Quad Rotor Aircraft?

twitch:

If there were a four-rotor heli model available before flying it one would need to be proficient in single rotor "rotary wing" craft. (Something I've thus far avoided except on a flight sim) The results WEREN'T "pretty".  

My principle radio is a Futaba EX-6 (6 channels) and I serious doubt it could handle quad-rotor.

SD

I have two quadcopters (what haven't I got?) - they are both the easiest things to fly I have ever come across. I mean EASY!!!!!


The cheapest for indoors - in stability mode you woud have to try really hard to wreck it!



Expensive but feature packed and will carry a GoPro camera!. Three flight modes.



I lost sight of the 350QX while carrying the camera (Yes, I have a GoPro - I will try anything!) - thought  "Oh dear, how sad, well never mind" - then flicked a switch on the transmitter and it found its own way back and landed.

When will that be available on the RC Aeroplanes - the nearest thing is the Apprentice 15e (No - I haven't got one of those but I do have the receiver!)

Phil, thanks, I didn't even know ARFs and kits were available for these, I'll definitely look into them.

Dave, I suspect by your comment you have no idea what a quad rotor is - understandable, they'e pretty new. Check out videos on youtube where multiple autonomous ones can fly in formations and perform complex tasks. Incredible technology if you ask me.

Ian - you crack me up! I somehow knew you would have several! That 350QX would be great. I'm definately looking closer at that one. Thanks.

Twitch:

No I don't know ANYTHING about a Quad-rotor.

I'm more interested in models rather than toys.  

SD

I don't have a quad rotor, and I am not entirely sure I want one, but I sorta want one so I have looked around a little. It seems the rotors are controlled by an onboard computer, and not directly by the Tx or Rx, at least based on what I have read.

I have messed with a couple "better" IR indoor helicopters, and have had mixed results including common indoor CFL lights can interfere with the signals quite a bit. Strong daylight has the same effect.

Phil

SuperDave wrote:Twitch:

No I don't know ANYTHING about a Quad-rotor.

I'm more interested in models rather than toys.    

SD

I have found that playing with "toys" particularly computer controlled, gyroscopically enabled, GPS installed and programmable keeps me out of mischief.

Playing with models could get me into a lot of trouble!

SuperDave wrote:
I'm more interested in models rather than toys.    
SD

pkrankow wrote:
It seems the rotors are controlled by an onboard computer, and not directly by the Tx or Rx, at least based on what I have read.

In deference to SD, quadcopters have reached the pinnacle of technology in the modeling world.  They provide a stable and fixed platform that may be used for any number of applications.  Stability is managed by an on-board processor that uses 3-axis piezoelectric gyros to maintain positioning in the yaw, pitch and roll axis.  It's the ability to hover and move with little vibration that makes these platforms so versatile (and feared by the general public).

Over the past year, I've been working on a mapping project supported by the University where I teach.  We're using a quadcopter with sufficient lifting ability to manage a multifunctional payload.  In a nutshell, the guidelines were to develop a platform to map archaeological sites from the air.  The quad can be flown manually or autonomously.  It has an on-board gps that downlinks to a laptop and pinpoints its position on a map overlay.  Generally, it knows where it is within 3 feet or less.  The map overlay includes a heads-up style display the provides continuous heading, speed, altitude and coordinate data.  It may be equipped with a still or video camera, also downlinked.  Ultimately, we intend to develop a laptop app that will allow an archaeologist to enter gps coordinates of the vertices of a polygon drawn around a site, to specify the number of still shots per photographic path or video, and to indicate the width of the pass.  The parameters will then be uploaded to an onboard Arduino, the quad will launch, fly the required photographic pattern then come home and land.

Now, this ain't your kid's Christmas gift, but the on-board electronics are essentially the same as most off the shelf quads.  Keep in mind that all movement of a quad is managed strictly by varying the speeds of each of the four motors -- consequently, translation of stick movement to quad movement is pretty sophisticated.

I really find them fascinating (and I also have several helicopters, all of which are stabilized).

twitch wrote:Hi,

My son will be a freshman studying Aerospace Engineering (hopefully at Georgia Tech!) next year.  I would like to buy him a Quad Rotor aircraft for Christmas for him to contemplate and to mess with.  I'm sure he'll find it quite fascinating.  He would be classified as a beginner pilot, but learns quickly.  Can anyone recommend a setup to try?  It should be something that could be used mainly indoors without too much damage to itself or the house (or the dog).  I'm willing to pony up a few extra dollars if it means a higher quality experience.  Dad wouldn't mind tinkering a little bit too!

I know almost nothing about these gadgets - any models you could recommend or insight you could provide would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Tim

I want one of these.
http://www.towerhobbies.com/products/estes/este4606_eh.html

Travis: very cool.  I want that one for myself too!

Ian: I'll always enjoy playing with toys AND models  

SD, to call these machines "toys" is a pretty amazing statement to me.  Have you bothered to investigate them?  They are incredibly sophistocated marvels of (mostly software) engineering.  I think you shouldn't be so quick to brush them off.  I predict in the very future, like it or not you will see them everywhere.

Take a look at these videos.  Toys they are not.

http://www.ted.com/talks/vijay_kumar_robots_that_fly_and_cooperate.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/raffaello_d_andrea_the_astounding_athletic_power_of_quadcopters.html

Tim

I just finished watching the first one. Fascinating. I love TED Talks and keep it on my Firefox speed dial page. I try to watch one every few days. My son got me into watching it. Another one he showed me, also on my speed dial, is the Periodic Table of Videos by the University of Nottingham Physics department.
http://www.periodicvideos.com/

Rusty

Yo Twitch !!

