Blogs

Hi all, 

just wanted to show off our new thermal camera for UAVs. 

Lighter than a GoPro this dual thermal setup features Flir Lepton sensor and a reference RGB camera. It is the smallest and most affordable drone thermal camera made specifically for airborne use. Plug-and-play with any analog video transmitter-receiver. Output is analog video with two pictures side by side. 

The connection is a standard 3-pin servo plug that has Video signal + 5V in + Ground. It is also available with a standard GoPro gimbal. It's available for purchase on our website. 

Check it out!

Hi! Version 1.1 was just released of SidePilot, the iOS Groundstation app for Arducopter and PX4 (formerly called iMavlink).

New features include: 

• New Name!
• Easy PID Tuning using sliders
• Calibrate Radio trims
• Increased PX4 Support
• Set Flight Modes
• Arrow that points towards your drone for easily locating it

Other Features:

• GPS Location of drone
• Set, edit and delete waypoints
• Arm/Disarm
• Display VFR information such as altitude, yaw, pitch and roll.
• Voice alerts for mode changes and other important information
• Edit Parameters
• Log flights for future reference
• GPS Status of drone
• Distance from home/device
• Battery voltage display and warnings
• Calibration of battery monitor and accelerometer
• Light and Dark themes
• Manage multiple BLE Repeaters
• Live video feed from drone (if supported)
• Change flight modes
• And many more

For more info please visit http://sidepilot.net

Download on the App Store Here

You must have either the BLE Repeater device that accompanies the app, or a Wifi connection to your drone (such as 3DR Solo). You can purchase the repeater from here: http://sidepilot.net/store

If you purchase the BLE Repeater, the app is included for free!

If you have any questions please ask!

      X … marks the spot !

We are proud to present the very first addition to our precision camera trigger family.

“Have you ever experienced missing images after a completed flight

 – and having to redo the complete mission ?“

Working within Geomapping, Agricultural analysis, 3D modelling or similar – where you capture hundreds or even thousands of images on a daily or weekly basis ?

We have a perfect solution for you, introducing Seagull #MAP-X and optional telemetry ground station !

#MAP-X gives you precise coordinates of photographs taken and only tags the location if the photograph has been successfully taken. On top of that #MAP-X outputs coordinates of failed photographs, giving you a quick data for re-flying survey points and capture the missing photos.

As well as all of the above #MAP-X generates a .kml file for each flight with all of the “Confirmed” and “Failed” coordinates of pictures, which can be loaded into Google Earth for a quick overview after each flight !

With Seagull #MAP-X you get everything you need to connect your camera to your favorite UAV/Drone platform.
Hot shoe sync, servo and camera cables are included, as is also GPS antenna, micro SD card etc. – making it really simple to get started !

#MAP-X delivers unbelievable value to your professional mapping jobs, saving both you and your clients time and money, so you can do more jobs in a day.

#MAP-X is controlled by a standard PWM servo signal from your R/C receiver and/or Flight Controllers like 3DR Pixhawk, APM 2.6, DJI Wookong, DJI A2 – and many others with camera support.

A lot of camera brands and models are supported.

          #MAP-X … improve your workflow !

          The spot is marked ! – now you need confirmation !

With Seagull #TRX you will get live feedback from #MAP-X, adding value to your work by knowing if the mission is going as planned, or if adjustments are needed before a successful flight can be executed !

Do your camera pre-flight sync checks with #MAP-X and have the result shown on #TRX !

Simply connect #TTX which is the telemetry transmitter to your #MAP-X unit, then power up #TRX and #MAP-X. The two units will establish connection and status of #MAP-X will appear on the display of Seagull #TRX.

When “Ready for Takeoff” is displayed on #TRX – you are ready to do Mission Start and get flying !

Get information from your #MAP-X directly to #TRX ground module with the current confirmed photos, failed photos, micro SD card status and GPS lock status on top of that #TRX will display the current trigger mode being used by #MAP-X !

Seagull #TRX is powered through a micro USB cable, and can plug into your PC or a USB power bank and be placed in the desired location for an always easy overview of you current mission status.

          #TRX … saves You and your clients time !

Intro video for #MAP-X with optional #TRX telemetry kit

We currently offer a 30% discount on Seagull #TRX if purchased bundled with #MAP-X

Visit our shop at www.SeagullUAV.com

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask – our support is ready to help - have a great day!

