Blogs

Here's a great video buildlog of Nitroplane's new fiberglass and carbon RQ-11 Raven clone (1-1 scale). I've got this kit and it looks very good, a real step up from foam for those who want lots of interior room. My only reservations are what looks like a fragile wing attachment with two screws, and this video review's discovery that it needs six (!!) ounces of clay in the nose to get the CG right.

Been debating whether to chase aerospace jobs in LA or keep doing short contracts in Silicon Valley.  It looks like you're just going to get short contracts these days.  LA looks like the main Aerospace environment but it's quite a move & we've heard horror stories.

Our dumpy apartment was 15 years old when we moved in & now it's 25 years old.  It's the longest we've ever lived in the same place & we've done the 680 commute twice as long as our dad.  It was convenient living next to a golf course for flying & astronomy, but the area has become too bright for astronomy, we reached the limit of what flying can be done on a hobbyist budget, & commuting insane distances to live where you fly was becoming a bit insane.

Our last flight was some skywriting on Sep 26 to test the helical uBlox 5 & the IMU in 6 DOF mode.  Was disappointed in the number of satellites & glitches were just as likely as the patch antenna.

With the IMU in 6 DOF mode, was doing attitude hold flights & crashed.

Attitude hold mode & not position hold is what you want for video.  Unfortunately it seems we've reached the lifespan limit for this airframe.  Tried ordering new motors from hobbyking with the cheapest shipping & the USPS lost it.  $55 gone.  Consider the $30 shipping a requirement.

The last photo of us was on Sep 23.

On Sep 18, flew in attitude hold mode to get closer to the camera. Then switched to autopilot. GPS glitched. PID limits were too high & she flipped over.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Hi Guys

This is my new ground station (and my smiley face)

I'm developing this software since 3 days (yes i know i'm too fast, because this is my job since 20 years)

It's working with my new SimpleOSD telemetry protocol over FrSKY's bidirectional RC modules. Protocol is very simple and it is sending all gps+battery values in 21bytes pack (1bytes deviceID+18bytes data+ 2bytes end of line data).

Features:

• It is OpenSource (under LGPL license)
• Live Video
• Live Google Maps position
• Video Capturing with all compression codecs.
• Data logging and others.

And i will add OpenLRS telemetry support with IMU and other sensors on Alpha version of firmware. Then i'm planning to design a PC based Autopilot system into the ground station. Because PC based programming easier for most of pc programmers.

You can follow my all FrSKY telemetry projects from this link

And this is the google code page of OpenFGS project. http://code.google.com/p/openfgs/

Please contact with me for being  the project member, all developers are welcome.

Thanks for reading

Melih

I Love Robotics has posted an excellent analysis of how the Kinect compares to other SLAM solutions, such as the Neato Lidar and Hokuyu lasers.

Here's an excerpt, but do read the whole thing. It's fascinating:

"The depth image on the Kinect has a field of view of 57.8°, whereas the Hokuyo lasers have between 240° and 270°, and the Neato XV-11's LIDAR has a full 360° view.

In addition to being able to view more features, the wider field of view also allows the robot to efficiently build a map without holes. A robot with a narrower field of view will constantly need to maneuver to fill in the missing pieces to build a complete map.

One solution would be to add more Kinects to increase the field of view. The main problem is the sheer volume of data. 640 x 480 x 30fps x (3 bytes of color + 2 bytes of Depth) puts us at close to the maximum speed of the USB bus, at least to the point where you are only going to get good performance with one Kinect per bus. My laptop has two USB buses that have accessible ports, and you might get four separate buses on a desktop. Assuming you down sample until it works computationally you still have to deal with power requirements, unless your robot is powered by a reactor, and possible interference from reflections to deal with.

Another simpler approach is to mount the Kinect on a servo to pan horizontally, this however reduces the robot to intermittent motion where it is constantly stopping and scanning. Depending on your robot's mechanical design you may be better off rotating the robot."

ArduCopter Beta 2 release

After a long wait we are delighted to finally release our second official firmware for ArduCopter. This code is our intermediate code (code name NG) that is a step towards reconciling with the full ArduPilot Mega framework. The next version (codename ArduCopter Mega, ACM) will be fully compatible. As always, be careful when testing fully new software.

Our development group has been flying this software on many ArduCopters without any problems but still it does not mean that is won't have any bugs, there might be one just behind the corner. Tho we have been trying to nail them all down.

