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Drones

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  • N NormDroid

    6 350W bladed motors hurtling around That's a mighty big chopper you have there.

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    R Offline
    R Offline
    Rob Philpott
    wrote on last edited by
    #13

    Why thank you very much. It's designed for heavy loads.

    Regards, Rob Philpott.

    OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • R Rob Philpott

      Why thank you very much. It's designed for heavy loads.

      Regards, Rob Philpott.

      OriginalGriffO Offline
      OriginalGriffO Offline
      OriginalGriff
      wrote on last edited by
      #14

      Rob Philpott wrote:

      It's designed for heavy loads.

      Like the batteries it's gonna have to carry? :omg:

      Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

      "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
      "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

      R 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • D DaveAuld

        Yep, Got an X-Aircraft X650, (First big crash video: here[^]) You can get RC aircraft liability insurance via some of the flying clubs. It is recommended if you are planning to fly in public areas. Flying in a field or park with nobody around or lightly populated areas, don't see the point. You aren't going to get high enough to worry planes. You could always program a ceiling limit or a loss of comms fly back to home.

        Dave Find Me On:Web|Facebook|Twitter|LinkedIn Folding Stats: Team CodeProject

        R Offline
        R Offline
        Rob Philpott
        wrote on last edited by
        #15

        Well that's my thinking, in a remote area the chances of actually hitting anything are slim. Video will have to wait to tonight - no youtube here :( Indeed, fly home and height limiting are in the brief, but what if the board crashes? Need to check the specs but I think the PCM signals are hardware generated and hence there's a danger of the instantaneous power becoming a continuous power and dreadful things happening.

        Regards, Rob Philpott.

        P enhzflepE P 3 Replies Last reply
        0
        • R Rob Philpott

          Ah well, that's the 'flight computer' it takes PCM data from the remote receiver, GPS data from the GPS, distance data from the ultrasonics, inertial data from the 'IMU' (tilt, acceleration and rotation) and continually in real time sends out 6 control signals to the motors. I haven't figured the logic out yet. 3 motors spin one way, the other 3 the other. Slow one set and the thing rotates, increase the one's at the back and it tilts and moves forward, overall power takes you up and down. These are my *assumptions* - hence the danger of low altitude decapitation until I get my coefficients correct.

          Regards, Rob Philpott.

          G Offline
          G Offline
          Garth J Lancaster
          wrote on last edited by
          #16

          :cool: I guess with all of that you need a flight computer - I remember the days of 1 motor and a few servos (planes), primitive by comparison but fun all the same have fun Rob 'g'

          1 Reply Last reply
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          • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

            Rob Philpott wrote:

            It's designed for heavy loads.

            Like the batteries it's gonna have to carry? :omg:

            Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

            R Offline
            R Offline
            Rob Philpott
            wrote on last edited by
            #17

            Yes, that as well. Ah, the lithium polymer. People bang on about how Apple 'invented' the smartphone but the enablers were low power CPUs and a new generation of battery, really. Actually I read somewhere that a LiPo volume for volume can contain about 1/4 of the energy of petrol. That's pretty cool. They also enable the rather wonderful e-cigarette too which could, if they let it, save millions of lives.

            Regards, Rob Philpott.

            OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • R Rob Philpott

              So does anyone here own a quadcopter or hexicopter - a 'drone'? My hexicopter frame arrived this morning, so all I need to do now is add motors, motor controllers, RC stuff, batteries and write some software for the Arduino Mega board I've got for it. I've already got the GPS module and ultrasonic ground detector. All good classic nerd stuff. But I do have a concern in my head, what if I lose control and it takes out a 747, or falls out the sky and kills a badger or something? Not helped by an article in today's paper about the first prosecution going through the UK courts. There's also this: http://droneflight.co.uk/pages/summary-of-uk-legal-requirements[^] So a risk evaluation is in order. Whichever way you cut it, 6 350W bladed motors hurtling around on the whim of some half-arsed coding could have consequences. I don't want to end up in Court charged with not writing unit tests. Alternatively perhaps I should throw caution to the wind, ignore the nanny state and make something cool. Thoughts/experiences welcome.

              Regards, Rob Philpott.

              G Offline
              G Offline
              GenJerDan
              wrote on last edited by
              #18

              Simplest solution is to attach a label of some sort - "If found, please return to "

              We won't sit down. We won't shut up. We won't go quietly away. YouTube and My Mu[sic], Films and Windows Programs, etc.

              OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • G GenJerDan

                Simplest solution is to attach a label of some sort - "If found, please return to "

                We won't sit down. We won't shut up. We won't go quietly away. YouTube and My Mu[sic], Films and Windows Programs, etc.

                OriginalGriffO Offline
                OriginalGriffO Offline
                OriginalGriff
                wrote on last edited by
                #19

                And on the other side "If decapitated, please return to " with a different address.

                Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

                G 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • R Rob Philpott

                  Yes, that as well. Ah, the lithium polymer. People bang on about how Apple 'invented' the smartphone but the enablers were low power CPUs and a new generation of battery, really. Actually I read somewhere that a LiPo volume for volume can contain about 1/4 of the energy of petrol. That's pretty cool. They also enable the rather wonderful e-cigarette too which could, if they let it, save millions of lives.

                  Regards, Rob Philpott.

                  OriginalGriffO Offline
                  OriginalGriffO Offline
                  OriginalGriff
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #20

                  Rob Philpott wrote:

                  They also enable the rather wonderful e-cigarette too which could, if they let it, save millions of lives make billions of dollars a year for the tobacco companies.

                  http://www.drugfree.org/join-together/tobacco-companies-move-into-e-cigarette-business/[^]

                  Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                  "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                  "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

                  R M 2 Replies Last reply
                  0
                  • D DaveAuld

                    That is different. For one Car insurance is a legal requirement.

                    Dave Find Me On:Web|Facebook|Twitter|LinkedIn Folding Stats: Team CodeProject

                    L Offline
                    L Offline
                    Lost User
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #21

                    I can see the same thing happening with these "toys" too. I would prefer compulsory club membership and insurance over a total ban on model flying or new laws regarding their use. I do belong to a couple of clubs and have BMFA membership/insurance.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                      Rob Philpott wrote:

                      They also enable the rather wonderful e-cigarette too which could, if they let it, save millions of lives make billions of dollars a year for the tobacco companies.

                      http://www.drugfree.org/join-together/tobacco-companies-move-into-e-cigarette-business/[^]

                      Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                      R Offline
                      R Offline
                      Rob Philpott
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #22

                      Very, very cynical. It's terrible news for tobacco companies, and of course they'll want to get their market share. But they will be playing catch up for a long time.

                      Regards, Rob Philpott.

                      OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • R Rob Philpott

                        Very, very cynical. It's terrible news for tobacco companies, and of course they'll want to get their market share. But they will be playing catch up for a long time.

                        Regards, Rob Philpott.

                        OriginalGriffO Offline
                        OriginalGriffO Offline
                        OriginalGriff
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #23

                        Rob Philpott wrote:

                        Very, very cynical.

                        "Follow the money" The tobacco companies have had a stranglehold on anti-smoking legislation for decades to protect their (obscene) profits, and they have fought tooth an nail to prevent the changes over the last few years. I think that diverted their attention from e-cigarettes, and they were caught on the wrong foot but they won't take long to be the big market players: they can see the writing on the wall with the current situation. Me, I'm just damn glad I gave up ten years ago...

                        Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

                        "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                        "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • R Rob Philpott

                          So does anyone here own a quadcopter or hexicopter - a 'drone'? My hexicopter frame arrived this morning, so all I need to do now is add motors, motor controllers, RC stuff, batteries and write some software for the Arduino Mega board I've got for it. I've already got the GPS module and ultrasonic ground detector. All good classic nerd stuff. But I do have a concern in my head, what if I lose control and it takes out a 747, or falls out the sky and kills a badger or something? Not helped by an article in today's paper about the first prosecution going through the UK courts. There's also this: http://droneflight.co.uk/pages/summary-of-uk-legal-requirements[^] So a risk evaluation is in order. Whichever way you cut it, 6 350W bladed motors hurtling around on the whim of some half-arsed coding could have consequences. I don't want to end up in Court charged with not writing unit tests. Alternatively perhaps I should throw caution to the wind, ignore the nanny state and make something cool. Thoughts/experiences welcome.

                          Regards, Rob Philpott.