Best regards from Denmark,

Rone Scholz-Nielsen
CEO // founder, Seagull UAV

The Seagull UAV Team !

Hi, 

after uploading my initial design, I got several feedbacks. So I tried some configurations, and finally came up with this Rev3 design. The major difference is that the video TX antenna is between camera and battery, so battery size can be incrased up to 1300mA 4S which is used in many 180 configs. The only limitation is 33mm width / 76mm length. Other electrical parts are the same. Another difference is that motor angle is 10 degrees instead of 15. 

Updated STL files are uploaded to GrabCAD.

*** UPDATE ***

I also finished the design of a flat motor position version, that means motors are flat and camera angle increased to 25 degrees. Files can be found on GrabCAD.

Also, there was a question related to ESC ventillation. If neccessary, holes can be drilled over the ESCs through the arm (since the wall thickness is about 2 mm there), but it is better to avoid them during print for best result.

*** END ***

First prototype, after acetone vapour (I hope I'll receive electrical components within 1-2 weeks too):

I also added some 10x4x1 mm neodymium magnets as a canopy lock if battery and velcro not present:

Here are the differences in cross-section with / without motor banking, and some more renders:

 Regards

Adrian

I remember a time a few years back where we DIYer's where leading the way in drone advancement, It was here where I  was first presented with an autopilot, Before that It never even crossed my mind that commercialy affordable autopilots would ever be available. Since then There has been a huge advace in the technology, both from us diyer's and comercialy.

Im not really electronicly minded or any good at coding, but I have a CNC and good CAD knowledge, So I spent my time designing a inovative frame which works great, but due to the current lack of interest I saw my website traffic fall month after month and just didn't see the point in renewing my hosting. I made the project opensource at the begining in the true spirt of DIY, so its still available to the people who are interested.

However today I feel we have reached a point where the commercial entities are taking over and puting the diy side of the hobby in the shade. Take the new mavic from DJI for example, It has so many features that we simply can't get in that package at that price point.... 27minutes flight time, tiny camera and gimball, extremly portable, long range HD video and RC link just to name a few.  Now althogh I may not personaly agree with how DJI market these as if they where toys... serious toys but still. I dont want to focus on how I disagree with DJI as a company but the fact that I now find myself in a position where I am concidering selling my current (DIY) Quad with APM, In favor of the new mavic.

So my question is..... IS DIY DEAD?

The SkyHook Discovery.

Disclaimer: I was lucky enough to have been given one of the first prototypes as I helped in the design of the plane.

More info from :

http://www.skyhookrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=50

There is also a pure glider version, which uses the same feathers, just a different fuselage pod

http://www.skyhookrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=51

The Skyhook Discovery has been specifically designed for efficient soaring, whilst also being a good stable FPV platform.

The wingspan is 2.5 meters, but the model will break down to fit in a small box. The wing dismantles into 4 pieces, the fuselage boom separates easily from the fuselage pod and the V tail halves are easy to disassemble as well.

The plane has an MH32 wing section which includes a full length 20% chord flap. The MH32 is well known as a slippery airfoil, and the model is capable of flying very fast or very slowly depending on how you set the camber control in flight.

The wing and tail construction is foam with a glass skin sheeted over with balsa. This makes it very rigid. The surface finish is far superior aerodynamically to anything you can achieve with a foamie.

The ailerons are split with the wing panels and are hinged top side on the outer panel and bottom on the inner so you can set up an efficient "crow" flap mode too.

There is a good amount of space for gear in the "pod" between the wings and in the lower fuselage, and there are also pockets in the wings for yet more gear.

I chose a Turnigy GliderDrive 1120kV for mine and a 12 x 6 prop and an 80A Turnigy Plush ESC, and with a 3S 4000 Lipo, it get away nicely. The plane is very stable and rock solid as a camera platform , but also can do aerobatics.

So far I haven't had much time to try it beyond a couple of flights , but I'm looking forward to having some fun with this!

Hello everyone!

Since Windows 10 has Ubuntu as his new partner, I have been using the new Ubuntu bash for compile the ArduPilot code. Before this, a Virtual Machine was needed if you wanted to join Linux with Windows; for all is known that this way is a bit frustrating when you want to get full integration between both platforms.