Thank you for whole ArduCopter/ArduPilot Mega teams for this great release.

Always check our latest release notes and test instructions from ArduCopter Wiki pages.

Main new features:

• New architecture. This puts us on the path of integrating fully with the main ArduPilot Mega code, which brings compatibility with all the UAS tools (ground stations, mission planners, datalog analysis, and a full two-way flight command language) that are already in place with the fixed-wing UAVs. As a result of this back-end code migration, you should see full UAV features come to ArduCopter more quickly going forward and rotary-wing development keep pace with the fixed wing versions.

• CLI (Command Line Interface) for easy and quick configuration: The ArduCopter Configurator still works fine but some of tests have been moved only to CLI. The CLI allows people with Macs and Linux to set up ArduCopter without having to run the Windows-only Configurator.

• GPS position hold: This has been tested with MediaTEK GPS that comes along with ArduCopter kits. Expected hold will be around 3-5 meters from activation location. ArduCopter can still be manually flown with position hold on, but it will return to the hold position when you release the sticks.

• Magnetometer support: The DIY Drones magnetometer is now in stock and fully supported.

• Altitude hold: This barometer assisted altitude hold works while user has activated GPS position hold. It is possible to alter altitude even when position hold is on with throttle.

• Easy X and + configuration: You can choose between either X or + flight modes by simply moving a DIP switch. (Note that the APM/IMU must be mounted in the + position, regardless of which mode you're flying in. This may change in future versions of the code, but for now it simplifies installation for most users.)

• Helicopter code: preliminary and flyable code for more traditional helicopters. Code has been tested around world with some Trex450 style copters.

• ESC calibrations for official ArduCopter ESC's

Here's a video of GPS position and altitude hold working:

Quick install notes:

--Download the code and unzip the ArduCopter RC2 folder to your desktop. It will include two folders: "ArduCopterNG" and "libraries"

- Move the libraries folder into your regular Arduino sketchfile folder, replacing the libraries that are already there. Delete all the old libraries folder and copy this one in instead.

- Open the ArduCopterNG.pde file in Arduino and check that the #defines in that file and ArduUser.h meet your requirements. Typically the only one you will need to check are magnetometer orientation (if you're using a magnetometer):

#define MAGORIENTATION  AP_COMPASS_COMPONENTS_UP_PINS_FORWARD       // This is default solution for ArduCopter
//#define MAGORIENTATION  AP_COMPASS_COMPONENTS_UP_PINS_BACK        // Alternative orientation for ArduCopter
//#define MAGORIENTATION  AP_COMPASS_COMPONENTS_DOWN_PINS_FORWARD    // If you have soldered Magneto to IMU shield as shown on the wiki

- Upload software to your ArduCopter electronics

- Run the CLI by changing position of SW2 switch and reboot your APM--towards the servo rails is CLI mode; towards the GPS connector is flight mode. Open the Arduino serial monitor, setting baud rate to 115200 baud and ensuring that "Carriage Returns" are enabled. You should see a command line on the monitor. CLI instructions are here.

- Run and all necessary settings like factory reset and IMU level calibrations along others your might need.

- Make normal flight preparation tests before connecting your propellers

- Fly safe....

Installation and latest information, please do check our ArduCopter and ArduPilot Mega wiki sites for more information.

ArduCopter NG, NG specific details and test procedures

ArduCopter Wiki, for all quad and heli based information and updates

ArduCopter Heli, especially for ArduCopter heli modifications. It is flyable and needs more beta testers.

ArduPilot Mega Wiki, for general electronics related information and also fixedwings

Last but not least, the release code: ArduCopter RC2

The Google Code team reports some good news. (I love that there's a "20% Robotics Task Force" at Google, which refers to the 20% of their time that they're allowed to spend on cool projects that they love):

"Today we announced a fun 20% robotics project that resulted in three ways you can play with your iRobot Create®, LEGO® MINDSTORMS®, or VEX Pro® through the cloud. We did this by enhancing App Inventor for Android, contributing to the open source Cellbots Java app, and beefing up the Cellbots Python libraries. Together these apps provide new connectivity between robots, Android, the cloud, and your browser.

