alduxquad

Pilot Point of View

Pilot Point of View

By Aldux

While I was waiting for some parts of my hexacopter to come (GPS post and similar stuff) I removed the dust of my 500mm quadcopter, AlduxQuad.

I use all my batteries, so lots of flight time, for AlduxQuad I have:

  • 4 x 2200 mah 3S 30-40C
  • 3300 mah 3S 60-70C
  • 4500 mah 3S 20-40C (the less powerful I have)

I removed all the heavy stuff, making AlduxQuad super agile and fast, also I added some nice LED stripes to know the direction of the quadcopter while flying very high and always know the reference.

So, in this video, I put the GoPro in my mouth, using my teeth šŸ˜›

You can see the quadcopter doing a dance, by just yawing a lot and trying to keep the altitude, easy and fun stuff!

 

alduxquad batteries

AlduxQuad

AlduxQuad

By Aldux

This was my second quadcopter build, but first one documented… The post is here.

Built for fun and to learn to fly a quadcopter. More than capable to carry a GoPro.

Specs:

  • Motors: Turnigy Aerodrive 940kv
  • Props: 10 x 4.5 SF
  • Flight controller: APM
  • ESC: 25 amps Turnigy
  • Frame: 500mm from rotor to rotor, aluminium

Current configuration:

  • APM 2.5 (upgradable and reprogrammable, original, not clone)
  • GPS uBlox with 3D printed case for extra protection (color red), excellent waypoint navigation
  • Voltage / Current sensor connected to the APM
  • Extra visible navigation LED stripesĀ (blue for forward and red indicates back)
  • Turnigy 9x RX / TX (1000 meters range in LOS)
  • Ā 3D printed anti-vibration mount for the flight controller (providing excellent loiter)
  • Runs great on 2200 mAh LiPo batteries (10 min flight times)

Current pics:

Some extra pics:

And some videos made with this vehicle:

 

Bonfire & AlduxQuad

Bonfire & AlduxQuad

By Aldux

Your quadcopter might be cool, but not as cool as a quadcopter flying over a impressive bonfire (spoiler alert, duh)…Ā Bonfire Night is an annual event dedicated to bonfires, fireworks and celebrations. Some of the world’s most popular Bonfire instances includeĀ Great Britain’s Guy Fawkes Night, which is a annual commemoration observed on 5 of November.

And my favorite skydiving airfield “Skydive Strathallan” could not stand behind…Ā For them is an annual tradition, for me itĀ was my first bonfire night, very fun and highly dangerous.

The main difference with this weekend at Strathallan is that I took my dear AlduxQuad with me… The rest is history. Its better if you watch the video, be warned, its a little long, 8 minutes andĀ 34 seconds.

AlduxQuad vs Flock

AlduxQuad vs Flock

By Aldux

This summer, I did a road-trip with some friends, across Scotland, and of course, I HAD to take my quad with me šŸ˜‰

friends

The main problem was that just one week before the roadtrip, I losted my gopro pivot adjust thumb screw… šŸ™ So, I was unable to do too much flights because the GoPro was not attached… But I did a couple of flights, and this video shows the quad trying to integrate with a flock, hehehe, funny stuff, I actually thought they were going toĀ attack AlduxQuad, but no…

And this flight occurred in ourĀ Hostel in Fort Augustus.

hostel

Video taken from here:Ā http://mena-bo.tumblr.com/Ā šŸ™‚

Altitude test

Altitude test

By Aldux

Pues bueno… lets do a altitude test, I wanted cool pictures of my surroundings and of course test the limits of AlduxQuad, so, I did a couple of flights just with the idea of flight high šŸ™‚

I was using the “position hold” mode, this mode automatically attempts to maintain the current location (based on GPS), heading (magnetometer) with manual throttle control. Wind gusts, PID’s setup and sensors will affect the effectiveness of maintaining position.

This mode relies on the GPS which must be ON and indicating that is locked before takeoff. The heading can be altered with the yaw control stick.

On the first flight I was able to raise it up to 117 meters, I did this on the parking lot of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) because that place is always deserted on weekdays.

