Michigan Stadium (and Ann Arbor) via Quad Rotor
Recently I've developed a new favorite hobby that I would like to share with all of you. I recently acquired a Blade 350 QX Quad Rotor and a Hero 3+ GoPro. For those of you who don't know, a quad rotor is like a helicopter but with four propellers instead of one:
Last week, I took it to the Big House for some flying. I was able to snap this angle:
You can watch the whole video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgOsYG9ccJY&feature=youtu.be
(sorry, don't know how to imbed)
Here's some other stuff that I've flown around on campus:
So if you're ever walking around campus or the Arb, and you see someone flying a quad rotor around, feel free to stop by and say hi! I'm happy to chat about it and answer questions.
Around the stadium? No, I don't think I'd even try. It would almost surely raise some eyebrows from security. Maybe I could fly out of Elbel field during a game? Or near the high school/golf course? I try to avoid flying over crowds, parking lots, and roads, just in case something were to go wrong (though I've gotten pretty comfortable with the system and confident with the programming). There's a lot of self-stabilizing and safety software implemented in it.
Here's the Michigan Stadium video. Awesome stuff, and thanks for sharing!
Do you know what event was happening that day?
Cool stuff! I love being able to see my old house so clearly. (corner of Belmar and Potter)
Damned drones are everywhere.
Very neat.
This is too cool. How much does this cost? And whats the range on the quad rotor?
The quad rotor here is about $400, the GoPro is the latest top-of-the-line one which runs for about $300 (though there are cheaper alternatives, it's designed to fly with all GoPros).
One tricky thing with this is that it uses a satellite receiver to self-stabilize in flight. But GoPros produce a lot of EMI noise and can sometimes cause it to lose signal with the satellite while flying (which == bad). So I keep my GoPro wrapped in aluminum foil and it works great whenever I fly.
... wrapping aluminum foil around one's head does block out those pesky EMI thoughts.
Here's one more of the Diag.
VERY cool. And you definitely win the "dude who most closely resembles his avatar" award.
Happily I finished in last place.
This is seriously cool as heck! Thank you for posting.
Should I post more in the future?
Goodyear blimp style! Straight up and straight down is cool, but how far away can you go N/S/E/W? If a building gets in the way, do you lose communication? (Aside from the obvious point that it might be hard to control if you don't see it)
These are all things I have not tested yet. There's a very big field near my house that I fly in sometimes when I want to test something. Thanks for reminding me to do a distance test!
That produced some very nice pictures.
Thanks Blue! I hope you post more of your adventures in the future.
Been wanting to get something like that.
What's the battery life like? Have you crashed it very often? Is it pretty durable?
With the GoPro weight added, it will fly for about 10 minutes. When I first got it, I crashed it quite a bit before I really got a handle for how to use the sattelite stabilization (hint, it's automatic but you have to wait for it to connect). The first picture of the quad rotor is mine and you'll notice one of the arms taped up.
When I frst flew it on its maiden flight, I flew it in safe mode (a flight mode where the control scheme is extremely basic for people who've never done RC flying before). What I didn't know is that safe mode has a 16-foot protection circle around the pilot, so when I ran up to it as it was drifting towards the house, it flew away from me... Into the house. Merry Christmas. Thankfully, useful engineering tools such as duck tape and polysterene plastic glue exist and I was able to fix it. For the most part though, I've flown it into some bushes a couple times and had some bouncy landings and its survived. Just always have some sort of intuition for what your battery life is.
Is there a way to expand fuel capacity?
Thanks for sharing the pics!
This is the kind of cool shit MGoUsers do that I love. Thanks for sharing. The Big House video was great. Love to see one of the Diag.
I flew during a protest in the Diag. They spelled out 'SOS' for Venezuela. I did a couple flyovers and you can hear them cheering over the droning sound of the motors:
I flew during a protest in the Diag. They spelled out 'SOS' for Venezuela. I did a couple flyovers and you can hear them cheering over the droning sound of the motors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypsJ-D-a0es
Does anyone else have trouble with video and sound in Chrome?
shit, there goes $600...thanks a lot
your trusty Sopwith Camel?
It just doesn't seem right...
You should do this to your quad. Also, do you do r/c planes as well? There's kits you can buy (or just build your own) of flying snoopy's doghouses. Flyingthingz.com has the kit for $150.
But in the meantime, great photos, these are awesome and definitely keep doing more! Thanks for posting them!