Blogs

After 4 months of work we finish to port AP_HAL library to VR Brain.

so now we are ready for test Arduplane on VRBrain and see our VR Plane fligh in the sky :)

In this video you can see only first test that we doing last week.

Our configuration are :

• VR Brain 4.0 
• Mediatek GPS 
• Radio Hitech aurora 9 
• Battery 3S 1800 mah
• We decide to use a Sail Plane EasyGlider Pro for our first test , it fly very well :

We are using  3 servos configuration 1 for control the roll of plane connect to two servo ,  one for pitch control and other for YAW control.

We try to fly 3 mode :

• manual for have a full direct control of Plane .
• stabilize for control auto stabilization of plane when we putted the stick in the center.
•  return to landing , this is the fist automatic functionality that we test on our VR Plane :) It's work very well and when reach the point start to Circle .

Fly a Plane is a lot different that fly a Multicopter , I fly for 4 years only multicopter but my first impression is that the plane fly in more natural way than a multicopter ... less problem .... more simple to control  but could be only a first impression :) 

So the plane have a lot of limit respect of Multicopter but it could be a very long flight time respect to Multicopter especially in Sail Plane configuration.

The video is developed by VR Media division , the Chief of division is Daniele that's  our beta tester of  VR Plane.

Thanks to the DevTeam and beta tester  for this great result.

Best

Roberto Navoni 

This is main board normally put on Gimbal frame near the Quad . 

This is the two options imu available normally is on camera module: 

2 axis with 3 accelerometer and 3 gyroscope 3 magnetometer in one version we use mpu6050 and in other we use mpu 9150 1 chip 9 DOF sensor.

Some friends start to design different kind of gimbal for our new board. The main difference respect of standard gimbal is that the mechanical frame need to be develop for each video sensor that you would like to use for your video. This frame is for Gopro Hero 2-3 in the design is important to move CG of camera for obtain better result during gimbal stabilization :)

This is the caratheristics of our : VR Gimbal :

Micro Controller is STM32F1 at 72 mhz.

3 Axis Brushless Direct Drive gimbal :

• Roll    (MOT1)
• Pitch  (MOT2)
• Yaw    (MOT3)

For each channel we have 3 high power pwm output .

I2C IMU that support 3 axis . It  is on camera module , so we can know exactly the position of camera and control in realtime the 3 Brushless motors.

We are developing two option :

• more traditional approach : MPU6050 (6 DOF) + HMC5883 (3 DOF)
• new sensor from inversense MPU 9150 (9 DOF)

1 USB port.

1 Serial port that support mavlink protocol.

1 Power module that support until 3S battery.

4 Radio RC Input for :

• Control ROLL Setup.
• Control Pitch Setup.
• Control YAW Setup.
• IR control repeater.

4 Analog Input 0-3.3v

1 IR Out , so is pssible to control a remote camera by its ir receiver.

The first batch of production will be available in 3 week it's better to reserve your board because there is a big request of this gimbal.

for more info send a mail to info@virtualrobotix.com

Best

Roberto Navoni

Today Marco doing a great test with his Hexa and VRBrain  he used firmware Arducopter32 2.9.2b developed by official DIYDRONES Team and ported on VRBrain and supported by VRI Lab Team.

The Dev Team doing a great work :) The main advantages of VRBRain is that is 30x faster of standard APM 2.5. The main difference is processor: VR Brain use STM32F4 168 mhz  and integrated FPU . APM used a standard AVR 8 bit processor at 16 mhz.

On VRBrain the scheduled time task  is respected at 99% , we have 80 % of cpu time in idle  and 3/4 flash free for  future development of firmware and 1 year of test by our VRI flight team.

With this feature you have a great smoth flight and the attitude is processed at 500 hz  , sensor is update at 1 khz instead of 250 hz in APM 2.5. 

In this test the VRBrain is controlled directly by AndroPilot. The application is available on Google Play and supported by Android 4.x Pad and Smartphone.

The AndroPilot is connected to VRBrain by 3DR radio telemetry module directly connected to USB port of ASUS Pad.

In video is possible to see the guided mode and Follow me functionality available on AndroPilot application.

The AndroPilot use internal GPS Pad for position of Marco and send every some times and when Marco move the new point to drone that follow Marco during his travel in the field.

I think that this result is very impressive . The integration of different technology is developed very good , It's only an early stage prototype but the result is yet very good . 

The board use by Marco is VR Brain 4.0 with enclosure and 3DR Ublox the quality of fix is very good. 

For more info of VRBRAIN : 

http://www.virtualrobotix.com/page/vr-brain-v4-0

Best

Regards

Roberto Navoni

We are working on our new store and website . We are working hard on new and exting technology for advanced next generation drone.

On our website you can found a lot of information and detail about our product : BOD a new concept of customizable drone ...

Gola-kele  a great and professional frame for advanced waterprof application.

Will be available minisite with tutorial and a lot of video from our community .