No need to say that if you are a beginner with ArduPilot and you do not know nothing about Linux, you may desist on compile your modifications as you can not do it directly on Windows.

So, here is the solution to compile apm1/apm2 and Pixhawk in Windows without adding any strange thing: install "Bash on Ubuntu on Windows" and follow next tutorial.

For install "Bash on Ubuntu on Windows" there are many tutorials on the web. An example is here:
http://www.howtogeek.com/249966/how-to-install-and-use-the-linux-bash-shell-on-windows-10/

All right? Let´s go!

Notes: This tutorial is intended to be a "copy & paste" approach. Just follow text step by step and be patient with yourself ;). Using "Bash on Ubuntu on Windows" was discussed some time ago on "drone-discuss" forum, but I think that no exists a complete guide in the comunity (at least I have not been able to find it). Thanks to everyone that make Ardupilot possible!

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Setup Ardupilot Dev Enviromment for Ubuntu bash on Windows 10
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

-First, you have to insert your local host to the /etc/hosts file:
sudo nano /etc/hosts

-Insert this below first line:
127.0.0.1 "hostname"
         (where "hostname" is your PC name)

-Then, take root control over the bash:
sudo passwd root
su root

-Back to main directory:
cd

-Install git:
sudo apt-get install git

-Install Arduino Core (for APM1/APM2 support):
sudo apt-get install make gawk arduino-core

-Make a new folder for future reference:
mkdir GitHub
cd GitHub

-Clone ardupilot git:
git clone https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot.git

-Run the install-prereqs-ubuntu.sh script:
./ardupilot/Tools/scripts/install-prereqs-ubuntu.sh

-At this point, we need to install some extra tools, because for now, Ubuntu bash on Windows only supports native x64 programs:
cd

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:george-edison55/cmake-3.x -y
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cmake

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-toolchain-r/test
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install g++-4.9

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:terry.guo/gcc-arm-embedded
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gcc-arm-none-eabi=4.9.3.2015q3-1trusty1

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

-Now you have a nice compiler under Windows 10 thanks to Ubuntu.
 Next step is to prove it!

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Compile ArduPilot Code
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 For apm1/apm2 support is necesary to make a "config.mk" file (for compile ArduCopter 3.2.1),
 so navigate to main ardupilot git folder:
cd
cd GitHub/ardupilot

-Is necesary to select correct branch:
git checkout ArduCopter-3.2.1
cd ArduCopter
make configure

-If everything is ok, compile the code:
cd ArduCopter
make apm1

-Or:
make apm2

-Otherwise, if you want to compile last ArduPlane compatible code whith apm1/2 (ArduPlane 3.4),
 you need to preserve above commented "config.mk" file and change your git branch:
cd
cd GitHub/ardupilot
git checkout ArduPlane-release-AVR

-If everything is ok, compile the code:
cd ArduPlane
make apm1

-Or:
make apm2

*******************************************************************************************

-If you want to compile Pixhawk/PX4 code, "config.mk" file is not necesary.
 So if you have compiled apm1/apm2 code, you have to remove it:
cd
cd GitHub/ardupilot
rm config.mk

-Now, select correct branch (for example, master branch):
cd
cd GitHub/ardupilot
git checkout master

-Navigate to your desired Ardupilot vehicule folder, in my case (complete path):

cd
cd GitHub/ardupilot/ArduCopter

-In your vehicule folder, type "make" and press enter for see supported targets for compile.
 Just type "make" and your target, in my case:
make px4-v2

-If everything is ok, you will see a message like this:
 PX4 ArduCopter Firmware is in ArduCopter-v2.px4

*******************************************************************************************

-The new method of compilation "Waf" is also supported.

 Go to git ardupilot software:

cd

cd GitHub/ardupilot/

-Configure your board:

./waf configure --board px4-v2

-Compile for your target:

./waf copter

-And here you are! You have compiled your code!

Tips: if you want to unhide Ubuntu system folder on Windwos, open a command prompt as administrator,
navigate to Ubuntu system path (C:\Users\username\AppData\Local) and change the folder attributes. So:
cd C:\Users\username\AppData\Local
         (where "username" is your user name)
attrib -s -h lxss

You can make a direct access to "lxss" folder on your desktop for a quick navigation.

Regards from Spain,

Dario.

