8 ms·

Micro Scisky: A 32-bit Open-Source Brushed Flight Controller

90 points by demouser7 9y ago

jaboutboul 9y ago
Sure looks like the little bugger from the Slaughterbots video to me.
iDemonix 9y ago
Looks like a fun project, be interesting to see a video of how well it flies.
smcl 9y ago
Does anyone know what kind of battery life can you expect for the suggested components - it seems the linked battery is 380mAh
sargun 9y ago
How does this compare to the Crazyflie 2.0? (See: https://www.bitcraze.io/crazyflie-2/ https://www.bitcraze.io/crazyflie-2/).
- 9demon 9y ago
  In terms of hardware it is practically the same. However Crazyflie has its own development while these cheap controllers can work with any standard open source flight software such as Cleanflight, Betaflight, etc. They are also cheaper than Crazyflie, you can have a drone for half the money.
the_real_sparky 9y ago
The brushed designs have been completely outclassed by the new breed of micro brushless quads. The Hoverbot Nano is one of the best examples of lightweight brushless design. https://hoverbot.io https://hoverbot.io https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2806620-HoverBot-Nano-40g-Brushless-90mm-Quadcopter https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2806620-Hover...
- anfractuosity 9y ago
  Cheers, that looks very interesting. I'm just wondering what are the main advantages of brushless vs brushed motors for quads. Do brushless let you control the speed of the propellers more easily?
  - frik 9y ago
    brushed = old tech = coal (which wears down and require replacement) brushless = new tech, no maintainance Brushes wear down and require replacement, brushless DC motors using power electronic devices have displaced brushed motors from many applications. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushed_DC_electric_motor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushed_DC_electric_motor
    - flexd 9y ago
      In my experience the brushed motors used for that size either break quickly with crashes, or just stop to work within 4-6 hours (max!) of flight time. The brushless motors are much more solid and less likely to fail. I have broken many of those too, but they last a lot longer.
  - Doxin 9y ago
    IIRC brushless are just more efficient in general. Since the power to the coils is entirely controlled by a microcontroller you can modulate how far "ahead" the magnetic field is of the motor, resulting in roughly the same performance at all speeds. This as opposed to a brushed motor where the brush geometry in relation to the rotor sets the magnetic field a fixed distance ahead of the rotation. Resulting in the magnetic field being too far ahead at slow speeds and not ahead far enough at high speed. In any case practical experience has shown me that a brushless motor is way more impressive than a brushed motor of a similar size and weight.
  - phkahler 9y ago
    Motor guy here, not into quad copters though. Brushless motors with optimally tuned software can have higher efficiency which translates to longer battery life. The downside is you need 3 half-bridges to drive one. A brush motor spinning in one direction needs only a single low-side FET. The cost in transistors and software is significantly higher for brushless, but the efficiency gain is real. I'm not so sure about any dynamic performance benefit, you can do about the same with a brushed motor if you're willing to drive it with a full H-bridge.
jonkrause 9y ago
with the recommended parts, minus the camera/vtx combo ($20), your total is roughly $70. for $60 you could get an eachine qx90 which is almost identical. or you could even get much, much better quality/control out of a brushless build with the babyhawk, which goes for around $100 if you're new to flying drones, i wouldn't recommend this at all
dod9er 9y ago
When seeing the components the first thing that came to my mind was "outdated", afterwards I saw the article is from 2016. If someone is interested in a more sophisticated approach he might want to check out the RotorX Atom: https://rotorxracing.com/products/rx122diypr-atom-diy-kit-with-rx1306-motors https://rotorxracing.com/products/rx122diypr-atom-diy-kit-wi...
- lloyd-christmas 9y ago
  This article is about a $70 DIY open source project, and you compare it to buying a $400 snap and fly drone with proprietary software?
jamcrust 9y ago
They are doing a lot of similar things over at Noisebridge in SF right now.
flexd 9y ago
This article is very outdated. Small brushless quadcopters are readily available now. Such as the Hoverbot Nano [1] mentioned in another commment, or a Eachine Lizard [2], and lots more. And you can go even smaller, such as a pepperfish [3] This is a small brushless quad with 0703 motors with a 1 cell battery. https://i.imgur.com/EdFFfsc.png https://i.imgur.com/EdFFfsc.png / http://rotaro.no http://rotaro.no 54mm in diameter [1] https://hoverbot.io/ https://hoverbot.io/ [2] https://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Lizard95-95mm-F3-FPV-Racer-BNF-4-in-1-10A-ESC-OSD-5_8G-48CH-25MW100MW-VTX-600TVL-Camera-3S-p-1141589.html https://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Lizard95-95mm-F3-FPV-Racer-... [3] http://fishpepper.de/projects/pepperf1sh/ http://fishpepper.de/projects/pepperf1sh/
- rimliu 9y ago
  And there are Tiny Whoops with BetaFlight compatible FCs.

