Discussion My tricopter design (autonomous indoor hover etc.) - Atmega32

[bluehash]

Willa...nice work..I was going through your website..
what do you use for your GUI..is is coded in Matlab?

[Willa1980]

Thanks bluehash,
The "older" GUI is programmed in VB.NET I used it to display gyro signals in realtime. The "newer" GUI is programmed in Matlab and I use it to let a webcam control the copter. But it does not get any feedback from the copter. Then, yet another GUI is also programmed in Matlab and displays (in 3D) the attitude of the copter...

[bluehash]

Thanks!

[bluehash]

Also.. could you tell me what kind of connector claps your motor to the CF tube. Is it custom? Also did you make you own frame.

[RCvertt]

Originally Posted by Willa1980

Here is a new video showing some of the outdoor performance:.

WoW! Some of, if not, the most amazing stability I have seen.

Add some metal props and I bet it could chop down that tree and still remaine stable

Those are really tight loops you're doing! I wonder if it could be programmed so it would continuously flip with the toggle of a transmitter switch. Just have it climb a little bit then flip, climb a little bit then flip, untill you turn the switch off. This is probably too easy for you though

Originally Posted by Willa1980

@rcvertt: I have one additional PCB here that I won't use. You can have it if you like.

YES! I'm interested. That's incredibly nice of you, to say the least. I'll PM info and just let me know what you need.

Looks like you would have valuable info to add if you ever get a chance to poke your head into the other quad thread but hopefully we can keep this one going also since it's a great contribution to the tricopter community. You have done a great job all by yourself. Nice job on the video presentation as usual.

[jesolins]

William,
Very nice Tricopter flight performance! Huge Respect! I have added your project to my Quadrocopter and Tricopter Mega Link Index
I am particularly interested in your IR hover homing and landing work. Can I get some help from you in doing that? Have you thought of building a quad?... Your design has me thinking that your tricopter version will be in my future... Your gyro/acc cube looks a lot like the solution used in the AttoPilot. Here: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...4#post13501664 Can you provide any build details on your IMU5 in the attached photo it please? Is your setup app available? I could not find it in your thread here: http://www.roboternetz.de/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=412187
Again very inspiring work and superb videos!!
Cheers,
Jim

[cdi3d]

Wow - Amazing - Great job on the tri and the video - Top notch

Mike

[Willa1980]

Hi!

could you tell me what kind of connector claps your motor to the CF tube. Is it custom? Also did you make you own frame.

They are custom (made from Delrin/ POM). The chassis is also custom, but the cfk tubes are 450-heli tail booms. Actually I put quite some efforts in creating the chassis. It's only 81g (incl. motor mounts) and very stiff. It is made out of balsa wood (with vertical grain) and cfk fabric.

Those are really tight loops you're doing!

They could be even tighter, but then it becomes hard to control the copter...

I wonder if it could be programmed so it would continuously flip with the toggle of a transmitter switch.

That should be possible if the copter always gives full throttle when it is upright, although I wonder if the ACC would still know where is up and where is down. There are a lot of fast accelerations during a flip and that might totally confuse an ACC. But I want to do continious flips soon (manually). I have to wait until monday, because I have some sort of "tricopter presentation" soon. And it has to be in one piece until then...

I am particularly interested in your IR hover homing and landing work. Can I get some help from you in doing that?

Yes you can. As a starting point: the source code of the LED tracking thing is in my blog too.

Have you thought of building a quad?

No :-D Because there are too many quads out there... Tricopter's still have some sort of "rarity bonus" :-D

Your gyro/acc cube looks a lot like the solution used in the AttoPilot.

Hey, cool, I didn't know that one. I'll scan trough the thread...

Can you provide any build details on your IMU5 in the attached photo it please? Is your setup app available? I could not find it in your thread here:

Sorry that the thread you mentioned is in german (that makes it hard to understand for 97.5% of the world's population), this is not my IMU, that's the one of a colleage (we're both in the academic flight group Bremen). He had the idea to arrange the sensors in a cube (great idea in my opinion...!) and I adopted the idea. Just glue 3 adxrs610 sparkfun breakout boards and one adxl322 breakout board together :-).

Is your setup app available?

What is a setup app...?

Cheers,
William

[jesolins]

William,
The GUI you mention to set the PID, etc. I could not find a download for it.
And yes I like the cube arrangement too. It seems that arangement could keep the boards from vibrating excessively. Mounting the cube on the model might take some thought, perhaps isolated on Sorbothane to further reduce vibrations? Here: http://scientificsonline.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_3037000
Thanks and Cheers,
Jim

Originally Posted by Willa1980

...What is a setup app...?
Cheers,
William

[Willa1980]

The GUI you mention to set the PID, etc. I could not find a download for it.

Yes, the GUI is not available, because it is optimized for one single user: me. If you don't know what the different buttons do, you'll get into trouble. It might be even easier to program it on your own than to struggle with the bugs i built in...

Mounting the cube on the model might take some thought

I mounted the cube on two sheets of "mirror-tape". Thats double side sticky foam tape. It is commonly used by rc-heli pilots to mount the gyroscopes. Futaba also recommends something similar for mounting their high quality gyroscopes. Might it not be a good ideo to put some weight on the cube...? I mean if it is heavy, the foam tape would have more effect. Vibrations can not accelerate the cube very fast, because it has some inertia... But, you always have to keep in mind that the gyroscope actually HAVE to follow every tiny motion of the copter without delay. So damping is always a compromise...
Nevertheless, I am using a low pass filter with a cut-off frequency of 45Hz, I don't think that vibrations are a problem...

[wland]

Great job william!!
To use 72mhz Rx, does it modify source code? Iam not good at programming!!sorry.

[Willa1980]

To use 72mhz Rx, does it modify source code? Iam not good at programming!!sorry.

Any receiver that delivers a single pulse train will work. Concerning the tricopter electronics, there are some differences with respect to a "regular arduino project":
You'll need an ISP programmer to transfer the source code on the chip. And you'll need the Software BASCOM to compile the code. That recently came into my mind... Usually, people that make robots might have these things, but the "regular quad pilot" might have to purchase them before starting with the project.
I should change this I think. There might be the possibility to put a boot-loader on the mega168 and to write a program where you can set all the parameters via rs232 that you need for a successful flight (i think the mikrokopter works this way...?). I'll have to look into that...

[wland]

Thank you william!!
I have another Question about gyro.
ADXR610 is very expensive, though , Can I use murata gyro(cheap^^) substitute for ADXRS610?

[Willa1980]

Can I use murata gyro(cheap^^) substitute for ADXRS610?

Yes, if you amplify the signal of the muratas... You'll need an Opamp for this. The first version was actually flying with three murata enc-03r

[jesolins]

William,
Great ideas! This will really help us get it in the air! I've flown many quads and they all need the PID adjusted for different frame sizes and weights, motors and ESC's. A seup GUI application is a must for those of us that are code challenged...
What ESC's did you modify and how? There is a thread here to modify TowerPro and SuperSimple ESC's to I2c: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=766589
Cheers,
Jim

Originally Posted by Willa1980

...I should change this I think. There might be the possibility to put a boot-loader on the mega168 and to write a program where you can set all the parameters via rs232 that you need for a successful flight (i think the mikrokopter works this way...?). I'll have to look into that...