I have finally written up an article on our successful Outback Challenge 2016 entry

The members of CanberraUAV are home from the Outback Challenge and life is starting to return to normal after an extremely hectic (and fun!) time preparing our aircraft for this years challenge. It is time to write up our usual debrief acticle to give those of you who weren't able to be there some idea of what happened.

For reference here are the articles from the 2012 and 2014 challenges:

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/canberrauav-outback-challenge-2012-debrief
http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/canberrauav-outback-challenge-2014-debrief

Medical Express

The Outback Challenge is held every two years in Queensland, Australia. As the challenge was completed by multiple teams in 2014 the organisers needed to come up with a new challenge. The new challenge for 2016 was called "Medical Express" and the challenge was to retrieve a blood sample from Joe at a remote landing site.

outback-joe.jpg762x562 217 KB

The back-story is that poor Outback Joe is trapped behind flood waters on his remote property in Queensland. Unfortunately he is ill, and doctors at a nearby hospital need a blood sample to diagnose his illness. A UAV is called in to fly a 23km path to a place where Joe is waiting. We only know Joes approximate position (within 100 meters) so
first off the UAV needs to find Joe using an on-board camera. After finding Joe the aircraft needs to find a good landing site in an area littered with obstacles. The landing site needs to be more than 30 meters from Joe (to meet CASA safety requirements) but less than 80 meters (so Joe doesn't have to walk too far).

The aircraft then needs to perform an automatic landing, and then wait for Joe to load the blood sample into an easily accessible carrier. Joe then presses a button to indicate he is done loading the blood sample. The aircraft needs to wait for one minute for Joe to get clear, and then perform an automatic takeoff and flight back to the home location to deliver the blood sample to waiting hospital staff.

That story hides a lot of very challenging detail. For example, the UAV must maintain continuous telemetry contact with the operators back at the base. That needs to be done despite not knowing exactly where the landing site will be until the day before the challenge starts.

Also, the landing area has trees around it and no landing strip, so a normal fixed wing landing and takeoff is very problematic. The organisers wanted teams to come up with a VTOL solution and in this
they were very successful, kickstarting a huge effort to develop the VTOL capabilities of multiple open source autopilot systems.

The organisers also had provided a strict flight path that the teams have to follow to reach the search area where Joe is located. The winding path over the rural terrain of Dalby is strictly enforced, with any aircraft breaching the geofence required to immediately and automatically terminate by crashing into the ground.

The organisers also gave quite a wide range of flight distance and weather conditions that the teams had to be able to cope with. The distance to the search area could be up to 30km, meaning a round trip distance of 60km without taking into account all the time spent above the search area trying to find Joe. The teams had to be able to fly in up to 25 knots average wind on the ground, which could mean well over 30 knots in the air.

The mission also needed to be completed in one hour, including the time for spent loading the blood sample and circling above Joe.

It's customary and traditional that we celebrate the addition of every 1,000 new members here and share the traffic stats. We've now passed 81,000 members!

This year our hosting network, Ning, has been through a lot, including horrible performance issues in the first part of the year that caused us to start looking for a replacement, and then the bankruptcy of their parent company, Mode Media. But now it's in new hands and we're cautiously optimistic that with proper focus and the resources to start addressing some long-time tech issues, it might still be able to turn the corner and remain a viable host for us. We'll give them another month or two to prove this, or we'll restart the process to migrate to a better platform

Thanks as always to all the community members who make this growth possible, and especially to the administrators and moderators who approve new members, blog posts and otherwise respond to questions and keep the website running smoothly.

Hey everyone, I would love to get your opinions on this concept...

I am working on a rotary wing design, and this is a monocopter version of it.  It has only two moving parts, the two propellers.  The two props drive the wing around an avionics hub while also controlling the pitch of the wing throughout the cycle through differential thrust.  The battery is used as a counterweight.

The symmetrical airfoil is stable, so it should not put up much of a fight as far as pitch control goes.  If you are wondering about the motors ability to go through throttle changes fast enough to execute a cycle for every rotation, many monocopters already use cyclic throttle pulses to maintain control.

The advantages would be:

1. The elimination of servo cost, weight, complexity.

2. Direct, structurally efficient cyclic pitch control over a larger wing, current systems use a servo to control the pitch of a very small wing, and usually just a control surface on the wing.