                          H Offline
                          H Offline
                          HobbyProggy
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #24

                          Mount an M249 Saw on it, everybody sayin something against flying gets fired :-D

                          if(this.signature != "") { MessageBox.Show("This is my signature: " + Environment.NewLine + signature); } else { MessageBox.Show("404-Signature not found"); }

                          L 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • R Rob Philpott

                            Well that's my thinking, in a remote area the chances of actually hitting anything are slim. Video will have to wait to tonight - no youtube here :( Indeed, fly home and height limiting are in the brief, but what if the board crashes? Need to check the specs but I think the PCM signals are hardware generated and hence there's a danger of the instantaneous power becoming a continuous power and dreadful things happening.

                            Regards, Rob Philpott.

                            P Offline
                            P Offline
                            Paul M Watt
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #25

                            Rob Philpott wrote:

                            ndeed, fly home and height limiting are in the brief

                            And make sure the latitude and longitude are properly set for your craft. An uninitialized latitude and longitude of 0', 0' is off the coast of Africa

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • R Rob Philpott

                              Gatwick, Biggin Hill. Shouldn't be a problem. Why? Because a computer controlled flying thing is awesome. I'd dearly love to ditch the radio control and have it fully autonomous. Also, the more mischievous side of me would like to put weird lighting all over it and make people think the aliens have arrived.

                              Regards, Rob Philpott.

                              P Offline
                              P Offline
                              Paul M Watt
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #26

                              Rob Philpott wrote:

                              the more mischievous side of me would like to put weird lighting all over it...

                              Now you're thinking! Add a Tesla Coil and set the machine loose flying autonomously! I am not suggesting this ( ;) ;) ), but it seems like a good idea would be to not start the initial flight from your hometown, and set the emergency return point to also be in a different location, except off the coast of Africa. I'm glad that I don't have a mischievous side.

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • R Rob Philpott

                                Well that's my thinking, in a remote area the chances of actually hitting anything are slim. Video will have to wait to tonight - no youtube here :( Indeed, fly home and height limiting are in the brief, but what if the board crashes? Need to check the specs but I think the PCM signals are hardware generated and hence there's a danger of the instantaneous power becoming a continuous power and dreadful things happening.

                                Regards, Rob Philpott.

                                enhzflepE Offline
                                enhzflepE Offline
                                enhzflep
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #27

                                I suppose you'd just use the watchdog timer. If it crashes, the timer isn't reset and thus reaches zero. At this point, the board can be reset. See here: http://www.megunolink.com/how-to-detect-lockups-using-the-arduino-watchdog/[^] Also, probably worth checking out the source code for the Multi-wii multi-rotor control software that works with the Arduino Mega and others. http://www.multiwii.com/[^] https://code.google.com/p/multiwii/[^] If you're going to write the firmware for radio(transmitter unit, _not_ the module) also, there's a bunch of different projects that can be flashed to commercial sets like the (~$53, 2km range) 9ch Turnigy 9x and other cheap diamonds. http://www.os-rc.com/en/[^] Finally you can go really crazy and check out this thread http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1916558[^] for a bloke that's made a 4ch multi-copter controller that's just 190mg and 8x10mm!!

                                "When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life." - John Lennon

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • R Rob Philpott

                                  Gatwick, Biggin Hill. Shouldn't be a problem. Why? Because a computer controlled flying thing is awesome. I'd dearly love to ditch the radio control and have it fully autonomous. Also, the more mischievous side of me would like to put weird lighting all over it and make people think the aliens have arrived.

                                  Regards, Rob Philpott.

                                  enhzflepE Offline
                                  enhzflepE Offline
                                  enhzflep
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #28

                                  Rob Philpott wrote:

                                  Also, the more mischievous side of me would like to put weird lighting all over it and make people think the aliens have arrived.

                                  Something like this: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/nstv/2013/03/psychedelic-plasma-wings.html[^] Or, if you're really up for mischief, something like this?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_stealth[^]

                                  "When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life." - John Lennon

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • R Rob Philpott

                                    So does anyone here own a quadcopter or hexicopter - a 'drone'? My hexicopter frame arrived this morning, so all I need to do now is add motors, motor controllers, RC stuff, batteries and write some software for the Arduino Mega board I've got for it. I've already got the GPS module and ultrasonic ground detector. All good classic nerd stuff. But I do have a concern in my head, what if I lose control and it takes out a 747, or falls out the sky and kills a badger or something? Not helped by an article in today's paper about the first prosecution going through the UK courts. There's also this: http://droneflight.co.uk/pages/summary-of-uk-legal-requirements[^] So a risk evaluation is in order. Whichever way you cut it, 6 350W bladed motors hurtling around on the whim of some half-arsed coding could have consequences. I don't want to end up in Court charged with not writing unit tests. Alternatively perhaps I should throw caution to the wind, ignore the nanny state and make something cool. Thoughts/experiences welcome.

