Dronecode – Open source UAV platform | Hacker News Reader

Dronecode – Open source UAV platform

dronecode.org

69 pointsprivong21 comments

To those wondering, like me, it looks like a spinoff nonprofit from/with DIYdrones.

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/introducing-the-dronecod...

Also appears to just be a place for PX4 and ArduPilot for now, so it's not new products but rather a new umbrella over them.

I'd like to know why these guys get a press release from the linux foundation, and I didn't in 2007 when I released mine.

It's a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project, so of course it gets one.

It's also used by thousands of craft worldwide and is probably more feature-complete.

Connections? Also drones are the hot thing right now.

Maybe.

http://www.robots-everywhere.com/portfolio/navcom_ai/

Anyway, it's here, it uses a parallax propeller, and it was featured by parallax a good while ago.

There is a press release from the Linux Foundation here:http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/announcements/2014...

I wish the Linux Foundation would be more progressive with naming the project. One of the member orgs, Skyward, has already switched away from the word 'drone' to a much more descriptive 'aerial robotics'.

I think that ship has sailed. "Drone" is a single, simple word that the public is using to describe flying robots. Trying to convince everyone to not use it will be a Sisyphean task.

I'd still like "hacker" back, but that ain't gonna happen.

I think the distinction he/she's looking for is that these particular drones aren't flying murderous robots, just like all hackers aren't trying to steal grandma's social security number.

As far as I can tell, there is no single (archaic or otherwise) word that means "worker bee". So I guess we're stuck with "drone", being the closets thing to "flying worker", even if drones actually only exist for sex. So unlike robots, they are not actually workers -- but (bee) drones do fly.

Either way, "aerial robotics" is hopelessly long. "Flybots" might work.

So does this have something to do with Linux?

Do most drones run embedded Linux, or some other OS? (honest question, I have no idea)

Most drones run dedicated code. When most OSS drone projects started, embedded Linux systems were still substantially more expensive than microcontrollers, and real-time control systems are probably harder to achieve with Linux than by hand.

Many hobbyist drones are even still based on old 8-bit AVRs because the first few popular projects were based on Arduino.

As far as I know every major project has moved on to 32-bit ARM, though, usually using STM32 Cortex M0 parts.

The Parrot AR.Drone is the only popular drone I know of running Linux as a primary control system.

It's difficult to get the real-time processing and performance you want for a quadrotor control loop with Linux. You usually want to write firmware or use an Real-Time OS.

It appears that most of the linked project runs from Arduino-based hardware (or at least originiated from the hardware).

I would venture to guess that they don't run a full OS, per se, on the device itself, opting instead for dedicated code running on drop-in microcontrollers.

    committed +32 -12
    ---- is_terrorist();

I'm sure this was made in jest, but this is probably a real concern with folks at the NSA. With stuff like this becoming consumerized and easy to use, how long do you think it's going to be before some jerk decides it'd be a good idea to strap a bomb to one and fly it into a building?

Radio controlled cars/planes are pretty cheap and have been around for a lot longer than "fully autonomous" consumer drones, so maybe the Feds should start staking out hobby stores.

but someone who is going to weaponize a drone isn't going to the hobby store. they are going to get the parts from elsewhere or they will seek underground marketplaces with bitcoin.

in the line of fire 1993 movie, john malkovich plays an assassin who creates a gun from toy car parts so the weapon can't be traced or even be suspected. he assembles it just before attempting the hit but it's foiled.

I was thinking about this other day. it's not too hard weaponize a drone. this is our worst nightmare. can you imagine people getting assassinated from an ak-47 fired from a quadrotor heavy duty drone?

Like this is straight out of the tv series Dark Angels with Jessica Alba.

Imagine if we lived in a country where tech was as advanced as we were and the government was powerless and anarchy ruled.

These killer drones would be a reality. you could have armies of these. if they became autonomous with the facial recognition which is possible now, it would be a cinch for law enforcement or terrorists to take anyone out.

my biggest fear is law enforcement or government agencies deploying such autonomous self flying drones hooked up to a giant database of human faces and their every little communication and using deep machine learning to predict someone who is about to commit a crime and quickly deploy itself and apprehend the would be criminal or even more chilling, taking them out.

edit: I just realized that in parts of the world, this is already taking place. Chilling because it's already a reality and imagine if we, the free West, lived under constant fear of drones flying over our heads, watching entire houses or car infront of you get blown up without warning, vowing vengeance and to join a resistance against the drone wielding country.

I'd be more worried about the "down with the state" loonies or one of their followers doing this than the government. With the government, you have a chance to see what's coming. You almost never find out about the whacko who saved up, bought a gun and shot up a school until it's too late.

Is it possible that the government might, in some way, turn on it's citizens? Sure, if it can be justified as "for the children" or "fighting terror" or any number of inane excuses. My guess, though, is that it will be a civilian with a drone and grandiose dreams of "liberating America from it's oppressors" who will make our fears of drones a real thing.

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