Hi, I'd like to share my latest design. After successfully finished my printer, wanted to design something fun and useful so decided on building an FPV racer which is quite popular nowadays.

Basically I was inspired by the Jellybean X nano copter, but I wanted to build a bigger one. Instead of simply magnify it, started from scratch, tried to make it strong and yet leightweight and printer friendly as possible. Here is the result. More renders and the STL files are available on my GrabCAD project page.

Technical data:

• Motor to motor distance: 170 mm
• motor mount: 4 x M3 screw (on 12 and 16 mm diameter)
• frame weight: around 100g with suggested print settings (top + bottom)
• motors angle: 15 degrees forward (also attached a frame with flat motor position - in case preferred)
• camera angle: 15 degrees up

Suggested FDM printer settings for ABS:

• 3 layers all around (top/bottom and perimeter)
• 20% infill (3D honeycomb if supported)
• 0,2mm layer height
• Support as needed

Suggested components:

• BeeRotor ZoeFPV 1806 2900 KV motor + 4" prop
• BeeRotor 20A ESC (or similar, max. dimension: 24x13x6 mm)
• BeeRotor F3 Flicht Controller (any FC can be used with 30x30 mm hole spacing, but maybe USB port will be covered by frame)
• BeeRotor PDB V2.0
• 200...600 mW mini 5.8 GHz Video TX (ie. BeeRotor 25-600 mW) + antenna 
• miniature transmitter RX
• HS1177 camera (or other with same housing)
• Lipo battery around 850 mA 4S
• maximum 12 mm of diameter buzzer (optional)
• led stripe (optional)

Here is a sample of the suggested infill structure:

Please be informed that this is a virtual model right now, I'm starting to print it soon, but still looking for some financial resources to buy the components needed along with a cheap VR goggle since such a small FPV copter is really hard to be controlled outside. If you think my work useful and would like to support the prototype building, you can donate by paypal (nhadrian@gmail.com) or any of the components listed above are wellcome.

Happy flying, regards Adrian

PS.: some more pictures:

Team prepares quarter-scale drone for takeoff.

From the Local Motors blog, a report from the first bench testing of the 1/4 scale prototype of the Airbus Cargo Drone Challenge winner, which will debut at the Commercial UAV Expo in Las Vegas next month. That's me at right (with safety glasses)

Two months ago our co-creation community was drawing sketches on napkins to determine wing taper ratios and materials for what would ultimately become a finished cargo drone. The build has now progressed to the point that Local Motors and Airbus engineers have completed scale models and experimental test flights.

The nose cone, fuselage, tail boom and several other parts of the full-scale Zelator-28 are nearing completion.

Pre-epoxy full-scale build.

The experimental quarter-scale model took flight this past weekend in Henderson, Nev. Local Motors engineers and Jon Daniels of Praxis Aerospace Concepts International (PACI) teamed with Chris Anderson of 3D Robotics (3DR) on the integration and demonstration of his flight control system for vertical take-off and transitional forward flight, known as PX4. Anderson’s flight system served as an interface for the motors, speed controllers and servomechanisms.

The test model completed a hover and touchdown, but a few mechanical issues prevented forward flight. The experiment was very beneficial to the build team, however, as it helped identify potential failure modes before stepping up to the full scale aircraft.

“They are simple fixes for the most part. There was a hardware conflict with the servos and an issue with the motor pods in the quarter-scale model,” said Local Motors engineer Alex Palmer.  “[The quarter-scale model] has a different attachment design than the full scale so that issue will resolve itself.”

The team is now focused on completing two full-scale models of the Zelator-28 that should be ready for flight testing in the next two weeks. Airbus engineers are planning to join the team for the first flights of the prototype. There are still active discussions on the project page for the co-creation community to provide ideas and feedback pertaining to wing design and the landing gear. Make your mark on the present and future of unmanned aerial vehicles by getting in on the discussion.

Originally published in Medium:

Announcing alpha support for the PX4 flight stack in a path towards drones that speak ROS natively.

The drones field is an interesting one to analyze from a robotics perspective. While capable flying robots are reasonably new, RC-hobbyists have been around for a much longer time building flying machines developing communities around the so called flight stacks or software autopilots.