You can start empowering your Android phone with robot mobility by picking the solution below that matches your skill level and programming style:

• App Inventor for Android
  This is an entirely cloud based programming environment where you drag and drop elements into a project right within your browser. The latest features for robots include a low level Bluetooth client for connecting with many serial-enabled robots, and tight integration with LEGO MINDSTORMS. There are seven LEGO components in all, with NxtDrive and NxtDirectCommands used for driving and basic control while NxtColorSensor, NxtLightSensor, NxtSoundSensor, NxtTouchSensor, and NxtUltrasonicSensor are used for sensors.
  
  Also be sure to try out the social components to connect with Twitter, andTinyWebDB for hooking up to AppEngine. All of these can be used together to make your phone a powerful robot brain. 
  
  
• Cellbots for Android
  
  We wanted to offer a flexible application that could drive multiple platforms and support different control modes. To do this we created the Cellbots Java application which currently supports four robot platforms and allows additional robot types and UI control schemes to be added using the standard Android SDK. It is entirely open source and available for free in the Android Market so you can try it out right away. 
  
  With it you can use the phone as a remote control with D-Pad, joystick, accelerometer, or voice control inputs. Then try mounting your phone to the robot in brain mode where you can stream video back to a web browser and make the robot speak using Android’s native text-to-speech. For those of you with two Android phones, we support remote-to-brain mode where you can ask the robot for its compass heading or change the persona on screen. 
  
  
  
• Cellbots Python library
  
  The 20% team got together to create a more modularized version of the popular Cellbots project, which is all open source code. The goal for the Python library is to allow developers an easy way to demonstrate the features on Android phones suitable for robots. There are commands to make it speak, listen, record audio, take pictures, get a geolocation, and of course provide the I/O to the bot.
  
  The Python code is the most flexible in terms of connectivity with support for Google Talk chat over XMPP, HTTP through a relay or direct connection, telnet, and voice input. To use it you just need to install the Scripting Layer 4 Android and enable the Python interpreter. Then copy over the Python and config files to the SD card and script away. 
  
  

We hope this gives developers, hobbyists, and students a head start in connecting the next generation of cloud apps to the world of robotics. Be sure to push your mobile phone’s processor to its limits and share the results with the Cellbots Google Group. Try using Willow Garage’s OpenCV for Android or the new Gingerbread APIs for gyroscopes, enhanced OpenGL graphics, and multiple cameras!"

You know the story: a FPV flier who goes by the handle of Trappy decided to prove something to someone and pulled a stunt in NYC a few weeks ago, filming a flight that went from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Statue of Liberty, and posting and promoting it online. This has generated a huge amount of controversy in RC/FPV/UAV circles. We discussed it here, and suffice to say it was the general sense of most commentators that this was Very Bad: dangerous, reckless and casting our hobby in a very poor light.

The problem is that Trappy, who is actually a very accomplished FPV pilot with many impressive (and usually safe) videos before this one, flew a Zephyr around Manhattan in Class B Restricted Airspace, in the landing patterns of three major airports and far beyond line-of-sight. He also filmed it and sent it to the media, where it was widely shown on national TV. This is not only in violation of FAA rules, but it's also the kind of thing that can ruin it for all of us if legislators take this example as an opportunity to crack down on our hobby.

What should he have done instead? Well, if he wanted an aerial tour of New York City, he could have had a great one on a simulator. Thus the theme of T3, Season 2 Round 1: Synthetic Trappy!

This is a simulator round. It's winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and too cold for many DIY Drones members to fly. That's a perfect time to brush up on your UAV "hardware in the loop" (HIL) simulation skills. It's a great way to test your autopilots and code on the workbench in realistic but totally safe conditions by connecting them to a PC Flight Simulator like XPlane or FlightGear.

Your mission is to do the following: program your autopilot to recreate Trappy's mission and make an autonomously-created video that simulates the one Trappy made, showing the safe way to fly planes around NYC: in a simulator only!

WRONG (Trappy's original video):

RIGHT (A rough simulation of the flight in Google Earth):

Here's a KMZ file (shown at top) that roughly covers Trappy's route, as best as we can tell from the video, which probably involved several flights and has edits and out-of-order bits.  Here is the tour file that was used to create the above Google Earth video.

Contest:

Your job is to create your own FPV NYC video, not by touring in Google Earth as I did above but instead by recording a simulated UAV flight using a HIL setup.

Here's how to get started with HIL simulation in ArduPilot Mega. You may want to use Happy Killmore's GCS to record your HIL sim and then replay it in First Person mode. Or maybe you have your own GCS or HIL setup that can do even better.Other autopilots have different HIL sims.