Don't know what level of machine you intended for your son, and I have no experience YET (So Many Toys, So Little Time !!!) with Quads...but I HAVE bought a near-truckload of S207 IR Helicopters from these guys who you may have already checked out.  We had a small Airforce of them flying at one time.  They're great little indoor basic helicopters.

XHeli.com

They have a large listing of Quads, and I experienced good Customer Service from them when one of the S207's was returned for a switch defect.

Later!! Kim

Not intending to Hijack your thread Twitch, but I have a fairly funny (and short story) involving a Quad "Drone"...hope it's OK...

A base customer gave me an AR "Parrot" Drone (think the name is correct) that is controlled by a Smart Phone.  I'm still a Flip-Phone Dinosaur, and so, couldn't make the thing fly.  I gave it to Nerd-Bud Rory after buying a new battery, and he set it up, and started flying it in our Flight Planning Office and around his house.

Not happy to stay inside with this thing, one Sunday Morning when nothing was happening at the airport, he decided to fly it around on the ramp in front of our Big Hangar.

Everything was fine, and he'd made several flights, recharged the drone and launched it again, and THEN...it apparently tired of his company and LEFT !!!  I mean DEPARTED THE AREA !!!!!

I wasn't there, and so, only have his description, but he said that it tipped to more than 45 degrees, basically flipping him off, and headed South at Warp 9 !  Almost a quarter-mile away, and after crossing our runway 28, it instantly stopped, and hovered down to a soft landing on it's own.

Rory called the tower and said that he needed to take the Line Cart out across 28.  
The reply from the tower was, "I know..."  
Larry, the Tower Guy, had witnessed the whole drama, and was bit less than enthralled with the climactic finish !

The Parrot Drone was recovered without further incident, and has since been flown only indoors...or at least far away from the airport !

Good story, Kim I don't mind. Sounds pretty lucky to get it back! I've learned that some of these things (like Ians) have the brains to fly themselves back home if you need them to. I'm focusing on quadcopter kits now - I think he'll get more insight into the technology if he puts it together himself. Thanks!
Tim

The company where I work has always had an employee recognition program where we got "attaboys".  It used to be a Starbucks card or movie tickets or somesuch.  A couple of years ago they changed the program where each employee is issued a pre-paid Mastercard, and when we do something good, we get an "attaboy" and $10 is loaded onto our card.  My card has just been sitting in my wallet, and I've never used to.   I figured I'd just save it for when something really cool came up that I just HAD to have.  I checked the balance last week and it had $340 on it.  Well, last night I looked on the local hobby shop's webpage, and they had the Blade 350QX BNF in stock for $420.  Hmmm...  A 350QX for $80 out of pocket?  HECK YEAH!!!   

The wife and I were doing some shopping this afternoon, so we stopped by the hobby shop and got it for my Christmas present.  Painful as it is, I'm going to be a good boy and wrap it up to go under the tree without taking it out to play with it.  Of course, since I don't want to break it on my first outing, I also bought a BNF Nano QX to practice on.  After all, it's better to spend the money now on the Nano and learn to fly, than to break the really expensive one on the first or second flight, right?   Well, at least the wife bought that excuse.    So, I'll fly the Nano around the house for the next month before I break out the 350QX.  Besides, the Nano uses the same batteries that I use for my Blade MCX2 and MCX S-300. Now to read the 580 pages of the 350QX thread over on RCG.

The Good Mark

I just bought one of these for a birthday present after debating for over a year http://ardrone2.parrot.com/.  It's going to be flying over this coming week.

I have read reviews of the "1.0" and a few of the 2.0's taking off on their own and often lost.  I got it from http://www.brookstone.com/ and paid the extra $50 2 year Brookstone repair/replace warranty that just became available again, since they sound like they have some issues.  They also have a $70 3 year warranty you can buy. I'll let you know what this things like.

I thought I read someone got a replacement after it took off and left, but I'm not sure how often they'd honor that.  Also there's a power edition for another $70 that lets it fly much longer with two larger batteries (18 minute each), otherwise they only give you one battery that lasts 10 minutes and takes 45 to charge I believe.

If you get the Parrot AR 2.0 Drone, fly it, read about everything that crazy device does inside, you'll freak. We flew it indoors but that was a little scary at first not knowing exactly how to fly it. Then we took it to the school and my teenage son flew it without any problems, once you figure out the controls it has to be the easiest thing to fly in the world. It even has a relative mode you can enable so that you never need to know what direction it's pointing, when you tell it to go left it always goes to your left, when you tell it backward it always goes to you. This thing is absolutely amazing (and fairly expensive). Can't wait to see what the augmented reality games are like.

If you're a programmer everything is open source so you can write your own software and reprogram it. You can buy a GPS module too and have it follow your pre-programmed flight path and record video from either the front or bottom camera. Their web site shows you everything.

It does flips, haven't tried it yet, and not sure yet how maneuverable it is, compared to high end quad copters. But it probably does pretty well with the settings turned up.

For building one yourself - this is a good site

http://flitetest.com/articles/How_to_Build_a_Quadcopter_Complete_quadcopter_guide_

The build your own article needs a slight tweak, for incorporating lawnmower engines with large steel blades.

He mentions it costs about $280 for scratch, about the same as a basic Parrot AR 2.0 Drone (w/o a smart phone/tablet). But the drone seems to do so much more, tons of integrated sensors like sonar, basic geolocating that locks it in one spot, air pressure, gyro's, streaming HD video, autolanding & takeoff... But the range isn't that great, 120 feet or so I think.

Take it all the way!

Or make one yourself!

Manned flight in the hands of the hobbyist!