A lot of info about our great 32 bit advanced Flight Control VR Brain , fully compatibile with Arduplane , Arducopter and Ardurover firmware with different option and special add on for have on your drone a real advanced linux pc based on 454 mhz arm cpu.

We have inside our catalog a lot great product ad also resell and support 3DR product like a GPS , Telemetry module and a lot of new advanced MADE IN ITALY products :)

if you would buy our product , need more info or would became a partner send us a mail at : info@virtualrobotix.com

if you would buy using our new ecommerce website going here : 

http://www.virtualrobotix.it

Best

Roberto Navoni

After an hard work  VR Lab team finish the porting of AP_HAL library to VRBRAIN.

Now we start doing first test on Arducopter rev 3.0 and Arduplane 2.71 . 

Emile yet start to do first test on Arducopter rev 3.0 the great news is  that in the next week we start to doing the first test of Arduplane on VRBrain . Our beta tester is Daniele Avagadri . He is member of Virtual Robotix Italia team and have a 12 years of experience on RC airplane.

here info about VR Brain the price start from 150 euro.

http://www.virtualrobotix.com/page/vr-brain-v4-0

Last video doing by Marco Robustini

Here you can find the firmware repository :

http://code.google.com/p/vrbrain

ap_hal project is available in ap_hal_newdir branch.

This is mini site for ready to fly firmware :

http://vrbrain.wordpress.com/

for more info send a mail to : info@virtualrobotix.com

original blog post : http://www.virtualrobotix.com/profiles/blogs/arducopter-arduplane-and-ardurover-firmware-based-on-ap-hal-libra

Thanks to Emile , Andrew , Pat and the other member of the team for the support to our work and for the ap_hal multi platform code revision.

Best

Roberto Navoni

By John Baichtal

It’s remarkable how the MIT Hobby Shop presages aspects of the hackerspace movement…

In the 1937-38 academic year, Vannevar Bush, then Vice President of MIT, granted a group of 16 MIT students permission to use a room in the basement of building 2. With equipment they found around the Institute they set up a wood and metal shop in the 16-foot by 22-foot area. The club members chose the name “Hobby Shop” based on their belief in the philosophy that the well rounded individual pursued interests outside their profession – hobbies.

Now in its 75th year, we take a look back how the Hobby Shop began, and evolved to what it is today.

I'm surprised this hasn't been posted here given it's raising a lot of discussion elsewhere in regards to flying safely and it's safety month here.

Discussions on other forums have gone from 'what an idiot' to 'what a great job of being prepared and doing the right thing'. Personally, I thought it was a very good example of doing the right thing. The pilot was no where near the crowd and flying only over water where there was no chance of hurting anyone if anything went wrong, which it did. They had CAA approval being right next to the London city airport.

More information about the event including how a diver recovered the camera on the UAS Vision website.

The evolution of the code, the improvements made by the development team and the passion that we are putting in all this public project is bearing fruits that much hoped for.
ArduCopter is reaching commercial products, offers even more potential at an affordable cost.
Roberto Navoni and Emile Castelnuovo by "Virtualrobotix Italia" was the pionieer of ARM platform for ArduCopter code with the powerfull “VR Brain” (in this video), the new “PX4” now ranks at the same level but delayed on the roadmap, although we are almost ready for the first official stable release, i will start my hard test this week.
This blog post is dedicated to people, like me, using heart and mind for this passion, and this video to Leonard for making Acro mode much better!
Just to say thanks to the whole “ArduCopter Dev Team”, DIY Drone community, “3DRobotics”, “Virtualrobotix Italia” and all those who like me are following this project with the right spirit, that of fun and sharing experience… enjoy with ArduCopter!

Bests... Marco
-= ArduCopter Dev Team =-
https://www.facebook.com/marcouav
http://diydrones.com/profile/marco67

I can't help but notice that allot of time in the discussions on DIY Drones is spent arguing. Clearly this saps the energy of this community. It is best never to get involved. That being said I think everyone who is active in any open source community (not just owners) should watch this video.

Bike sheds

Original blog post : http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/dissent-in-an-open-source-community

"Cheap ADS-B on Amateur Drones":

Get a head start on the NASA Centennial Challenge's ADS-B requirements by plugging a $20 USB dongle into your drone and tracking nearby aircraft:

1. Start with an AR.Drone (or other ARM-based amateur drone).
2. Buy a $30 USB dongle.  See the rtl-sdr wiki for recommendations.
3. Compile and install the dump1090 Mode S/ADS-B decoder software with my easy-to-use cross-compiler setup: ardrone-dump1090-cross-compiler
4. Plug in the receiver.

And now you're decoding packets:

ADS-B sense-and-avoid is seen as critical to integrating unmanned aircraft into the National Air Space, and this is the beginning of a cheap "sense" solution.  Next up: "avoid".

Origina blog post : http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/ads-b-decoding-on-an-ar-drone