There's a very good post over at Hizook on the lessons of the hacked Kinect: Nutshell:
"The best solution to complex low cost sensing (or actuation for that matter) is to take advantage of affordable, mass-produced components, complementing them with the innovative use of software solutions that benefit from constantly declining prices of computation."
Well worth reading it all.
(I´d specially like the last part...)
Hi All,
this project could be a bit out of scope here but this is also a recycling project. I used an old Ardupilot board and 3 old servos to construct this robot... And there is also a nice story behind this project:
Some weeks ago, my daughter (4 years old) said me:
"...dady, you are always playing with your flying robots, when are you going to construct a robot for me?"
You can imagine my face, so I started this mini project for her...
I used a very simple and minimalistic hexapod setup (only three servos for six legs). I had used this typical setup long time ago at University but this time I tweaked a bit the design playing with the geometry of the legs, the body and the position of the center of gravity to let it do some funny movements like seat, jump, dance, some acrobatics...
I added also an IR distance sensor for automatic obstacle avoiding and two eyes (LED´s)
This robot has also a simple behaviour scheme (in autonomous mode). The robot becomes "tired", "bored" and "happy" and you can interact with him. The eyes also show different patterns depending on the state of the robot
The robot has three modes:
-Manual Mode : I used the HW mux in the Ardupilot board so you directly control the three servos with your Tx. Make this "thing" walk is a real challenge, you need to sinchronize your movements, but once you have mastered you can do a lot of fun movements!! (like in the video)
-Assisted Mode : You control the robot like an RC car (2 channels). The walk and turn movements (sequences) are executed by the controler, so if you move the stick forward, the robot start to walk forward, if you move the stick to the right, the robot turns to the right... the speed and turn amount are proportional to the stick.
-Autonomous Mode : In this mode the robot starts to walk avoiding obstacles with the IR sensor. The robot will become tired so it start to move slowly until it is so tired that take seat. When the robot becomes bored it start to call your attention. If you bring your hand over it becomes happy, jump and continue walking... Enough to entertain the kids :-)
Specs:
Size of body : 12.5cm x 6.5cm
weight : 110 grams
Main board : Ardupilot (Atmega328)
Battery : 2S460 with external 5V regulator
Servos : 2x mini servos (HS81), 1x 6-9gram servo
IR sensor: GP2Y0A21YK
The body of the robot is constructed with a carbon & 1.5mm balsa sandwich. The legs are 2mm carbon rods and you will need some hinges for the front legs. I used a 6gram micro servo for the middle legs (that balances the robot) and two 16 grams servos for the rear legs (that connects also to the front legs with 1.5mm rods).
I started a simple build log document with more photos here : Build Log
The project was developed with Arduino. The code is very simple, so there´s a lot of room for improvements. Source code: ArduSpider.zip
My daughter also put a name to her robot: Sara, so codename for this project is Sara.
In the last family meeting (this Christmas) this robot was the "star" and look the kids playing with the robot is priceless...
Jose.
Arduino The Documentary (2010) English HD from gnd on Vimeo.
I think I'm in there somewhere, wandering around in the background ;-)
http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21003198189967/
You can get a Kinect for $150, but if you want the smaller, lighter sensor and the devkit to use it, Primesense will sell you that for $200. You can apply to purchase the PSDK hardware here.
(via I Love Robotics)
Enter here
I decided to post and share of my ArduCopter frame build process.
It's "hand made" folding frame, the design is adopted from: Jakub's Frame
90% aluminum parts (The landing skids are temporary and they installed for reference only)
The center plate dimentions 120*120 MM X configuration.
Fold is done by two steps:
Thats all for now, more updates soon.
In the new Arduino boards, the traditional FTDI USB-to-serial chip has been replaced with an Atmel ATmega8U2 chip, which has built-in USB. We'd like to do the same on the next APM board, and use this chip to do double-duty: replace the FTDI chip that's now on the IMU shield, and replace the PPM encoder chip (now an Atmega328) that's on the APM board. This will make smaller, simpler, cheaper APM boards for all going forward. And bye-bye FTDI drivers!
There should be enough memory in the Atmega8U2 for both the OptiBoot bootloader and the PPM encoder code. But we need some help in combining them in a way that each won't interfere with the other. We've got a lot of great programmers here at DIY Drones. Who's up for the challenge? (Free boards for any volunteers)
Here are some starting links.
I'm going to start working on the EAGLE files this weekend, what is everybody's thoughts on this?
It's generally considered a bad idea to pre-announce products, but hey, we're an open source community. It's not pre-announcement--it's transparency!
We're working on about a dozen new products at the DIY Drones factory. Some of them are with partners, so I'm not free to discuss them until the partners give us the green light. But others I can tell you a little bit about now, so you'll have a roadmap to help you make your own technology and deployment plans.
