The underground world of drone racing in Australia | Hacker News Reader

The underground world of drone racing in Australia

mashable.com

39 pointsjwblackwell22 comments

For i do quad races its not underground and you dont need much except spare money to get started. Theres no programming soldering or what not involved if you buy a ready to fly mini quad for 500 usd.

Learning to fly takes a bit of time and there will be broken propellers but i know good racers that learned to fly very well in 2 month, flying on weekends.

Lets not make it sound like this elite, hard, highly skilled, contact us first because you suck kind of stuff. Its not like that. Its fun and no more difficult than video games - except you dont get instant respawn... Most of the time.

We fly up to 16 here.

what setup do you use?

I suspect the 'underground' nature is down to the radio spectrum they can use, vs the spectrum they do use.

  "The technology allows for eight people to be in the air at the one time racing against each other, however the Australian laws limit frequencies we can use only really allowing four people to be in the air at once."

That said, I suspect given the Tx power, I suspect nobody really gives a shit.

The commonly used legal spectrum is in the 2.4 ghz. It's probably underground due to them not participating in any sanctioned or officially regulated events.

most ppl fly 100% legally at the races because range isn't an issue and channels are okay

so 2.4ghz control below power limit and using legal channels, 5.8ghz video, same deal.

of course this depends on the country etc. still, at 200mW nobody is going to go after you. in fact nobody will know you're flying if they arent 100 meters away from you ;)

You mean you fly up to 16 pilots in a race? What's your set-up? The most I've seen so far is 6.

since its been asked twice i actually fly my own frames but heres a good setup i see often:

- QAV-250 (lumenier) w/ the extensions on the arms

- Taranis radio w/ frsky telemetry rx (the tiny one)

- Mobius or GoPro for recordings only (not for racing)

- pz4020 flight camera

- 32channels 5.8ghx rx/tx with decent circular polarized antenna, directive on the RX (that's rather important) fpvlr sells some of these. you dont need them if you're just starting up but you'll want them eventually. there's plenty of such txes of good quality and small size.

- some with a HAM ("technician/radio amateur" type license) fly 1.3ghz on the prototype fatshark rx/tx (these will be available soon, but dont play well with 2.4ghz tx due to harmonics)

- fatshark dominators or similar goggles, its hard to race on screen albeit some do that too.. and arguably its the only shady part since in the US goggles aren't recommended by the FAA.

if you wanna get it all at one shop try getfpv.com - say hi to tim from me ;) (if you get all the high end stuff it'll be around 1000USD, if not 500usd for lower stuff or stuff to assemble - no soldering needed - at hobbyking.com)

Oh and I almost forgot, plenty of props...

if you're starting i would also highly recommend getting a simulator and do a few flights there, get used to fly both third person and fpv. safer and much faster learning curve. once you get 4-5h of sim and feel like you can fly comfortably there, go fly your quad and have fun!

What simulators do you recommend?

http://fpv-freerider.itch.io/fpv-freerider

We do the same thing here. Pretty fun and challenging hobby. Recommend it to anyone who enjoys tinkering with tech. Be aware of the costs, because it's not cheap. A good setup will run a thousand dollars.

I wonder if you need a camera that stabilizes the image or it's not needed or you simply get used to the motion. I said this because on of my projects at University was doing this same thing but for RC cars, and ooh boy!, we can't drive more than 10 minutes without getting dizzy.

I've done both and have used a rubber mount for the camera. it absorbs vibration pretty well. Though fatigue does start to kick in at the 10 minute mark. Were you standing up by any chance? Sitting down makes way more comfortable. First time I did it almost puked.

Any computer controlled autonomous flyers races, yet?

yes but it's currently not that fun. it's like watching cars on the highway. it relies on beacons and rf for sensing the track. like watching those sumo robot videos on youtube. fun for a short time

Need to add an open class, with firearms and flamethrowers and acid shooters. That would make it fun longer.

Geez, I feel dirty saying this, but you could probably get some... ahem.... sponsors from 3-letter agencies

that would make it less exciting. the rush of autonomous competitions is trying to outsmart the others in terms of code

More exciting, to watch

When I was at school we were supposed to build a robot that put out a candle. Basically an LDR guided squirter.

Mine used an aerosol and a lighter until I got told off. Someone had to relight the candles.

So that idea is right up my street :)

those are fun and done inside a maze. which makes super cool. though the candle is stationary. including a moving target is like playing tag as a blind person (wi th the current affordable tech).

I haven't seen any completely autonomous quads racing. Can you give me a link?

I work in a little robotics lab and have seen it first hand. No links to video due to policy, sorry.

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