Quadrotor Discussion

[POLAND_SPUD]

I have seen it

Well it does fly but it's worth to note that this design doesn't scale up well -> the bigger the parts the more innertia - so don't expect a manned quadrocopter to be as agile as those which weight under a kilo or so

[al-xg]

It would still be a lot easier to fly than a plane or heli.

Sadly being an electric vehicle, until batteries get better it is pretty limited in flight time.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Just got my belated christmas bonus, perhaps it's time to have a play with one of these. I have my eye on this kit: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LotusRC-T80-Min ... 2c67033304

80 grams isn't much of a payload capacity, but the price for the complete kit is about right. Opinions?

[Just1ofgod]

If you've never flown one before might want some extra blades.
Payload could be bumped up a little bit with a higher discharge battery.
The only thing i would want to know is does it have gyros
they make a HUGE difference in the controllability of the craft.

But if you want more than 120 grams of payload for that price range if you could live without a quadrotor i would go for one of these.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Newest-Double-H ... 1e72ebb134

http://www.ebay.com/itm/53-Extra-Large- ... 3a7129a6ec

Anything coaxial with be alot more stable and easier to fly (and learn on) and more stable under recoil thats what i think but what do i know i've only been flying rc for 8 years

[POLAND_SPUD]

Personaly I think fixed wing planes are better. Ever considered getting a bixler or easystar ?

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

After seeing this it has to be a quadrotor



Still, a fixed wing aircraft that doesn't have to lift its own weight is an attractive idea... hmmm... maybe this needs a bit more thought before I lighten my pockets.

The appeal of a rotary wing craft is that it can be flown in enclosed spaces with ease, and I live in some pretty enclosed spaces...

But if you want more than 120 grams of payload for that price range if you could live without a quadrotor i would go for one of these.

Do you think it's easier to learn to fly than a quadrotor?

[PaperNinja]

If you're looking for payload you could get one of these:

http://store.diydrones.com/3DR_ArduCopt ... 3dr-03.htm

I don't know how big your bonus is though...


Also, fixed wing aircraft, as I understand, are much easier to fly.

[POLAND_SPUD]

Do you think it's easier to learn to fly than a quadrotor?

I don't think so... with quadrocopters you have a bunch of sensors that fly it for you - you just have to make sure you don't fork something up


AFAIK Ar drone even has two cameras and an ultrasonic sensor (ohh and one cam is facing straight down and using some computer vision to keep the drone stationary)

[youtube][/youtube]

some would argue that it isn't as cool as building your own, adding an arducopter (ardupilot) and stuff but well it does have lots of stuff and it's almost RTF

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Parrot-AR-Drone ... 4abb72cc34

[PaperNinja]

I had the ar drone, but for some reason (after not very much flying) the ultrasound sensor broke, and every time it tried to lift off it said "Ultrasound emergency" and landed. Now, I'm in the process of upgrading it with a px4 (https://pixhawk.ethz.ch/px4/dev/start) board. The px4 board (i think) is open source and can be customized with ultrasound, optical flow and gps.

Btw Poland, the straight-down camera, I think you're talking about an optical flow camera.

It's not so difficult to use an ar drone, but the arducopter is kinda tricky to set up.

(I'll show a video when I have the tx/rx)

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

http://store.diydrones.com/3DR_ArduCopt ... 3dr-03.htm

I don't know how big your bonus is though...

Pretty decent but I'm not going to spend it all on toys... well, not on one toy at least so I'm not looking to spend more than $500 total including shipping and taxes etc.

Payload capacity of around 1000g would be nice, but beyond what I'm willing to spend.

$250 gets me all I need and tiny payload: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LotusRC-T80-Min ... 2c67033304

I'd be willing to spend double that for a 300-500 gram payload, any tips?

Poland, this isn't encouraging:

How much weight could the drone lift?
I'm thinking of a higher resolution camera.

None, whatsoever.

I've said it before, but I will say it again. This is a toy, nothing more, nothing less than a GREAT toy, but still a toy, designed to be a toy. It's not designed or suitable for alternative application. If it was, it wouldn't cost 299, but 1299.

[Brian the brain]

Would it be doable to buy two and upgrade one of them using all 8 rotors making some of the other parts unnecessary.

You'd double the power but not double the weight.

I'm sure it could carry a carbonfibre pencil..

[Just1ofgod]

I mainly just fly fixed wing though i do have a couple helis i have about ten minutes grand total stick time on a quadrotor so i leave you with this i think they can be easier than a single rotor heli but this i know for sure anything VTOL without gyros will be a nightmare for a first timer the advatages of what you were looking at is its light so when you crash it its less likely to break my 1oz blade heli can take a beating and parts are dirt cheap make sure what ever you get has replacement parts around epoxy on heli might not work out so hot though its not impossible

[PaperNinja]

Would it be doable to buy two and upgrade one of them using all 8 rotors making some of the other parts unnecessary.

You'd double the power but not double the weight.

I'm sure it could carry a carbonfibre pencil..

The ar pilot isn't configured for 8 rotors. If he wanted to do that he'd have to get something more like ardupilot (APM 2.5).

[al-xg]

I'd suggest building one, especially as you have the capability to mill out bit for the frame.
500-1000g payload will be easy to acheive.

A flight controller like the KK 2.0 is cheap and pretty easy to fly in stable mode and comes pre configured with editable settings on the onboard LCD screen. It'll handle anything up to octocopters.

I've built a few quadcopters and tricopters based on the KK1 v2.1, KK1 v3, KK 2.0, CRIUS AIOP v1, and APM 2.5 flight control boards.
Unless you're really wanting to build a drone (as in something able to carry out automated missions) I'd go for the KK 2.0.

I've spent (well my uni has spent ) less than £250 on my CRIUS AIOP quadrotor and that is fully autonomous with two way communication and telemetry. Max thrust is just over 4kg, AUW is 800g.

[POLAND_SPUD]

ohh speaking of telemetry... just found out that some guys at diydrones have a working system based on 3G/4G modems

http://diydrones.com/group/telemetry-ov ... t%3A824959

how cool is that ?