First, one note about backwards compatibility: we're committed to it. This is a fast-moving field, and we're going to release products based on the latest sensors and chips as fast as we can, because this community expects that. Think of autopilots like cellphones: you're probably going to want to upgrade about once a year. But we also work hard to ensure that the hardware you buy today will continue to be supported for at least two years.
Also, new products will be released in beta, as always. Unless you're really keen to help us catch bugs and fix problems, you're not going to want to buy any of these products until they hit the 1.0 software release, which can be as much as six months after hardware release. If all you want is a great-flying UAV, you can't beat the current APM. Most of the following products probably won't hit that level of maturity until late 2011.
Here are some of the highlights:
MultiPilot 2 ST (32-bit ArduPilot!)
This is a 32-bit Cortex M3 (ARM 7) autopilot board (board layout shown above) that's compatible with ArduPilotMega, ArduCopter and the Arduino programming system. Developed by Roberto Navoni of VirtualRobotix and the Foxteam in Italy, working with DIY Drones and the Arduino team, this board uses the APM IMU shield and will run the ArduPilot family of code, just like APM.
You can read more about it here, but the basics are that this board will offer high-end processing power for pro-level autopilot needs in planes, multicopters and helicopters. It can run a Real-Time Operating System and will be ROS-compatible.
Current specs are as follows, although these will be upgraded to the latest chips available at the time of release
First prototype boards are incoming and you should not expect commercial versions to be available with release code until the second half of the year. Pricing is yet to be determined. Projected Release: Q3
ArduPilotMega 2560
Starting in about two weeks, all APM boards will ship with the Atmega2560 chip, which has twice the memory of the Atmega1280 chip that APM currently uses. There are some other minor changes to the board that have already been released in the 1.4 version that is currently shipping. The current code doesn't need all this memory, so the new boards will operate exactly like the current ones and there is no need to upgrade. But this does give us room for more ambitious enhancement to the code in the future. Projected Release: end Jan
New All-In-One ArduPilot boards
Not everyone wants a flexible development board like APM. Some people want smaller, simpler, cheaper autopilots. That's why we'll be releasing all-in-one versions of APM this year using the new Invensense MPU-6000 6-axis chip (we may be the first autopilot on the market to have them). As promised, we will also update the current APM IMU shield with new sensors when we get them (this is why we made APM modular--so you can upgrade components as technology evolves). Projected Release: Q2
Universal Ground Station
As Jordi hinted in this post, we're developing a universal ground station: a wireless hardware device that can render an in-browser Ground Control Station on any smartphone, tablet or PC. This "magic box" will be a wireless router between your aircraft and the display device of your choice, as well as driving a tracking antenna and providing datalogging. It's the ultimate cross-platform GCS! Just imagine controlling your UAV via an iPad or even an Andoid phone. This device will make it easy--no software required. Projected Release: Q2
More Pre-Made autopilots and UAVs
At the DIY Drones store, we only sell components and kits. But our partners around the world are gearing up to sell pre-made autopilots and even ready-to-fly UAVs. You can already buy an ArduCopter with pre-soldered APM electronics from FahPah, but you'll see more in that vein from FahPah and others early this year. The marketplace has spoken clearly on this--not everyone wants to have to use a soldering iron or load code to use a UAV--and DIY Drones partners are responding. Projected Release: Q1
On the code side, expect the versions we release this year to increasingly do auto-detection of hardware and otherwise require less setup. Our ambition for 2011: make UAVs as close to plug-and-play as possible. You can hack APM all you want, but if you don't want to see a line of code you don't have to.
Other cool stuff
The above is just a taste of what we've got in the pipeline. Other products that are in the prototyping stage including open source On-Screen-Display boards (including integrated with APM), open source ESC, smartphone interfaces, new GPS modules, ground rover autopilots and more!
Hi,
I'm on the edge of completing my Arducopter. Having a little problem with the RX.
Does it need a power connection or not. Didn't find any manuals in the Futuba-box.
I'm building the pre-soldered and tested kit and it includes ESC's with BEC.
Do i use the right pins to connect to the apm? (most left ones on RX block)
Ans yes i am a complete noob on building my own RC stuff.
Oh and another question: can i use any USB cable to connect to my pc or do i have to use a special one?
For all you wannabee-arducopter-noobs:
The arducopter pre-soldered, tested kit is pretty easy to build if you have any experience with LEGO and/or Ikea.
I'll get back to you on the flying as soon as mine is ready to fly...;-)
Hello to All,
I have done successfully the first test flight of the Quad Rotor Observer (QRO) v4 with a new costless flight controller board V7 which uses a Atmega 168 and 3 piezo gyroscopes (NEC CG-L43). This is a personnal variant of on the KKmulticopter board widely spread on the web. I am really surprised by the stability and the flight enveloppe of this quadcopter Vs the simplicity of the firmware code (Occam's razor principle...) and the low cost of the electronic material used here in this design...