                                    Regards, Rob Philpott.

                                    W Offline
                                    W Offline
                                    W Balboos GHB
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #29

                                    Ooops! When I read the word "DRONES" I thought it was a thread about iPhone owners.

                                    "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

                                    "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert

                                    "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

                                    1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • R Rob Philpott

                                      So does anyone here own a quadcopter or hexicopter - a 'drone'? My hexicopter frame arrived this morning, so all I need to do now is add motors, motor controllers, RC stuff, batteries and write some software for the Arduino Mega board I've got for it. I've already got the GPS module and ultrasonic ground detector. All good classic nerd stuff. But I do have a concern in my head, what if I lose control and it takes out a 747, or falls out the sky and kills a badger or something? Not helped by an article in today's paper about the first prosecution going through the UK courts. There's also this: http://droneflight.co.uk/pages/summary-of-uk-legal-requirements[^] So a risk evaluation is in order. Whichever way you cut it, 6 350W bladed motors hurtling around on the whim of some half-arsed coding could have consequences. I don't want to end up in Court charged with not writing unit tests. Alternatively perhaps I should throw caution to the wind, ignore the nanny state and make something cool. Thoughts/experiences welcome.

                                      Regards, Rob Philpott.

                                      Mike HankeyM Offline
                                      Mike HankeyM Offline
                                      Mike Hankey
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #30

                                      Rob Philpott wrote:

                                      Alternatively perhaps I should throw caution to the wind, ignore the nanny state and make something cool.

                                      Go for it!

                                      New version: WinHeist Version 2.1.0 Beta Have you ever just looked at someone and knew the wheel was turning but the hamster was dead? Trying to understand the behavior of some people is like trying to smell the color 9. I'm not crazy, my reality is just different than yours!

                                      1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • R Rob Philpott

                                        So does anyone here own a quadcopter or hexicopter - a 'drone'? My hexicopter frame arrived this morning, so all I need to do now is add motors, motor controllers, RC stuff, batteries and write some software for the Arduino Mega board I've got for it. I've already got the GPS module and ultrasonic ground detector. All good classic nerd stuff. But I do have a concern in my head, what if I lose control and it takes out a 747, or falls out the sky and kills a badger or something? Not helped by an article in today's paper about the first prosecution going through the UK courts. There's also this: http://droneflight.co.uk/pages/summary-of-uk-legal-requirements[^] So a risk evaluation is in order. Whichever way you cut it, 6 350W bladed motors hurtling around on the whim of some half-arsed coding could have consequences. I don't want to end up in Court charged with not writing unit tests. Alternatively perhaps I should throw caution to the wind, ignore the nanny state and make something cool. Thoughts/experiences welcome.

                                        Regards, Rob Philpott.

                                        L Offline
                                        L Offline
                                        Lost User
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #31

                                        I stick to traditional helicopters. One main rotor and a tail rotor are enough. At the moment I fly my old Blade 450 3D and am getting a T-rex 450 Sport to fly with an Airwolf body. Here is one of the first shaky air pictures from the Blade 450: http://de.tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2mpcrh1&s=8#.VBsZjJ3wC70[^] Before you cause some grief: have you learned to fly yet?

                                        The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
                                        I hold an A-7 computer expert classification, Commodore. I'm well acquainted with Dr. Daystrom's theories and discoveries. The basic design of all our ship's computers are JavaScript.

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                                        • H HobbyProggy

                                          Mount an M249 Saw on it, everybody sayin something against flying gets fired :-D

                                          if(this.signature != "") { MessageBox.Show("This is my signature: " + Environment.NewLine + signature); } else { MessageBox.Show("404-Signature not found"); }

                                          L Offline
                                          L Offline
                                          Lost User
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #32

                                          I will bring along Heli von Richthofen and then we will duke that out in the air.

                                          The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
                                          I hold an A-7 computer expert classification, Commodore. I'm well acquainted with Dr. Daystrom's theories and discoveries. The basic design of all our ship's computers are JavaScript.

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