The judge (Gary Mortimer, as usual) will rank the submissions on closeness of simulation of Trappy's video, creative use of a UAV sim, and autonomous maneuvers that are particularly impressive (such as swooping down on bridges and alongside buildings). We don't really expect anyone will closely duplicate Trappy's routes; instead, we're more interested in the sim and mission-planning techniques you use. Crappy videos with cool tech will score well ;-)

As always, post your submissions in the comments below. Just an embeded YouTube video, a KMZ file of your simulated flight and description of your setup.  Winner will get their choice of a MediaTek GPS module or a magnetometer, but all entrants will get points for Season Two of the T3 contest.

Submissions must be in be 12:00 midnight PST on Sunday, Jan 30th.

Not one of ours, thankfully. From the article:

"Holloway said the aircraft that crossed into the U.S. air space is a mini orbiter unmanned aerial vehicle developed by the Aeronautics Defense System.

It is designed for use in military and homeland security missions, and is capable of conducting over-the-hill reconnaissance missions, low-intensity conflict and urban warfare operations, and any other related close range mission."

From MrKimRobotics: When you can print electric traces and semiconductors, a lot of things change.  Obviously, this is a long way from printing out the kind of high-density computronium you get from TSMC, IBM and Intel, but you do get some nice benefits.  For one, no fab plant to send parts to.  While it’s entirely possible to fab low tech devices in, say, a pizza oven, organic semiconductors are going to be a better path for DIYers, due to the dramatically reduced overhead (if higher per-unit cost) and due to the lack of an anneal, which can be pretty hard to do with a pizza oven.  Also, all-low-temperature manufacture means you can mix the fabbing process with plastics and other delicate materials.

For all of you out there who like the twin boom style of airframe, it looks like Bormatec, the company who makes the Maja airframe has just released a new model call the "Vamp".  It has the same wingspan of 1800mm and similar fuselage minus the tail section.  Features folding wing and tail section.  Here is a pic and the link: http://www.bormatec.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88&Itemid=91&lang=de

Here are some vehicle models that are currently under development. The simple 3d models display control input and attitude information to the user. This is much more intuitive than charts but the models require very limited cpu resources and can run on most laptops. You can find all of the vehicle models and scicoslab blocks on the oooark sourceforge site: https://sourceforge.net/projects/oooark/ These models will also be incorporated into qgroundcontrol soon.

Dear Friends,

this is my first hack to Ar.Drone. I'm enjoy with Ardrode SDK 1.5 , Build Linux Application for controll Ar.Drone.

• I change battery and use 3S Lipo 2200 ma instead of standard 1000 mah.
• Use my mac with VMWare with Ubuntu Linux 9.04 .
• Connect the drone by adhoc network.
• The Linux application use Ardrone SDK 1.5 .
• I use PS3 Gamepad for control the Drone.
• Recive realtime video by wifi from Ardrone.

I prefer to use it by PS3 Gamepad instead to use Iphone , the connection is very stable.

If you need more info about my hack contact me on skype virtualrobotix contact.

original blog post : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/profiles/blogs/ardrone-hacking-and-sdk-15

Regards

Roberto.

The untethered flght is in the second half of the video. From a paperby Charles Richter and Hod Lipson:

"This project has focused on developing a flapping-wing hovering insect using 3D printed wings and mechanical parts. The use of 3D printing technology has greatly expanded the possibilities for wing design, allowing wing shapes to replicate those of real insects or virtually any other shape. It has also reduced the time of a wing design cycle to approximately one hour. An ornithopter with a mass of 3.89g has been constructed using the 3D printing technique and has demonstrated an 85- second passively stable hovering flight. This flight exhibits the functional utility of printed materials for flapping wing experimentation and ornithopter construction."

[Source: Makezine]

Willow Garage's ROS continues to impress: this time with a driver for the Neato Robotics vacuum cleaner that has a cool little Lidar unit. Here's a cool video showing how it can pretty easily do Simultaneous Location and Mapping (SLAM), which is essential for indoors navigation. Sadly Neato doesn't sell the Lidar units on their own, so you can just buy one for your MAV, but maybe someday....

BTW, some of the DIY Drones team will be visiting Willow Garage on Monday, so if you've got UAV questions you'd like us to ask, post them here.