Among these, there’re popular options such as the Paparazzi, the APM (commonly known asardupilot) or the PX4. These autopilots matured to the point of acquiring autonomous capabilities and turning these flying machines into actualdrones. Many of these open source flight stacks provide a general codebase for building basic drone behaviors howevermodifications are generally needed when one has the intention of tackling traditional problems in robotics such as navigation, mapping, obstacle avoidance and so on. These modifications are not straightforward when performed directly in the autopilot code thereby, in an attempt to enhance (or sometimes just simplify) the capabilities of autopilots, abstraction layers such as DroneKit started appearing.

For a roboticist however, the common language is the Robot Operating System (ROS). Getting ROS to talk to these flight stacks natively would require a decent amount of resources and effort thereby, generally, roboticists use a bridge such as the mavros ROS package to talk to the flight stacks.

We at Erle Robotics have been offering services with flying robots using such architecture but we’ve always wondered what would be the path towards a ROS-native drone. In order to explore this possibility we’ve added support for the PX4 Pro flight stack.

Supporting the PX4 Pro flight stack

The PX4 Pro drone autopilot is an open source flight control solution for drones that can “fly anything from a racing to a cargo drone — be it a multi copter, plane or VTOL”. PX4 has been built with a philosophy similar to ROS, composed by different software blocks where each one of these modules communicates using a publish/subscribe architecture (currently, a simplified pub/sub middleware called uORB).

In an internal attempt to research the path of getting ROS-native flight stacks and to open up this work to the community I’m happy to announceofficial alpha support for the PX4 Pro in all our products meant for developers such as the PXFmini, Erle-Brain 2 or Erle-Copter. Our team has put together a new set of Operating System images for our products that will help you switch between flight stacks easily.

To install PX4 Pro, just type the following:

sudo apt-get purge -y apm-* # e.g.: apm-copter-erlebrain
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install px4-erle-robotics

ROS-native flight stacks

Using the PX4 Pro flight stack as a starting point, our team will be dedicating resources to prototype the concept of a drone autopilot that speaks ROS natively, that is, that uses ROS nodes to abstract each submodule within the autopilot’s logic (attitude estimator, position control, navigator, …) and ROS topics/services to communicate with the rest of the blocks within the autopilot.

Ultimately, this initiative should deliver a software autopilot capable of creating a variety of drones that merges nicely with all the traditional ROS interfaces that roboticists have been building for over a decade now.

If you’re interested in participating with this initiative, reach us out.

Friends, I'm creating a DIY rover process on the blog http://solverover.blogspot.com/ with all the step by step guide and process.. I hope you like it... 

Solve Rover Project

http://solverover.blogspot.com/

Hi everyone, I am the maker of the very first LEGO drone which I initially used an APM flight controller.  Later I got with my friend Nick and we made our first Kickstarter with a full sized drone. But since then the FAA started requiring registration and for kids it was a little too much. Also since then there has been a lot of other LEGO based mini quads. The problems with all the ones I have seen so far was they were all brushed motors, 1-2 min flight times and worse, barely flew.

So I got with my friend Nick again and we 3D printed some motor mounts to handle brushless motors and made our own much better and more powerful design, we went all out, it's not a cheap little brushed motor toy like the others.  We used bigger motors and these are 6500KV brushless.  A NAZE 32 FC, Loaded with the latest cleanflight firmware.  This one is able to perform flips and and can do ACRO modes in case you want to carry FPV. In the video you can see how well ours flies.  We are also creating a plug and play FPV camera that will connect directly into the FC.  We also tuned it and will be supplying the PIDs for everyone to download.

Here is a pic of it flying

As you can see for LEGO based we went all out ;-)

I personally especially hope Randy and Chris Anderson like it, they both have kept so many of us makers inspired.

You can visit the Kickstarter and get more info on it.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1762962374/lego-brick-mini-drone-digital-sky-mini

• NAZE32 flight controller with Loaded with Cleanflight and capable of 3 modes, Angle/Horizon and Acro.
  We use an advanced flight controller based on NAZE32, the same style flight controller that continues to win races and freestyle events today.  This flight controller supports easy modes like Angle mode that gives the beginner super stable and level flying.  Then for the most advanced flyer we have preset the flight controller to support Horizon mode, this is a intermediate mode that allows flips and rolls yet still has stability.  As you get more advanced at your flying you can change our settings to support full Acro and do FPV flying.
  
