So, although no one reads this, I'm back, because, once again, talking to yourself really is fun. The reason is because of the quadcopter I'm building. I've showed everything I've done so far, but that doesn't really show how to do it. Therefore, I will be reposting the things I've done in a more "tutorialish" way. I will hopefully continue until the end of the build and I hope anyone interested will read them.
Keep in mind that these tutorials will be for complete beginners, and not people who have already done big projects like these. This is because I was a complete beginner (on most things) and others will probably encounter similar problems, like, for example, how to attach a propeller to a smaller motor, which is kind of strange. So, that's all I have to say, and I hope I don't keep posting months apart like I have been.
Showing posts with label quadrocopter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quadrocopter. Show all posts
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Update
And two weeks later... another post that no one but me will read! I swear, talking to yourself is so much fun. If you're not me and you're bored, you should try it. So far, I haven't done anything with the quadrocopter. I need to solder some things to the Arduino, but I don't have small enough solder, so I'll do that later. Procrastination! The HobbyKing stuff hasn't come either, so I checked the package tracking thingy today on the USPS website, and it's apparently in New York going through customs and taking forever, which should be expected, because there are obviously several WMDs included with the items I bought... I hope any feds reading this know what sarcasm is because I really want that package ASAP.
A couch surfer came to our house the other day. It was pretty awesome, because we haven't had one over in a while. He was cool, and he got me into disc golf, which I'm trying to learn. I now have about ten things I want to get good at before I'm out of the house. So that's the update, and I need to go because I have stuff to do.
A couch surfer came to our house the other day. It was pretty awesome, because we haven't had one over in a while. He was cool, and he got me into disc golf, which I'm trying to learn. I now have about ten things I want to get good at before I'm out of the house. So that's the update, and I need to go because I have stuff to do.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Arduino
So I finally messed with the Arduino yesterday. I never thought to write here until now. I found a USB cord of the right kind and plugged it into a computer. What happened next was frustrating. I needed to get the Windows device manager to work with it with the right things (I honestly don't know any of those terms. Something about ports). So I was trying to get it to work, but I was working with... Windows. The guy who showed me before had Linux, so it took him like two seconds. I had to go to Control Panel to the device manager to something else to find something and finally to click on that and select the right stuff from the application for Arduino. So, yeah. As soon as I can, I'm installing Ubuntu.
After I got the Arduino to work, I tested a simple application already written for it. It blinked an LED on it for one second at a time. It seemed to be written in Java, but apparently Arduino has its own language. We messed with the blink program since I knew the Java syntax from robotics. We got it to blink in different orders, but that kind of fun only lasts so long. Now I need to attach the shield and sensors and stuff so I can continue working on the quadcopter. Speaking of that, I got an email from HobbyKing that they finally shipped the parts and should be arriving in a few days ('a few days' is just my interpretation) which I'm looking forward to.
After I got the Arduino to work, I tested a simple application already written for it. It blinked an LED on it for one second at a time. It seemed to be written in Java, but apparently Arduino has its own language. We messed with the blink program since I knew the Java syntax from robotics. We got it to blink in different orders, but that kind of fun only lasts so long. Now I need to attach the shield and sensors and stuff so I can continue working on the quadcopter. Speaking of that, I got an email from HobbyKing that they finally shipped the parts and should be arriving in a few days ('a few days' is just my interpretation) which I'm looking forward to.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
AeroQuad Stuff
So today, while I was taking a nap, a package arrived with the stuff I ordered from AeroQuad for my quadrocopter. I took a bunch of pictures of all the stuff and I'll explain it. I couldn't experiment with it today because it's late and I haven't finished studying for my Spanish test tomorrow. I plan on weighing everything, working on the Arduno, and balancing the propellers later on this week.
So in the picture above, you can see the view of everything that came. Everything is sealed in its original packaging except the accelerometer, gyroscope, and Ardunio. The second picture (to the right), is just the receipt showing everything that was delivered.
The thing I'm most excited about is the Arduino. This will basically be the brain of the quadrocopter, evaluating everything the transmitter sends and determining outputs for each motor. It came in a nice little box with a bunch of stickers and a little booklet that I probably won't read. The Arduino is probably the coolest item I'll ever see with "Made in Italy" written on it.
So this is the cool box the Arduino came in. It's blue... with words on it.
Here's the box opened. The Arduino is in the center, the information booklet is on the left, and most importantly, the stickers are on the right.
