Robot Helicopter

[Private Reid]

Has any1 here maneged to successfully build a Helicopter robot? Or even Unsuccessfully? At least tried?

I just think that that would be pretty cool  

[benji]

to make a thing fly perfectly that would be somthing very big
check CMU robotics institute projects ,there is one called autonomous helicopter
im not sure if there is any good information about it there

[DC-Electronics]

Heli's are a work of freakin art, and its pretty hard to replicate them on a miniature scale without alot of precision machinery and the like.
Its possible, but far more feasible to go along the lines of a blimp or something of that nature.

[Admin]

Or even Unsuccessfully? At least tried?

http://www.societyofrobots.com/member_tutorials/node/46

sorry GHF, I couldn't resist

[hgordon]

I have modified a German X3D quad for robot control but never got to the point of completely stable hover.  Also, I did a lot of work on a fixed blade coaxial rotor with robot controller, but there's still a lot of work required to achieve stability - see
    http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=706462

The basic conclusion I came to was that it takes a LOT of power to get a motorized device airborne, and the slightest bit of misdirection of the power away from the vector of gravity sends the airframe off in a direction away from the desired hover position.  I ended up going with blimps - a lot less dangerous -
    http://www.surveyor.com/YARB.html

[Private Reid]

oooooohhhhhhhh

Very cool 

[superchiku]

i need to take up robotics professionaly after my BE so that i can also make these cool machines

[Private Reid]

I'd love to make one...

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=706462

http://www.surveyor.com/YARB.html


And those links are awesome 

[Private Reid]

You'd need a pretty fast microcontroller for something like that. Wouldn't ya?

It's got to be fast or else the whole thing wouldn't react fast enough if it suddenly rolled or lost balance.

Would you also need a ACCELEROMETER for something like that

http://www.societyofrobots.com/sensors_accelerometer.shtml

and connect it up like Admin has done? Then the robot would notice if it was falling, or off balance.

[Private Reid]

OK

I was going to post this in robot video's

But this is the topic about helicopters so here is some you tube video's

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7X4ersTcWw[/youtube]


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLp5VxUnk5A[/youtube]

Both start off using remotes

[hgordon]

Here is more information on the quad rotor project -
    http://www.surveyor.com/cgi-bin/robot_journal.cgi/2007/11/25#130

You'd need a pretty fast microcontroller for something like that. Wouldn't ya?

It's got to be fast or else the whole thing wouldn't react fast enough if it suddenly rolled or lost balance.

Would you also need a ACCELEROMETER for something like that

Yes - the microcontroller has to be fast.  A 3-axis accelerometer is needed to detect pitch, roll and change of altitude, but unfortunately, by itself the accelerometer is not sufficient because vibration and small changes in position tend to overwhelm the sensor.  For successful control, you need a full 6-axis IMU (3 accel, 3 gyro), and that takes a lot of software to integrate. 

Some excellent work in building open source controllers for UAV are found in Germany.  You will find good links for info here -
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrotor

[Admin]

Well, actually you don't even need a controller to have stable flight . . .

A mechanically/inherently stable design can keep your robot from going crazy.

Check out the Hiller platform as an example:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hiller+flying+platform&search_type=
(interesting how hgordons robot vids showed up in that same search!)

Basically, the distance between the lifting force (the blades) and the center of mass (motor and batteries) is very very important for stability. The longer the distance, the greater the stability. If you look at the 2nd video that Private Reid posted, you'd notice a huge mass at the very bottom of the robot helicopter.

[GHF]

Wow, I really should finish that tutorial. I actually got pretty far with the robot itself, but never had time to do the rest of the tutorial.

-Xo W.

[airman00]

Wow, I really should finish that tutorial. I actually got pretty far with the robot itself, but never had time to do the rest of the tutorial.

-Xo W.

Please do!!!

I'm really really really looking forward for the tutorial to be finished and to see the robot fly!!!!

[aludra_55]

checkout Heli Command... kinda expensive though...  it's a device that you integrate into an existing electronics of your rc helicopter...   it automatically hovers for you and stuff and you could switch it on and off...  like what i said, it is very expensive in the $500-$600...    oh yeah, i'm a newbie... be nice..  =)

[SmAsH]

hi there and welcome, but this post is very old. please read this http://www.societyofrobots.com/robotforum/index.php?topic=602.0 please try to refrain from "waking up" old posts.
not trying to be mean but it just helps people figure out which questions are still up and which arent...
same goes for the other post in the helicopter thread.