90 points by demouser7 9y ago

jaboutboul 9y ago

Sure looks like the little bugger from the Slaughterbots video to me.

iDemonix 9y ago

Looks like a fun project, be interesting to see a video of how well it flies.

smcl 9y ago

Does anyone know what kind of battery life can you expect for the suggested components - it seems the linked battery is 380mAh

sargun 9y ago

How does this compare to the Crazyflie 2.0? (See: https://www.bitcraze.io/crazyflie-2/ https://www.bitcraze.io/crazyflie-2/).

9demon 9y ago
In terms of hardware it is practically the same. However Crazyflie has its own development while these cheap controllers can work with any standard open source flight software such as Cleanflight, Betaflight, etc. They are also cheaper than Crazyflie, you can have a drone for half the money.

the_real_sparky 9y ago

The brushed designs have been completely outclassed by the new breed of micro brushless quads. The Hoverbot Nano is one of the best examples of lightweight brushless design. https://hoverbot.io https://hoverbot.io https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2806620-HoverBot-Nano-40g-Brushless-90mm-Quadcopter https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2806620-Hover...

anfractuosity 9y ago
Cheers, that looks very interesting. I'm just wondering what are the main advantages of brushless vs brushed motors for quads. Do brushless let you control the speed of the propellers more easily?
- frik 9y ago
  brushed = old tech = coal (which wears down and require replacement) brushless = new tech, no maintainance Brushes wear down and require replacement, brushless DC motors using power electronic devices have displaced brushed motors from many applications. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushed_DC_electric_motor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushed_DC_electric_motor
  - flexd 9y ago
    In my experience the brushed motors used for that size either break quickly with crashes, or just stop to work within 4-6 hours (max!) of flight time. The brushless motors are much more solid and less likely to fail. I have broken many of those too, but they last a lot longer.
- Doxin 9y ago
  IIRC brushless are just more efficient in general. Since the power to the coils is entirely controlled by a microcontroller you can modulate how far "ahead" the magnetic field is of the motor, resulting in roughly the same performance at all speeds. This as opposed to a brushed motor where the brush geometry in relation to the rotor sets the magnetic field a fixed distance ahead of the rotation. Resulting in the magnetic field being too far ahead at slow speeds and not ahead far enough at high speed. In any case practical experience has shown me that a brushless motor is way more impressive than a brushed motor of a similar size and weight.
- phkahler 9y ago
  Motor guy here, not into quad copters though. Brushless motors with optimally tuned software can have higher efficiency which translates to longer battery life. The downside is you need 3 half-bridges to drive one. A brush motor spinning in one direction needs only a single low-side FET. The cost in transistors and software is significantly higher for brushless, but the efficiency gain is real. I'm not so sure about any dynamic performance benefit, you can do about the same with a brushed motor if you're willing to drive it with a full H-bridge.

jonkrause 9y ago

with the recommended parts, minus the camera/vtx combo ($20), your total is roughly $70. for $60 you could get an eachine qx90 which is almost identical. or you could even get much, much better quality/control out of a brushless build with the babyhawk, which goes for around $100 if you're new to flying drones, i wouldn't recommend this at all

dod9er 9y ago

When seeing the components the first thing that came to my mind was "outdated", afterwards I saw the article is from 2016. If someone is interested in a more sophisticated approach he might want to check out the RotorX Atom: https://rotorxracing.com/products/rx122diypr-atom-diy-kit-with-rx1306-motors https://rotorxracing.com/products/rx122diypr-atom-diy-kit-wi...

lloyd-christmas 9y ago
This article is about a $70 DIY open source project, and you compare it to buying a $400 snap and fly drone with proprietary software?

jamcrust 9y ago

They are doing a lot of similar things over at Noisebridge in SF right now.

flexd 9y ago

This article is very outdated. Small brushless quadcopters are readily available now. Such as the Hoverbot Nano [1] mentioned in another commment, or a Eachine Lizard [2], and lots more. And you can go even smaller, such as a pepperfish [3] This is a small brushless quad with 0703 motors with a 1 cell battery. https://i.imgur.com/EdFFfsc.png https://i.imgur.com/EdFFfsc.png / http://rotaro.no http://rotaro.no 54mm in diameter [1] https://hoverbot.io/ https://hoverbot.io/ [2] https://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Lizard95-95mm-F3-FPV-Racer-BNF-4-in-1-10A-ESC-OSD-5_8G-48CH-25MW100MW-VTX-600TVL-Camera-3S-p-1141589.html https://www.banggood.com/Eachine-Lizard95-95mm-F3-FPV-Racer-... [3] http://fishpepper.de/projects/pepperf1sh/ http://fishpepper.de/projects/pepperf1sh/

rimliu 9y ago
And there are Tiny Whoops with BetaFlight compatible FCs.