Tested setup:
- personnal flight controller v7 with Atmega168 and 3 piezo gyro CG-L43 based on the KKmulticopter board
- firmware Quadcontroller v4.5 by Rolf R Bakke
- 4 brushless motors DualSky XM2822CA 1450KV 7A
- Lipo battery 3S (11.1V) 1500 mAh
- receiver Corona CR6D 2.4 Ghz
More technical infos at: http://diydrones.com/profile/JeanLouisNaudin
A peek into the future, Santa's UVA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh0QPFFAhVU&feature=player_embedded#!
Merry Christmas
And may you walk away from all unexpected landinge in 2011
Chrrs,
Ockham's Barber
I've posted a new version of APM that should address all outstanding issues with the current 1.0 code. The MediaTek library now automatically resends the initialization string until the module responds properly (no board reset required). And an issue with altitude hold failing before Waypoint 1 has also been fixed (thanks to Doug Weibel).
The last time I posted an update, I'd accidentally bypassed our SVN version control system and included some beta code. This time, thanks to some patient tutoring by Michael Smith, I think it should be clean. It's been pretty thoroughly tested, both in the air and in Xplane, so it should work perfectly. But if it doesn't, you know how to let me know ;-)
Now there's no excuse for not whipping out your Xplane simulation and giving the latest T3 contest a shot!
The official timeline has been officially extended.
NPRM publication is now due on July 21, 2011
The FAA has been granted extension for rulemaking process.
"Popular Title: Small Unmanned Aircraft
RIN 2120-AJ60
Stage:
NPRMPrevious Stage:
NoneAbstract:
limited portions of the national airspace system (NAS). This action is necessary because it
addresses the novel legal or policy issues about the minimum safety parameters for operating
recreational remote control model and toy aircraft in the NAS. The intended effect of this
action is to develop requirements and standards to ensure that risks are adequately mitigated,
such that safety is maintained for the entire aviation community.......
To OMB 02/03/2011 04/05/2011
OMB Clearance 03/07/2011 07/05/2011
Publication Date 03/10/2011 07/21/2011
End of Comment Period 07/14/2011 08/22/2011
This rulemaking would enable small unmanned aircraft to safely operate inTo OST 01/24/2011 03/03/2011
Explanation for any delay:
Unanticipated issues requiring further analysisFederal Register
Citation for NPRM: None"From Design News: Roboteq Inc., a developer of motor controllers for the mobile robotics industry, announced the publication of a WiFi robot design platform featuring the Roboteq AX3500 dc motor controller and an Intel Atom processor-based Mini-ITX motherboard.
The robot is a battery-operated, 4 wheel-drive unit built on a 1.5 x 2 feet (46 x 61 cm) aluminum frame with WiFi connectivity and a video camera. The robot can feed live video and can be remotely operated via the Internet. The robot is a technology platform that users interested in robotics can easily replicate to add functionality and intelligence.
Use of the Intel Atom motherboard in the design allows robotics software written for the PC to run on the robot. Microsoft, for example, has released free development tools that can be downloaded to develop this type of robotics application. The Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 R3 (Microsoft RDS) is a Windows-based environment for academic, hobbyist and commercial developers to easily create robotics applications across a wide variety of hardware. RDS 2008 R3 can be downloaded at no charge at www.microsoft.com/robotics.
Detailed assembly instructions for the robot, plus mechanical CAD drawings, wiring diagrams and software can be downloaded free of charge from Roboteq's web site. No license or royalties are needed for their use, and a 3D animation illustrates the step-by-step construction of the chassis.
 Step-by-step instructions show how to use a Roboteq motor controller and an Intel Atom low power motherboard to build a wireless LAN remotely operated mobile robot. Source: Roboteq Inc. Click here for larger image. |
The AX3500 motor controller uses two channel outputs to control the motors that power and steer the robot by varying the speed and direction of the motors at each side of the chassis. The controller also has outputs for up to eight RC servos, allowing the control of simple robotic arms and other accessories. The motor controller connects to the Intel Atom motherboard via its RS232 port.
The Intel D510M motherboard was selected because of its 100 percent passive cooling, low power consumption, balanced features set, excellent performance and low cost. Measuring 17 x 17cm, the Mini-ITX form factor is ideally suited to mobile robotic designs. The motherboard runs Windows 7 booting from a SATA hard drive or solid state drive but alternate operating systems such as Linux can also be used. The PC-compatible platform enables significant computational functionality and flexible software development options.
The motherboard consumes only 800mA from the robot's 24V batteries, ensuring several hours of continuous operation depending on motor usage. A power converter ensures proper operation whether the batteries are fully charged or partially depleted.
Another important element of the design is the power supply. An adapter plugs into the ATX power slot in the motherboard, so users can feed from 6-30V dc to regulate a clean supply for the motherboard, disk drive and the RC output for driving the servos. The motherboard, adapter and controller combination provide an integrated solution from an electronics point of view.
Because the design platform has offers ample compute power, the ability to control eight motors, plus integrate vision, it provides a portable and flexible system that can be adapted for a wide range of applications.
