OpenWarfare.org

[via DIY Drones]

A company called Skilligent put out this video demonstrating computer vision based navigation that uses landmark detection.  I’d love to see an open source version of this capability.

This is a very cool project out of Stanford. It is a MAV that can land on rough surfaces and hang there.  The possibilities that come with this capability are far reaching.  Recharging, hiding, surveillance and seeking refuge are just a few.  Put an eInk skin on its back, weaponize it and you have a nasty little urban MAV.

via DIY Drones

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.

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 is a cool project that aims to be a “universal remote” for those cheap IR controlled toy helicopters.The same group is also working on a visual tracking system as well. The main problem with IR is that you are basically limited to line of sight.  Even with that limitation the systems could be used for small scale simulations etc.  Kind of a poor man’s version of MIT’s SWARM environment.

Via HackADay

This is kind of a goofy video at first glance but when you think about it it is pretty cool.  This guy rigged up his Easystar based UAV with a FPV camera and some model rockets and fireworks.  It looks like great fun, flying around and shooting rockets but scale this up a little bit and you could really do some damage.

As rapid prototyping /3d printing and DIY continue to converge we are going to see more and more of this sort of thing.  I did some digging and found his list of parts but none of them are printable by others at the moment.  He also has a forum at Shapeways detailing the build and a link to a video of it flying.  OpenWarfare should definitely try to get an open source version of this project together.

Via DIYDrones

Soaring

This is a really interesting group that is attempting to make a UAV that can use thermals to stay aloft.  Their ultimate goal is a cross country unmanned flight.  So far they have made pretty good progress.  I wonder how far you could go my mixing solar and soaring modes.