This is the Arduino up close. It's sideways. I'm not sure if it being sideways will be a major problem when putting together my quadrotor; let's hope not.
The next most important thing that came was the shield, to the left. It's not very clear because it's in a bag, but basically, you just put it on top of the Arduino. It's specifically designed both for the quadrocopter and the Arduino so you can easily solder the sensors and other things where they belong.
Another unclear picture. These are the stackable female headers. They simply connect the AeroQuad shield to the Arduino.
These are the straight breakout pins. You can break them apart to have any number connected. You solder them to the sensors and to the shield to easily connect the two together.
These are also very important. The gyroscope (top) measures rotational movement on all three planes. This is necessary so the Arduino can tell how much the quadrotor is tilted and adjust for that. The accelerometer (bottom) measures linear movement on all three planes. It can sense the acceleration of the quadrocopter so it can stay in the same general area in the air. Both give six degrees of freedom and are necessary for stable flight.
This is a servo extension cable. I got seven of them. What they do is connect the radio receiver channels, which are connected to the antenna, to the Arduino. Now the Arduino can evaluate the signals transmitted to the quadrocopter.
The last things that came were the propellers. I ordered four extras, just because according to everyone who's worked on these before, the propellers will be the first things to break. Two of the propellers are normal and two are "pusher" propellers, which are basically reversed and meant to be rotated in the other direction. They simply cancel each other out so the quadrocopter doesn't rotate. I also read that propellers are rarely ever balanced when they arrive, so I need to fix that for each one. If a propeller is unbalanced, it stresses one side of the motor more making it less efficient and decreasing its life. You can imagine what a one-bladed propeller would do to a motor. It's the same thing, but with a reduced effect.
So... that's everything. I plan on keeping updates on this project so you can follow it. Thank you for reading my blog... I just noticed how funny 'blog' sounds. I wonder who made that word up. Anyway, I have to get ready for bed and study for Spanish.
So in the picture above, you can see the view of everything that came. Everything is sealed in its original packaging except the accelerometer, gyroscope, and Ardunio. The second picture (to the right), is just the receipt showing everything that was delivered.
The thing I'm most excited about is the Arduino. This will basically be the brain of the quadrocopter, evaluating everything the transmitter sends and determining outputs for each motor. It came in a nice little box with a bunch of stickers and a little booklet that I probably won't read. The Arduino is probably the coolest item I'll ever see with "Made in Italy" written on it.
So this is the cool box the Arduino came in. It's blue... with words on it.
Here's the box opened. The Arduino is in the center, the information booklet is on the left, and most importantly, the stickers are on the right.
This is the Arduino up close. It's sideways. I'm not sure if it being sideways will be a major problem when putting together my quadrotor; let's hope not.
The next most important thing that came was the shield, to the left. It's not very clear because it's in a bag, but basically, you just put it on top of the Arduino. It's specifically designed both for the quadrocopter and the Arduino so you can easily solder the sensors and other things where they belong.
Another unclear picture. These are the stackable female headers. They simply connect the AeroQuad shield to the Arduino.
These are the straight breakout pins. You can break them apart to have any number connected. You solder them to the sensors and to the shield to easily connect the two together.
These are also very important. The gyroscope (top) measures rotational movement on all three planes. This is necessary so the Arduino can tell how much the quadrotor is tilted and adjust for that. The accelerometer (bottom) measures linear movement on all three planes. It can sense the acceleration of the quadrocopter so it can stay in the same general area in the air. Both give six degrees of freedom and are necessary for stable flight.
This is a servo extension cable. I got seven of them. What they do is connect the radio receiver channels, which are connected to the antenna, to the Arduino. Now the Arduino can evaluate the signals transmitted to the quadrocopter.
The last things that came were the propellers. I ordered four extras, just because according to everyone who's worked on these before, the propellers will be the first things to break. Two of the propellers are normal and two are "pusher" propellers, which are basically reversed and meant to be rotated in the other direction. They simply cancel each other out so the quadrocopter doesn't rotate. I also read that propellers are rarely ever balanced when they arrive, so I need to fix that for each one. If a propeller is unbalanced, it stresses one side of the motor more making it less efficient and decreasing its life. You can imagine what a one-bladed propeller would do to a motor. It's the same thing, but with a reduced effect.
So... that's everything. I plan on keeping updates on this project so you can follow it. Thank you for reading my blog... I just noticed how funny 'blog' sounds. I wonder who made that word up. Anyway, I have to get ready for bed and study for Spanish.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)