Well, the end of the school year is approaching, and this is my last blog post. I need to say how much I enjoyed innovation time, especially because it was a part of an actual class. I think that being able to write blog posts about something I'm passionate about is really helpful. Sometimes it's nice to just think about something you like and write about it, especially if you don't have to write too much. Out of all the things I did during the innovation time, I was happiest when I was able to fly my quad-copter around the school, because I knew it was fixed and ready to go anywhere.
Link to slides used in ted talk: https://docs.google.com/a/bcacs.org/presentation/d/1-RyS-RYYA0cEYzrWoR7VkhxrDSgZSZrWPjkM06TH6dE/edit?usp=sharing
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I don't actually know how much I'm going to do wkth learning code, as the school year is closer to it's end than I thought (thankfully). I did manage to get some flight out by my school, which ended up being a bit more nervewracking than expected due to the vast amout of powerlines hanging around. I didn't end up crashing though, even though I had a few close calls. The image below is of my English classroom from the outside.
I think I've decided that I'm going to start work on coding next for my innovation project. I've used small scripts made by other people using python, and I think coding could be a very useful tool. I did a lot of coding last year for a tech class, but it was more getting it done than actually learning anything, but I think I have the motivation to actually learn python, as I've actually used it before. Plus, there's plenty of free courses online I can take and learn from, which is kind of nice.
Right now, I have no clue where to go with my project. I'm used to having something to fix, or something to edit or reformat. I don't have the hardware to run 3D modeling programs, and as cool as it is, normal pictures are still nice to look at. As long as the snow stays away then I should be able to upload some more pictures, but Michigan's crazy weather doesn't seem to want to work with my time schedule.
I've spent the last innovation class researching 3D modeling. I really like the fact that it can be done from 2D images, it's just so crazy to think about. I don't have the computing power to do very much raw 3D modeling from scratch, but I think there are still some options for me. I guess I'll have to do some more research on what all I can reasonably do.
It's been a busy weekend, but not too busy or cold to fly thankfully. I spent most of my time making minor flight adjustments, and haven't flown with my camera equipped because I didn't want to crash with the gimble just yet. I've also been flying the mini drones I got constantly, and I might choose to learn about how those are programmed. I read an article about trying to program them to fly in swarms, but it was an extremely complex task.
I finally think I fixed the issue which was rooted not in the quadcopter, but in the controller. I was adjusting settings mid flight and one of the switches had been changed from hold to gear. I have no clue what gear does, but hold seemed to make the quadcopter hold in place when I hit the right switch. I didn't have a ton of time to test it, as it was freezing cold outside, but I think everything is finally working. If I have the recourses, I might start and try and get into 3D modeling with my drone next!
Within the last week, I haven't accomplished anything. My drone is flying, but even with a new receiver, the GPS functions refuse to work. I still have some settings to change in my controller, but I might be paying my uncle a visit, as he fixed this same issue for me before. Through all of this, I realized that if I ever start something new, I'm going to start with a well known company. So far, over all the time I've spent looking on YouTube, I can't find any fix or similar problem to mine, which makes things a little more difficult.
I may have found my issue with my GPS, and I bought a new receiver to try and fix it. I tampered with some wires I shouldn't have in my old receiver box, and I broke off one of two antennas. I attempted to solder the part I broke back on, but the wire looked less than a single hair thick, and melted away whenever the led touched it. It was only like $20, so I bought a receiver with the antennas in it. The other week I bought a new, much nicer gimbal too, and that's all hooked up and works amazingly.
I spent a few hours this weekend getting my current gimbal all all set up, and finally, I got it to work. I can only control one axis at a time (up and down or side to side) but I think that's just due to my flight controller. I was extremely happy about getting everything working, but in the process I also manged to break the gps hold function, likely somewhere in the settings of my controller and not the quadcopter. Fixing that is gonna be my new project, which I can probably do in class. I'll have a picture of my current set up down below!
I've done a little research over the week, and I believe the I need is called a gimbal controller, which is funny, because it's not what I think of when I hear controller. I believe it looks something like the above picture, but I don't think I need one that complicated. I also have no clue how to hook it up to my remote, which has extra buttons for this stuff. Thankfully, the internet is pretty handy when it comes to this stuff so I can probably figure it out. Other than melting my gimbal to custom fit my quad copter, I have't done much else.
This week I don't have anything important to report on, as I didn't do anything. My weekend ended up being too chaotic to take anything apart, and I didn't have the right tools at school to do what I wanted. I know the tools will be ready on Friday, and I should have plenty of time over the upcoming weekend to get everything taken apart and put back together so I can fly, if it's not snowing of course.
I took my helicopter apart over the weekend in hopes to find a small board to plug my gimbal into, and once again I have been disappointed. I have no clue what the board is actually called, but I can probably find one online. The whole point of the board is to relay information from my remote to the quadcopter, so that I can change the angle and orientation of my camera mid flight. I'm also going to have to cut out some foam in the quadcopter that's used to prevent batteries from vibrating, as I purchased a larger battery that doesn't quite fit. None of these issue's are too serious as long as I can figure out what the board piece I need is, and I plan to be done with this whole project a little after the temperatures warm up.
