Bayangtoys X16: Inexpensive, durable, hackable GPS drone
dronegarageblog.wordpress.com
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It runs full ardupilot code, has a ublox gps chip, a taoglas gps antenna, and the video board and transmitter software is open source.
It runs a tiny webserver that allows you to configure any of the ardupilot variables, and is compatible with most of the ardupilot ground control software.
Can I connect a custom RX to it so I can use it with my Taranis? Although I guess I'll have to reconfigure everything in that case...
EDIT: Now I kind of wish there were a version of this drone with just the body, so I could save money on the radio (as I already have one).
The sky viper will hold well in crashes, you can pick up the non-gps version at Walmart. It's a kids toy so its made to be durable. That being said..if you're crashing your GPS assisted quadcopter you're already doing it wrong. I'm not really sure what applications a brushed GPS assist copter has though. It isn't powerful enough to carry any sort of payload and the camera quality is limited severely by that fact. Maybe useful for learning/tinkering with the code without the blender-ing capability that brushless motors have I guess.
Brushed motors are the classic motors that you may have played with as a kid, put in a dc current and they spin.
Brushless motors are much much much more powerful and essentially only wear out due to heat, or bearings failing.
Brushed motors can be damaged by stalling, heat, etc and much more easily.
The important part that the above poster was trying to make is that a brushed motor, any size that would be used on a retail drone/quad/ etc might spin a prop with enough force to cut..... maybe even need a stitch or two but unlikely that bad.
Whereas the brushless motors used in even small quads would most certainly need stitches, and maybe even sever a finger.
Toysrus is £120, http://www.toysrus.co.uk/pdp/product.jsp?productId=TRUP21226... Smyths is £130, https://www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/toys/construction-and-ca...
Cleanflight[1] & Betaflight[2] flight controller firmware
Deviation[3] firmware for Walkera Devo transmitters
RX5808 Pro Diversity[4] video receiver firmware
1: https://github.com/cleanflight/cleanflight
2: https://github.com/betaflight/betaflight
3: https://github.com/DeviationTX/deviation
4: https://github.com/sheaivey/rx5808-pro-diversity/My next drones will most likely be a Spark for the interior and an easily upgradable OSS DIY rig for aerial photography. Running Betaflight or iNav.
I wonder, given how ultra small batteries and RF chipsets have become, if this would be a viable option: take a small battery, flash memory, a GPRS modem, a GPS receiver and something like the ESP32. Make a black box out of it by encasing it in epoxy to harden it against impact. Connect it via a data bus to the drone's main controller. When the power gets cut or the data stream from the main controller is interrupted or an accelerometer detects a hard landing, power up the GPS module and have it send the current location via SMS to the owner, and also use the ESP32's wifi capability to create an access point - which can then be triangulated using a simple mapper software on your cellphone that measures wifi strength.
How does that happen?
For example, Canon and the whole CHDK thing. Canon makes money from selling the hardware; so why lock down the software?
I work with hardware (not quadcopters) that is limited by software and the software is locked down, so I can at least tell you the reasons we do it:
1. Warranty. We know the limits of the hardware and our customers expect us to warranty that hardware for a reasonable amount of time, so we can't have consumers pushing the hardware beyond the duration/temperature/speed/etc that is going to significantly reduce its lifespan. We're not trying to be jerks, we're just saying here is our warranty and these are the parameters/limits within which we can offer that warranty.
2. Hackers. Hobby hackers are cool and most of us that work on these products are hobby hackers too, so we can appreciate the curiosity, fun and legitimate utility of modifying the software. But, there is a rising threat of malicious hackers and many of our customers (and non-customers) expect us to protect society as a whole from our products being taken over by malicious hackers for the purpose of harming someone. If nothing else, nobody who makes the products want to find out their product was used for that from a moral standpoint, not to mention a liability standpoint.
As for Canon, I'm sure people have tried to return camera bodies they've tried to hack and have bricked or otherwise damaged and that's not fair to Canon either.
The right solution would be for the manufacturers to make some of their software open source so hobbyists could add features and submit official pull requests that can be vetted by the engineers that are responsible for the reliability of the product and the safety of the people around it.
That's my two cents on it anyways.
Others are to maintain control over user experience; to simplify QA (making it less expensive, and leading to faster release cycles); reduce support costs; and increase engineering flexibility, by reducing the size of the API surface that requires a deprecation policy in order to avoid disrupting users.
Software based features
Or am I just bad at fast reading a webpage?
Airships are the best solution if you need something to stay in a specific area/position for longer times... something like an emergency cellphone/wifi BTS after major disaster strikes, but for moving around? Not really.
next question would be: can we mod it so it does :D ?