[HN Gopher] Drones from Scraps ___________________________________________________________________ Drones from Scraps Author : mooreds Score : 45 points Date : 2021-10-26 14:26 UTC (2 days ago) (HTM) web link (www.hardwarethings.org) (TXT) w3m dump (www.hardwarethings.org) | jacquesm wrote: | I once had an idea for a _very_ low cost servo for flight control | (cents), I really should try that out to verify if it works, if | it is reliable enough it would allow their cost to drop a bit. | stavros wrote: | What's the design like? | jacquesm wrote: | Email? | stavros wrote: | Sure thing, it's in my profile. | jacquesm wrote: | sent. | stavros wrote: | Thanks, replied! | btbuildem wrote: | This is really cool. I imagine this infrastructure could provide | a two-way channel, for example the hospital could send critical / | time sensitive supplies (like refrigerated drugs) back to the | community, based on samples previously submitted. | HeyLaughingBoy wrote: | This is amazing. Not just the construction of drones from | leftover materials, but using them to overcome the problems of | limited infrastructure. | | I could spend all day reading stuff like this! | diego wrote: | This is a good story, but really the airframes are the cheapest | part of fixed wing drones. You can build them out of dollar store | foam if you'd like, people have been doing it for years [1]. The | expensive part are the electronics, in particular if you'd like | the drone to do something useful. The motor, servos, speed | controllers, flight controller, gps, receiver, antennas, payload | can be 99% of the cost. | | [1[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAd5Zbb-p6I | Ancapistani wrote: | As a drone nerd, the very first thing I saw was that the wings | they pictured were using a Pixhawk. That model is around $100 | by itself, and you're not going to be finding them in trash. | | Meanwhile, a complete wing from some manufacturers with an | autopilot, is ~$150. | | On further inspection, they're using a 3D-printed fuselage, and | presumably 3D printed wing supports. In that case, the only | thing that _might_ be made from "scraps" is the cardboard | skin. | stavros wrote: | Foam: $10 | | Flight controller: $15 | | GPS: $15 | | ESC: $20 | | Motor: $20 | | Receiver: $15 | | Two servos: $5 | | If you want video, that's another $30 for camera+vtx. That's | it, $130 for the whole thing, with FPV video. | itsyaboi wrote: | Absolutely. In fact, just gluing a $30 flight controller + | servos/motor to a foam board can work [1]. | | I am curious about the "custom SMS" solution used to control | the plane. Shame that wasn't expanded on. | | [1[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhNWSxHbFjw | jacquesm wrote: | I read that as instrumentation, not control. | stavros wrote: | It probably was, but it's pretty simple to add waypoints to | a mission via SMS, just text it the coordinates (and | altitude) you want it to go to. | jacquesm wrote: | You'd need to authenticate that or before long your will | have your drones stolen or crashed. | stavros wrote: | Certainly, but it's easy to make it accept commands only | from certain numbers or containing a password. | Ancapistani wrote: | With a local operator with a radio - and granted, that's not | super cheap - you can omit the FC and wire the radio receiver | directly to the servos. Then you'd only need an ESC and a | motor. | stavros wrote: | A cheap FlySky radio costs $30 or so. The receiver costs | another $15. It's really not expensive at all. | Ancapistani wrote: | That's true, but if you're operating on-site that far | away you'd need an FPV receiver. | | Granted I'm coming from a position of privilege, so when | I price this in my head I think "$200 for a RadioMaster | TX16S, $600 for a Skyline 04X". | | You could totally use a much cheaper setup and have it | work just fine. For video feed, you can get COTS | solutions for ~$50. You could probably build it for $30. | stavros wrote: | Yeah, if you want the good stuff, you'll spend a lot of | money, but a TX16S is way overkill for what they're | doing. Plus, if you're going to spend $600 on goggles, | might as well get digital ones :P | Ancapistani wrote: | > Plus, if you're going to spend $600 on goggles, might | as well get digital ones :P | | That's bait :) | stavros wrote: | Oh man I got the DJI ones and now I can't fly my analog | planes because I don't like having my image composed of | three blobs. | | Seeing this from the goggles is fantastic: | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn9th3C1XDI ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-10-28 23:01 UTC)