Hexacopter - OK, it's mostly a kit

Let's Make Robots Robots
1

OK, there are so many reasons for me not submitting this as "a robot", let's do them first:

* It's 95% a kit

* I am only showing a video- no good info, no pictures

* It's flying

* This is just a re-post of one of the TLIHR videos we do together with Make Magazine

But the reasons for posting this are:

* I'd like to be able to talk with my friends on LMR about this - not just on YouTube :)

* I think a flying robot is as good as any driving - and personally I'd love to see more flying robots here on LMR, so I figured I'd kick some in that direction by posting this.

The Hexa shown is from a Hexa XL kit from Mikrokopter.

Gareth showed me a video of it here on LMR, and I just had to get one.

How is it then, IRL? To put it short; I do really not like the way it is sold / supported by them. I have never seen a product this expensive, with such a completely unbelievable crap documentation.

It looks as it is nicely documented - but once you start reading in, you soon realize that it is one huge, massive mess of wrong information, broken links, outdated stuff, texts pointing to other texts that are related to older versions of everything. Loads of info you do not need (older models, other parts), and it is really, really hard to find the simple, important stuff.

And most of it is in really poor English, hard to understand, and with German texts and Google translations mixed in - right where you needed to find the info.It took me a full week to assemble - it would have taken me 2 days.. if I had the info I needed.

The price of the product really, really, really do not match the feeling you get. And it is really, really irritating, because I want to play around with it - learn and read, have fun, repair, upgrade.. but when ever I have to find any info, I get angry and irritated, and have a fight for hours, days.. and that just brings the whole experience down to something I'd wish I had not invested in.

HOWEVER - the general concept of multicopters is really worth digging into - so just avoid Mikrokopters line of products, and check out some of the cool stuff out there - Especially I am interested in the Tricopters.. and you can build them yourself, just like you can build a driving, walking, sailing robot.

I hope to see some homemade stuff - I know some of you are working on it, and if I find the time, I will as well :) It really is fantastic to build something that flies - specially when it does so because of a microcontroller calculating stuff :)

Flies - autonomously, or remote

  • Actuators / output devices: 6 motors
  • Control method: RC / Autonomous
  • Power source: 14V LiPo
  • Sensors / input devices: accelerometers, gyroscopes, compasses
  • Target environment: Calm air
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/robots/show/hexacopter-ok-its-mostly-a-kit
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**wow **

i wish i had a place to fly like that near me.

3

Awsome frits ! One of my

Awsome frits ! One of my goals is to find enough $$$ and time to make a project like this :stuck_out_tongue:

4

Heya Fritz, If those are

Heya Fritz, If those are lipos that you are running(I’m assuming they are),make sure you don’t completely discharge those batteries and actually take a look at some battery conditioning hw. They will last a lot longer if take care of them. I know a friend of mine keeps a log of every time he runs his batteries and keeps records of the voltages on the multi-cell sets. Just mentioning this as those things can get expensive…

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Wohoo, Finally ! :slight_smile: Congrats

Wohoo, Finally ! :slight_smile: Congrats Frits, im pretty sure you are having loads of fun ! what settings are you flying on ?

A neat trick i do and makes people go crazy is putting the hexa on gps and altitude hold, then laying down the TX on the floor and go play with it in the air :stuck_out_tongue:

6

This is really amazing

We should start a collaborative effort to design some flying machines like these, like MAAHR

7

I want!

That is really neat. I wish I could afford one.

I got this Black Stealth R/C Helicopter free from ThinkGeek. I thought about trying to make it autonomous, but I’m sure I would need really small parts. I think it would be possible to do, but out of my experience level.


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Hi Frits, this is a realy

Hi Frits, this is a realy great multicopter. Impressive how stable they are. What is the range of control,how far they can be from the transmitter?  Video view is excellent to me.

If you don’t recommand the Mikrokopters line,what would you suggest then?  Thanks for sharing and add more photos and videos on how they are built and so on please. :wink:

 

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Me too - the vacation was my

Me too - the vacation was my first chance to actually do some all-day flying fun! (My family wondered why I did not mind staying at that “boring” place for so long :D)

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- (double post)

- (double post)

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Range: I try not to fly

Range: I try not to fly further away than good visual contact - and I can do that range. 100 meters up/away is all I like to go :slight_smile:

Better products: I am working hard on that one, expect cool (and MUCH cheaper) options to come from me :slight_smile: Stuff is on the way :wink:

More info: Please; I am trying to forget everything related to Mikrokopter, do not ask me to go into details about them - I do not recommend this product range, unless you really have to have something they offer - but then you are asking for it, and it’s your own fight :wink:

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"What settings"? Huh - that

"What settings"? Huh - that is a tough one, there are a ton of parameters… And I am tuning to what hardware I am flying at any moment; I have several cameras, gimbals, landing gears etc that I play around with - and weather conditions vary, and how I want to fly varies as well… GPS, manual, focus on POI, speed and all. I can send you my different settings files, but I doubt that they will be any good :slight_smile:

 

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Thanks for your fast reply

Thanks for your fast reply Frits and your advice as well. That’s a good range I would say and also a safe one. I will keep an eye on your updates :slight_smile:

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Oops sorry! Here was the

Oops sorry! Here was the right place to reply :wink:

15

Very cool!

Very cool project! Autonomous flying vehicles is what I want to get to eventually. 

Your project video made me think of these video’s: http://vimeo.com/18870970 and http://vimeo.com/16604842 people doing cool stuff with camera’s mounted on flying machines. :slight_smile:

I have a small #11 808 keychain camera which I can recommend to anyone wanting to film aerial footage in nice quality for very cheap ($60): http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2011/2/18/finally-a-real-hd-mini-keyring-spy-camera-11-808.html (check that page for more details, also where to get one).

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Idea

I was thinking maybe you could carry a bluetooth GPS mouse around and transmit the coordinates to the copter somehow and have it follow you around. Heck, you could even go for a drive and have it follow and film the car. 

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God, this is amazing. I’ve
God, this is amazing. I’ve had my eye on all the quad- etc copters showing up lately and I’m in love, I wish to god I had the spare money to build one, it sounds like there’s so much potential for fun hacking, not to mention beautiful aerial photography as you displayed here. I’ll just have to enjoy videos like this for now :slight_smile:

Dan

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Multiwii

 I recently made a quadcopter based on http://multiwii.com

Spent a bit of time building it and waiting for parts etc but it finally all came together and I took it for my first flight! It flew… then crashed because I freaked out while flying it and didn’t really have the experience to save it… broke a propellor… no biggy… fly it again broke a motor shaft lol lucky i had a spare which I then broke again! So bummed waiting for new motors now… better designed ones which shouldn’t break. It’s all been a learning experience and I’ve been thinking all the time of ways to make a better frame etc… I’m sure eventually I’ll make one autonomous! 

19

Really cool robot!
The video quality from the Hexacopter is really good, so I am wondering what kind of video transmitter and camera you are using? And you said in the video both gyro and accelerometer were mounted on the Hexacpoter, so that makes it have sort of so called " fly by wired" function? That’s really cool, but I also noticed that the robot is kind of wobbling when it is flying in a higher altitude , maybe you can do something on the software to make it more stable?

20

I love it! But $4K? Too rich

I love it! But $4K? Too rich for me.