9X transmitter. It's alloy of ideas of two clever guys - Mike Blandford and Alexey Kozin. Mike is developer of er9x and voice mode in particulary, Alexey is inventor of flight modes switch. This one allow to jump from one flight mode to each other without trespassing others modes, when combination of two switches (2pos and 3pos) is used. I'm sorry about Emily english voice engine - it isn't so human and realistic as Alyona russian voice, which I use for myself. However, for understand an idea, Emily gave its better... So, it's a video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPbgtg9vk7M&feature=youtu.be

After one year of first experiment with 3d fast prototyping frame , we try to choose a new design for the next step ,  help us to choose better : 

This is last concept of (B,2) Proposal 

if you like it set like in our facebook facebook page here :

http://www.facebook.com/pages/VirtualRobotix-wwwvirtualrobotixcom/149125448465971

We are near to end of design contest then choose what frame going in production :)

Original design Proposal (0)

We start to evaluate next step and start to promote to our customers and our community new  design ... 

These are first proposal , reply to this blog post with your prefered design help us to choose better: 

First proposal (A):

Second proposal (B):

Third proposal (C):

If you want to propose some upgrade or different kind of approach  write your suggestions ... 

This is only first selection ... to be continued ...

design

by a young italian designer :  Carlo Ceruti  a www.virtualrobotix.com project :)

Original blog post : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/profiles/blogs/what-kind-of-design-do-you-prefer-for-your-next-drone

Best 

Roberto Navoni

Introduction to the Orange Hawk Project from Stephen Carlson on Vimeo.

Presented here is a VTOL aircraft design that I've perfected over 16 months, and intend to release as an Open Source project with design plans and code. Initial details:

Wing Span: 1000mm

Area: 21.5+2.6 dm^2 (Elevons)

Quarter-Chord Sweep: 30.0deg
Airfoil: MH45 with Root: +2.0deg Tip: -0.5deg

Material: 21.0kg/m^3 EPP

Equiv. Rotor Diameter: 500mm

Flight Controller Based on MultiWii 2.1

All-Up Weight: 1.2 kg, Theoretical Maximum: 1.5 kg

Designed Fall 2012

From Wired Design:

A year ago, Greg Holloway set out to build an ocean drone, based on the tiny Raspberry Pi $35 computer.

Wired covered the start of the project, called FishPi, last summer, as Holloway was working on a Proof of Concept Vehicle (POCV), which at that time was essentially an upturned lunch container on the hull of a model ship. Now that he’s approaching the one-year anniversary, the initial testing and research is paying off, and with collaborator Al Gray he’s revealing plans for the final design to the FishPi community.

“When I began the project I had the optimistic expectation of being on the high seas by now,” says Holloway. “FishPi will cross the Atlantic, it might just take a bit longer than I expected!”

What the FishPi looks like now.

“The Proof-Of-Concept Vehicle (POCV) is finished, just about,” says Holloway. “I began the project with little to no experience of robotic control so even the smallest of details has taken, in some cases, weeks of investigation before a decision was made and a part purchased.”

In fact, Holloway says, research has ended up being the bulk of his time on the project, to which he’s devoting ten to twenty hours a week.

Perhaps the biggest change is the addition of software engineer Al Gray to the team.

Gray has taken on responsibility for incorporating the device’s various bits of hardware into a functioning system. “Having begun with almost nothing, Al Gray has done a fantastic job integrating the Compass, GPS, Temperature Sensor, Rudder, Webcam, and the Electronic Speed Controller into the C & C [command and control] software,” says Holloway. “We can drive the POCV remotely using the Webcam as a visual guide, but it has only been done in the bath so far.”

“Since seeing Stanley (the car that won the DARPA grand challenge) at the Smithsonian a few years back, I’ve been inspired to get involved in an autonomous robotics project,” says Gray, revealing his enthusiasm for the project.

Now that they have managed to get the POCV to drive, the next big challenge is getting it to drive itself. “The starting points for this are well established but calibrating for the particular craft and motion model will be fun,” says Gray.

What the FishPi looked like in June.

Meanwhile, Holloway has been working towards a design for the prototype. Gone will be the clunky plastic box. The sleek new design is built around the requirements of the solar panel that will ensure the vehicle remains powered. Though Holloway was hoping to avoid the need for a keel, the shape of the panel has ended up demanding one.

“Given that the vehicle is likely to capsize in rough seas it would be silly not to have a self-righting mechanism,” says Holloway. The keel will serve double duty as protection for the trolling motor and the weight bulb may be used to house certain instruments as well.

After ensuring power with the panel, the biggest concern for the hull is keeping the electronics dry. They’ll be stored in cases from Pelican, with packs of silica gel in case of small leaks. The space in the hull between the cases will then be filled with high density self-expanding foam.

If you want to build a POCV of your own, Holloway has released WIP information on Instructables. And don’t worry about getting your stuff wet. “The beauty of the Raspberry Pi and most parts is their relatively low price, if something goes wrong, you can always get another one!” says Holloway.