Version 1.1.1 is ready to be translated. There are currently 206 words and phrases in the list. Anyone who can help me out with this task, please respond below. Thank you!!!

Languages Completed So Far:

en;English
zh-CN;Chinese-PRC
zh-TW;Chinese-Traditional
da;Danish
es;Español
fi;Finnish
fr;Française
it;Italiano
pl;Polski
pt-BR;Português Brasileiro
pt-PT;Português
ro;Romana
ru;Russian
sk;Slovensky
tr;Türkçe
ur;Urdu

Language File Translation Instructions:

1) Download the latest GCS software: http://code.google.com/p/happykillmore-gcs/downloads/list
2) Open the Ground Control Station and Click Help, About
3) Make note of the "Current Culture" above the OK button.
4) Press the "F9" key on your keyboard
5) In the program that opens, Click the "Browse Button" and select Strings.resx in the installation folder (if it's missing, download it here: http://www.happykillmore.com/Software/HK_GCS/strings.zip unzip and save it in C:\Program Files\HappyKillmore\GCS)
6) Translate the "Value" column only. Do not change anything in the other columns.
7) When finished, click Save.

8) Send me an email (happy@happykillmore.com) including your "Current Culture:" value from step #3, what you'd like to call your language (ie: Español instead of Spanish....I'm going to add an option to override the OS selection) and attach the strings.resx file. I will compile your resx file and send it back to you for review. Place the file I send back in your C:\Program Files\HappyKillmore\GCS\Language folder.

- or with GCS v1.1.8 or newer -

8) Open C:\Program Files\HappyKillmore\GCS\Language and rename the edited strings.resx file to strings.XX-XX.resx where XX-XX is your Current Culture from Step #3 (ie strings.pl-PL.resx).

9) Right click on this file and select Open With -> ResXtoResource.exe

10) If this is a new file, then double click the Languages.txt file and add a reference to your new file including XX-XX;{Language Name} (ie pl-PL;Polski)

11) Start the GCS and select File, Settings and select your new language.

12) Send me an email (happy@happykillmore.com) including what you'd like to call your language (ie: Español instead of Spanish and attach your strings.XX-XX.resources and strings.XX-XX.resx files

A few notes about translating

**** Save early and save often! Some users have reported problems saving their file once they're already done translating!!! Try translating a couple and then SAVE! It might save LOTS of wasted effort if you get to the end and then cannot save!!!
1) Anywhere there is a carrat (^) that's a carriage return + new line. Please include this in your string.
2) Anywhere you wee &1 or &2 these are replacement variables which means a number or some other text will be inserted in the string. Please make sure to include these as well.
3) The available space for text is very small, please be as brief as possible.
4) Please keep track of how long it takes (I'm curious) and please let me know if there's anything confusing in there. I can add more comments to the English language file to make things earier.

5) Watch out for abbreviations. There are some VERY short (only 1 letter) translations for things like Right and Left = R and L. Also, things like MPH (Miles per hour) need to be very short. So abbreviate where you can.

For those who downloaded 1.1.0...I forgot to include the program that pops up with the "F9" button. 1.1.1 has it...sorry about that.

Thank you for your time and effort!!!!!

PS, I found the trees in Google Earth! California is hogging all of them!

See how the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,etc stick out like a sore thumb?

Bill Gates and Paul Allen moved to Albuquerque (~1975?) to write Software for the MITS Altair 8800, but 10 years earlier MITS cofounder Forest Mims III aka "god" in electronics hobbyist parlance, was working at this desk on sophisticated electronics for .... Drones.

Well, ok, maybe just model rockets, but hey this is 1966. Who would have though that a rocket launchable "Blinky" would have led to the Personal Computer revolution? Now I know why Nate is does his new product "launches" the MITS way: he's hoping some Mims Magic will rub off. Anyway, it's a great story, hiding away on an antique website. I just had to share:

In your comments please admit if you have a design housed in a circa 1966 Ray-o-Vac blue plastic flashlight (check). And if you hung out at the local radio shack memorizing the color wheel, waiting for the next edition of the Engineers Notebook while your schoolmates were hiding under the covers with a flashlight and contraband?

All kidding aside, you are probably looking at the first hobbyist autopilot: In this closeup, Mims describes a "Sun Tracking Guidance system."