On the second flight I got to… better watch the video šŸ˜‰ But on this video I change location due to the parking lot of the SECC was very close to aĀ Heliport, and one helicopter pilot told I couldn’t fly there. The location I choose was the parking lot of the Riverside Transport museum and Tall Ship. I got a very strange behaviour, that I’m still trying to figure it out why it happen, at the highest point, the motors stopped, and AlduxQuad started falling… see the video for the exciting footage.

Glasgow Science Festival

Glasgow Science Festival

By Aldux

SomeĀ colleagues and I, participated on this years Glasgow Science Festival, I took AlduxQuad and TEGO, to show them to lots and lots of kids, it was a fun festival. Some of the organisers ask me if I could fly my quadrotor above a child for taking a picture, of course I say yes, so, we went to a more safe area (no people around) and try the stunt, I was a little scared of course, is not like the dream of all pilots to hover 4 rotors with deadly and sharp propsĀ spinning at 10000rpm… but is some of the things that you have to do in our life, so, I already check that one šŸ˜‰

GSF twitter

No one was hurt, the photo was awesome (I presumed…) and everyone was happy, also the child!!!! I put the FPV gear to my child so he could see the action, and because it looks cool… and I was behind the photographer trying to hover.

kid

For science you monster!!!

Ahhh and I also got my 15 minutes of fame on the GSF twitter account šŸ˜‰

Note: Is “Aldux” not “Aldos” hahahaha

First automatic flight

First automatic flight

By Aldux

Mmmmm, how to begin????…. Well, simply by saying that this is my first flight doing waypoint navigation…

secc

Waypoints are sets of coordinates that identify a point in physical space. Waypoints located on the surface of the Earth are usually defined in two dimensions (e.g., longitude and latitude). GPS systems are increasingly used to create and use waypoints in navigation of all kinds. A typical GPS receiver can locate a waypoint with an accuracy of three meters.

Having said that, I configured a set of waypoints to AlduxQuad and did a test. For security reasons, I did it in a parking lot that is usually with no cars, the only problem is that is close to a heliport, hehehe, I waited to the last aircraft to take off, and start to fly.

I did 3 successful tests, when Alduxquad was completing the last one, I hear a voice of a person (helicopter pilot) telling me I couldn’t fly there, in a very cool and proper manner,Ā so I removed the auto feature and start to get it down to land it, but to be honest I was a little nervous, hehehe, so I lost the reference of the quad (nooooooobbbbbbbbb) and did a rough landing.

But apart from everything it was a successful test.

Angry dog vs Alduxquad

Angry dog vs Alduxquad

By Aldux

It was a beautiful day in sunny Glasgow… So, the buddies at the office decided to go to have lunch at the park, after that, Harry decided to go to the river with his beautiful bitch Kaya (let me enfatize that Kaya is not the angry dog) so, I naturally took the quad and did a wee flight over the Kelvin river… Of course several mistakes happen that day, and the worst of them is that I “pressed” the record button on the GoPro…

So, this guy in the river was taking care of several dogs, and one particular dog (the actual angry dog) noticedĀ when I started flying and he started barking, I tough that it was going to be a problem… Eventually Harry remove his footwear and socks and went to river to make a magnificent catch of my flying quad!! (thanks for that dude!!!) saving my quad from a tasty bite and the dog of getting “bit” by propellers.

Murray was able to take this wee video of the “angry dog”, thanks for that and for sharing mate!

Unfortunately the GoPro didn’t record anything :Ā§

Harry took one for the team and had to receive a tetanus shot because he step into something when he was on the river, ouch.

Scottish Highlands flight

Scottish Highlands flight

By Aldux

During February 2013 I took a wee winter break, rented a car, put some luggage and of course AlduxQuad & equipment,Ā and started driving through the Scottish Highlands pointing towards Skye.

Near Loch Cluaine I spotted a rest stop that looked perfect for making a flight, so, I pull over, prepare AlduxQuad and start to flight. It was one of my first flights with enough confidence to take it far away from me, it was really cool and the Scottish weather really really behave!!! šŸ™‚

In this video, the camera is on top of the quad and pointing towards the pilot, instead of front.

University of Glasgow Flights

University of Glasgow Flights

By Aldux

I was getting really tired to always flight inside the lab… AlduxQuad is built to fly outside!!! and its really good at it!!

I did this flights in the main building of the University of Glasgow, in the pole, West and East Quadrangle.

I was grounded by my supervisor for making this rogue videos without the proper authorization and insurance information šŸ™