• Powerful Brushless motors and ESCs
  We use powerful 6500KV Brushless motors.  Brushless motors are used in high end quadcopter racers and professional photography quadcopters. Brushless motors are why our LEGO® Mini drone costs a little more but we wanted to give our LEGO® Mini enough power to fly fast, perform acrobatics like flips safely and yet have complete stability in our beginner modes.  Brushless motors give you all that and more.  Also these brushless motors and ESC's will give you enough power so that you can later create your own design and fly more bricks than what you get with the kit.
  
• 6 Channel Spektrum Transmitter.
  Spektrum is The Leader in Spread Spectrum Technology. We selected Spektrum Transmitter because of its accuracy and 6 channels.   This gives you a higher end accuracy for performing acrobatics and stability, this is essential in any good flying quadcopter.  Not only that but this transmitter can be used on other models you build in the future too and can last you years and with 6 channels it can grow as you grow.
  
• Long Lasting 400mAh 2S Battery
  What does this mean to you?  Well first it gives you longer battery life with more than other mini quads. Most other mini quads use 1S, or Single Cell batteries, ours has 2 cells.   Why? Well we set out to design a kit that can grow with you. Let's say you want to add a FPV camera in the future to fly thru the house.  Well our 2S battery has enough power to run a small micro FPV camera.
  
• ProTuned 
  The makers at Brickdrones.com have spent countless hours and crashes professionally tuned the flight controller with 2 modes, beginner(Angle) and expert(Horizon) to work with the Spektrum transmitter, motors and props that come with the kit.  This means that once built it should fly fantastic.  If you want to fly FPV and race your Digital Sky Mini you can use Cleanflight to allow Acro flight (Advanced).  We will continue to tweak the flight controller and post the settings on our web site.
  
  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1762962374/lego-brick-mini-drone-digital-sky-mini
  
  
  

I know most of us here are the DIY types but once in a while a really cool off the shelf product comes along.  Check out the new Parrot Disco-

Hi all, since the year 2013 I am developing my own frame to adapt the flight controller "Pixhawk" and a System On Chip, with the goal of creating a custom drone for use in defense operations, has been a long road for me, because I had to design all parts and I will continue to work very hard until to get the desired result.

Software used
- Blender 3D for the CAD design of all parts.
- MeshCam V6 for the conversion of the CAD files to G-Code.
- Easel G-Code Interpreter of the company "inventables.com".

Tools and equipment used
- CNC Router, Model X-Carve of "inventables.com"
- Kyocera 1745 Solid Carbide 3 Flute Extended Reach Ball Nose End Mills 0.0625" tools.
- M.A. FORD 132 13212500 SOLID CARBIDE 1/8" END MILL

Methods and materials employed
- ProFinish Carbon Fiber 2/2 Twill 3k 200g
- Alluminio 7075T
- acrylic plastic
- Xencast PX30 Soft Flexible Polyurethane Rubber

I am using the infusion of resin to build parts in carbon fiber.

supports for brushless motors.

Based acrylic cover, to accommodate the GPS antenna, USB connectors, and NanoSim MicroSim cards.

Top part assembled without finishing.

Mold machining in Delrin for the base.

Video Clip showing the manufacturing process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2-qJh8EK68

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maZ6VjLst3Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTK_teGWcds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IGAFAyOIZI

Wrapping up more results from my thesis. In this video I show how with a single (guidance) control law a team of drones can intercept an independent target. The team is able to estimate the unknown velocity of the target and to orbit around it with a prescribed shape. The main idea behind is about exploiting (controlled) discrepancies to the distances that the drones want to maintain between each other.

The algorithm sets the accelerations to be tracked by the drone. This is accomplished by just controlling the corresponding attitude angles. The only information needed by the algorithm is just the relative positions (in arbitrary frame of coordinates) between neighboring drones, i.e. there are not relative or absolute velocities involved.

I still have to edit some videos more, next time I will choose happier music :P.

(photo: Flitelab)

Back in July of this year, I announced the premier episode of The WorkNotWork Show was available and featured Mark Langille of Flitelab, a successful drone venture based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia.  It's must listening for current and would-be drone start ups.  We just moved our hosting of the Show to the new Fireside platform which offers a much wider range of listening options and sparkling performance. Check out the full, in-depth interview with Mark at https://worknotwork.fireside.fm/001-langille-flitelab.  If you like what you hear, please rate us on iTunes, it really helps.