My quadcopter caught on film
I finally got my quadcopter tuned enough, and flying skills to a satisfying level, that I had my girlfriend film me while doing some flights.
It’s nothing overly exciting for now, since it’s still way too heavy to do any tricks. It’s filmed on a patch of grass enclosed by flats and houses, so I didn’t want to crash it in someone’s garden anyway.
Before I continue, let’s enjoy the movie.
For those who still don’t know what a quadcopter is, it’s basically a frame with 4 (hence ‘quad’) motors pointing upwards. Two of the motors spin clockwise, the other two counterclockwise. You can go from 3 to theoretically an unlimited amount of motors, though 8 motors is the maximum I’ve seen so far. At the middle of the frame are the electronics. They consist of a kind of processing unit (in my case an Arduino Mega) and sensors. The sensors measure the attitude of the craft (roll, pitch, yaw), height (with a barometer) and acceleration. These sensors help the processing unit to level the craft. You can even go as far as installing a GPS unit, range sensors etc… The processing unit receives commands from a transmitter and in turn commands the motors.
This is a very short explanation. If you want to learn more, head over to the Aeroquad site. Those guys made the actual software that’s running on the Arduino. I learned everything to get started over there.
For pictures of my quadcopter, go here.