This is a pretty nice talk by the guy developing the AttoPilot. It has a very impressive set of features compared to some of the more popular autopilots out there. I was particularly impressed by the Vector Navigation features and in flight trim and PID gain adjustments.
Via DIYDrones
I saw this article on Global Guerrillas this morning and had to comment on it. Apparently Iraqi insurgents have been using OTS hardware and some cheap software to intercept live video feeds from Predator drones. OMFG I can only hope that the control and telemetry links are encrypted. Once again hats off to GG for another great story. If you like this blog you should add Global Guerrillas to your list of dailies.
Tricopter - Flips and a little bit of gardening from W. Thielicke on Vimeo.
I like seeing demonstrations of the aerobatic abilities of this sort of platform. I am also curious about the feasibility of a fail-over mode for a quad rotor that has lost a rotor. Overall very cool project and pretty cheap. Check out his blog for the build details Good work William.
This would probably not be useful in combat (though I would not want to be on the hot side of it). It is, however, a great example of the power of one tinkerer and cheap, available hardware. Alter the idea slightly (throw in an autonomous vehicle) and you could have a very disruptive weapon.
While I was browsing the RepRap site yet again (I neeeeeed to get a reprap). I came across and advert for the mbed. It is billed as a rapid prototyping platform (which it is) but it has a TON of features including 12 bit adc, USB host, . You can pre-order now and save some money. The only downside I see is that the IDE and compiler look to be in browser only. I’m sure someone will come up with a solution for that.
MikroKopter - HexaKopter from Holger Buss on Vimeo.
Here is a nice demo video of MikroKotper’s new HexaKopter. Lists at around $1500 which is pretty good considering it’s capabilities. 1Kg is a lot of payload. I’d love to see some numbers on loiter times but overall this looks like a fantastic platform for photography or whatever else. I may just have to get one.
This seems to be the next iteration of Berkeley’s cutout robot. I think the most interesting part about this concept are the build process and materials. Every time I see something like this I am reminded that I REALLY WANT a laser cutter :).
Here is a really cool demonstration of soft body robotics and locomotion using “jamming”. As far as I can see they use a balloon filled with sand (kind of like those stress balls) and then suck the air out of it to make it maintain a more rigid shape. This seems like it would be fairly easy to replicate cheaply.
I’m a big fan hardware projects and have recently been playing around with a couple of Digi XBee pro modules for a UAV controller. Anyway I came across Travis Goodspeed’s blog post explaining a method for extracting keys from certain ZigBee chipsets. I won’t ruin the surprise for everyone so go on over to and check it out.
I remember seeing a demo of a delta robot a while ago and being very impressed. I have seen them used on assembly lines to quickly sort and organise objects but there are loads of other applications. I know of one company that uses a delta design for a tactile feedback capable interface device. I wonder if this sort of device would be good for routing/drilling/cnc type work? If you are interested in the maths behind this sort of design you can check out this pdf.
via Hackaday