As I have recently done some daydreaming on a solar tracker, I think I can explain how this might work, A single light sensor drives a solenoid on a rotating rocket, when the sensor rolls into the sun, it moves a pair of fins (or engine) which pushes the rocket towards the sun for a brief portion of its rotation. Over-correcting is probably an issue - imagine no PID?

It is suggested that the Blinky was invented to help debug the solar tracker, but the resultant article leads to the MITS company, the altair, Gates & Allen, and the rest, as they say....

This is the first flight video of the Embry-Riddle IARC Quadrotor. This will be our fourth year in the IARC competition, we are moving away from our award winning monocopter platform this year in favor of a quadrotor. It will be fully autonomous by the time the IARC competition rolls around this summer.

Some specs:

Autopilot: HoverflyPro

Motors: Scorpion SII-2208-1280

Props: Draganfly Innovations 8x4.5

ESC: CastleCreations Thunderbird 36

Tx/Rx: Spektrum Dx6i Tx and AR6100e Rx

Frame: Black sections are FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) printed PolyCarbonate, White section is FDM printed PC-ABS. Build-to-fly time: about 3 hours total for the machine to print all four ducts and about 15 minutes for us to assemble and fly. (not including shipping time from Boeing)

Some info on us:

The Robotics Association at Embry-Riddle is a multidisciplinary student organization that operates Unmanned and Autonomous Vehicle Systems of all shapes and sized. We are the only school on the planet to compete in all 5 major AUVSI student competitions (IGVC, RoboBoat, SUAS, IARC, RoboSub) we also compete in the NASA lunabotics competition.

Hopefully after finals and as things progress more video and information will be posted on:

https://www.youtube.com/user/RAERRobots

http://clubs.db.erau.edu/dbrobots/

or follow us on Facebook at Robotics Association at Embry-Riddle or on twitter @RAERrobotics

After nearly six months of development from first public alpha, hundreds of hours of flight testings and countless bug fixes, I'm delighted to announce that ArduPilot Mega 1.0 is now out of beta. This code is solid, should run pretty much out of the box and has been tested on more than 30 different airframes, to say nothing of countless flight simulator hours. This is almost certainly the most complex Arduino program ever written, and takes the Arduino hardware further than anyone thought was possible.

Between the APM code and the Libraries, there have been more than 3,000 commits to the SVN repository, which is just one indication of the amazing amount of work that's gone into this. Huge thanks to the team leaders: Doug Weibel, Jason Short, Michael Smith, Michael Oborne, James Goppert, Benjamin Pelletier, and Paul Mather, with special library assistance from Jani Hirvinen, Jose Julio and Randy Mackay.

To get started with APM 1.0, we highly recommend using the hardware-in-the-loop simulator using the Mission Planner and the excellent Xplane Flight Simulator. Hugely fun to program missions and watch the planes perform them perfectly, hands off.

• Flight modes: Manual, Stabilize, Fly By Wire, Auto, RTL
• Mission Scripting commands: Navigate to Waypoint, Loiter X turns, Loiter X seconds, Loiter (indefinitely, good for ending mission), RTL, Land, Takeoff, Landing Options, Delay, Reset index, Go to index, Change throttle, Change airspeed, Reset home, Change PID gain, Set relay, Set servo
• Hardware support for airspeed sensor, Xbee telemetry (one-way), battery monitoring
• The awesome Mission Planner utility
• The equally awesome HappyKillmore Ground Station

• Mission Scripting commands: Climb (rate based), Get Variable, Send Variable, Telemetry, Change radio trims, Change radio mins/maxes.
• Hardware support for magnetometer
• Two-way telemetry and in-flight gain and command sending
• Support for the MavLink com/telemetry protocol.

The work to bring APM to maturity will also pay dividends for the rest of the Ardu* family of autopilots and UAV systems, which share the same libraries. This includes:

• ArduCopter (quad) will be moving to 1.0 (codename NG) later this week, and a 1.5 version (codename ArduCopter Mega) that syncs up with the rest of the APM family, including the Mission Planner and Ground Stations, will be out in beta in a about a month.
• ArduCopter (heli) is already out in beta and flying. If you've got a Trex 450-style heli, please give it a try and let us know how it's working for you.

With the latest ArduPilotMega trunk you can perform in flight gain and waypoint adjustment along with many other parameters. This enables hardware in the loop flight control law debugging and testing. QGroundControl serves as the interface to the onboard parameter adjustment and also displays map views and real-time data plots with logging available.