Quadcopter POV with GoPro

I used one of the 3M sticky bases to mount my GoPro camera to my quadcopter frame. I set it up to be the most basic, front-facing camera possible so that I could test both the camera and the stability of the copter with the camera attached. I've spent some time flying the copter and was finally comfortable enough to attach the camera and get some footage.



This second video is an outtake from the same flight. I landed a little hard and the camera popped loose. I need to find a better camera mounting solution that is stronger. I have several ideas that I will test.

Quad Copter Maiden Voyage

The first time I built this copter it only hovered for a few seconds before I had to abort. There were several reasons: potentially bad parts, a potential short, and no thread locking compound on the props. I replaced the ESC's and the motors with RC Man Child 30A ESC's and 3407 motors. Once all of the preflight was completed, the copter was stable and hovered fairly well. I was able to fly it extensively before crashing it into a parked bicycle and breaking one prop. Fortunately I have spares for just this reason.

Building a quadcopter

I recently purchased a Syma X1 from Amazon and was quickly hooked on RC quad flying. I really want to learn about how all of the parts work, and how the computer helps to stabilize and control the copter. Consequently, I purchased a whole lot of parts online and attempted to assemble a copter.



The frame was relatively easy to assemble, is sturdy, and fairly lightweight. I then mounted the motors, power distribution unit, and controller. I used brass PC motherboard mounting screws to mount the PDU to the frame, and to stack the flight controller on top of the PDU.




This quad has flown, very briefly, before several of the electronics failed. I suspect that one of the ESC's shorted which may have damaged a motor. There may have also been a heat problem. I am in the process of sourcing replacement parts and will update when I have more information.

Learning to program Arduino

I would eventually like to program my Arduino to work with my quadcopter. However, that is still in the future given how new I am to both of these things. This is a an Arduino Uno with the Adafruit Super GPS Logger shield.



The program reads the number of satellites currently available to the GPS and writes them on the display. A dash (-) indicates no satellites and a zero (0) represents 10 or more. This is because I only picked up one digit the last time I was at the store, and I lack the shift registers necessary to free up some pins.



Future programs will collect GPS data, generate some form of meaningful output, and finally autopilot a quad.