After a couple days of flight, I realized that although my project is coming together, I've got one last obstacle. The transmitter I have is extremely low range, as it is built into the camera I bought. This isn't terrible as it still works for a little while, but I can't fly out of sight which is where the fun is. I've still got to take apart my quad opted, which I think I'll do on Friday at school. This is because to hook up the gimble so that it can be operated by the remote, I need the gimble attached to the computer in the quadcopter.
Now that Christmas has has come and gone, I have everything I need for my quad copter. I have a transmitter, receiver, camera, and gimble. My current issue is wiring the gimble, and I think I'm going to have to take apart the body of my helicopter to sort everything out which isn't a big deal. I also have to reform a small portion of the gimble so that it fits under the helicopter a little better, as the base is just a little to big. After two or three more classes of working, I should have everything wired up and ready to go
With only a couple more days until Christmas, I'm just about ready to finish up my first innovation project. I've got my camera all set up to livestream to my phone over its own network, or I can use mobile data and stream the video that way, which works for longer distances. Depending on the weather, I might even go out for a fly over Christmas break, but anything below 10 degrees (F) probably isn't going to happen. For now I'll just fly indoors with my cheap $30 drone that I got at target, at least I think that's where I got it... Merry early Christmas!
It's been awhile, but I'm back with some more information. First off, there probably won't be any pictures for a while as flying in the cold is more stressful than the formal lab report I just did. The cold can actually freeze up the gyrosscope in the helicopter, which prevents it from automatically levelling out, in turn making it nearly impossible to fly. I also saw my Uncle the other weekend, and watched him fly his FPV drone. It's quite the different experience going from looking at something to looking though something. During that time, I also got to see the effects that having all the gear hooked up to a helicopter had, and the speed wasn't actually impacted as much as I thought it would be.
Lately, while waiting for Christmas, I've been thinking about my innovation project. I realized that I don't actually have too much left to do, so this weekend I'm asking my uncle some questions about his FPV helicopter. My uncle has a lot of experience with personal FPV helicopters and he has invested a lot of money into them. Right now my biggest concern is flight time changes along with changes in how the helicopter handles, as flying a quadcopter requires many small adjustments. When I first started flying with a camera, there was a noticeable difference with flight handling and I ended up crashing, so I'm hoping not to repeat that incident. Seeing $400 go flying into a tree and falling 30 feet to the ground isn't a pretty sight. I've also learned a lot about wiring connections and transmitters, so once I get the necessary equipment the construction should be relatively fast.
I had to make a slight change in plans, and from now on I'm just turning my already existing quad copter into a FPV one (first person view). My uncle is still my expert, and I called him over the weekend and he gave me a few tips on flying with a FPV quad copter, but he is likely coming to visit in a weekend or two and bring his own to show me. I won't be able to fly it, as quad copters are expensive and I'm still relatively new, but watching is a great way to gain experience in my opinion. I also went out and bought a new camera that shoots 4k video over the weekend as my current camera needed a new battery, which I couldn't find. The only issue is my laptop can't display 4k resolution without a massive blur, so everything has to be imported on my phone, which isn't a big deal.
As of now, I'm pretty hooked on trying to build a quad copter by myself. I've got an uncle who can help guide me through everything if needed, but I want to see if I can learn from my own research. My main issue is going to be money, as I'll need to buy supplies such as a frame, motors, and batteries, but hopefully with Christmas and my birthday coming up I can get some stuff for free! I've done some research on how to build a small quad copter, but I still don't know what type of programming I'll have to do to get everything to work. In the meantime, here are some pictures from earlier today that I took with my quad copter to show off the awesome fall colors! (Ignore the dates, I never actually set that stuff up, I just record.) I'm down in the lower right, looking great as ever! /\
After doing a small timeline and flying a mini helicopter around my principal, I had an idea. I'm going to try and build my own quad copter. I have a little background in programming to help, plus I know my uncle has built remote control helicopters and planes, so he can be someone I can ask questions if needed. I'm still going to try and upload some images whenever I can, I just have to build something to hold my phone or buy another Gopro camera (last one went through the wash in a sweatshirt). Expect an image or two around Saturday or so!
Until I have some more time to think, I'm just going to do some flight and post pictures on here. I want to do something cool and new, but I don't know what that would be, so my project might not be anything too innovative.
I decided that my innovation project will revolve around quad copters, partly because I own two of them. I don't know exactly what to do with them, but it's likely going to involve a camera at one point or another. I may take an interest in arial photography, but racing is also an option. For now I'm undecided on what exactly to do, but I'm hoping that as I continue to fly I'll be inspired!
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AuthorMy name's Chris, I'm a high school student who likes food, sleep, video games, and quad copters. Archives
January 2017
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