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It depends what they want to hack. Since you're saying "drone" I'm assuming you want them to be autonomous in some way, and not just traditional RC. When I was

by grinich 13y ago

It depends what they want to hack. Since you're saying "drone" I'm assuming you want them to be autonomous in some way, and not just traditional RC. When I was working on Tacocopter, we used 8-CineStars from Quadrocopter[1]. They were originally designed to fly pro cameras, so they have an incredible payload, great flight characteristics, all carbon fibre, etc. Downside is they're very expensive. Most of our development was in the software, so we wanted a hardware solution that "just worked" Dealing with DIY motor controllers that can burn out really slows down the process. Aside, if you end up using the MicroKopter platform, I reverse engineered a lot of their serial protocol for our telemetry stack-- check it out on Github[2]. The cool thing to me about MAVs is they essentially become a flying computer. For your friends, I would pick the one that has enough power for decent acrobatics+payloads, but more importantly the easiest software development stack. Stuff from 3DRobotics is a good starting place. [1] http://www.quadrocopter.com/ http://www.quadrocopter.com/ [2] https://github.com/grinich/mikrokopter https://github.com/grinich/mikrokopter [3] http://3drobotics.com/ http://3drobotics.com/

derefr 13y ago
> Since you're saying "drone" I'm assuming you want them to be autonomous in some way, and not just traditional RC. Would giving the drone a 4G radio with a data channel open to an EC2 instance be considered "autonomous", or "remote-controlled?" It always seemed like the best option to me, since the server issuing guidance could read from whatever internet sources you like (like grabbing a route from Google Maps, or somesuch.)
baddox 13y ago
We're also assuming he's referring to multirotors when he says "drone." An autonomous model airplane would also be a drone. But it's probably a safe assumption. Anyway, I would add another big vote for 3DRobotics. They're the organization behind the enormous and successful Ardupilot project, which is an open source community that develops hardware and software for autonomous model vehicles (helicopters, multirotors, airplanes, and cars). Their ready-to-fly multicopters and planes are packed with functionality and reasonably priced, although they are probably out of the price (and ability) range of someone completely new to the hobby. As other people have said, it's essentially a necessity to grab a toy quadcopter like the Syma X1 for around 40 USD to get a hang of flying them (and realizing how easy it is to crash them) without the chance of a major financial loss.
kposehn 13y ago
Thanks for the input! We definitely want some degree of autonomy with the drone, and most likely a quad/octoroter. A big things for my friends is payload and possibly custom actuators (grabber or claw).

by grinich 13y ago

derefr 13y ago

> Since you're saying "drone" I'm assuming you want them to be autonomous in some way, and not just traditional RC. Would giving the drone a 4G radio with a data channel open to an EC2 instance be considered "autonomous", or "remote-controlled?" It always seemed like the best option to me, since the server issuing guidance could read from whatever internet sources you like (like grabbing a route from Google Maps, or somesuch.)

baddox 13y ago

We're also assuming he's referring to multirotors when he says "drone." An autonomous model airplane would also be a drone. But it's probably a safe assumption. Anyway, I would add another big vote for 3DRobotics. They're the organization behind the enormous and successful Ardupilot project, which is an open source community that develops hardware and software for autonomous model vehicles (helicopters, multirotors, airplanes, and cars). Their ready-to-fly multicopters and planes are packed with functionality and reasonably priced, although they are probably out of the price (and ability) range of someone completely new to the hobby. As other people have said, it's essentially a necessity to grab a toy quadcopter like the Syma X1 for around 40 USD to get a hang of flying them (and realizing how easy it is to crash them) without the chance of a major financial loss.

kposehn 13y ago

Thanks for the input! We definitely want some degree of autonomy with the drone, and most likely a quad/octoroter. A big things for my friends is payload and possibly custom actuators (grabber or claw).