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Show HN: The Jankest Autonomous Drone Built and Programmed from Scratch

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Re: Show HN: The Jankest Autonomous Drone Built and Programmed from Scratch

#31

Post by walrus01 »

djpilot wrote: post #20
walrus01 wrote: post #10

If you want to build a really cheap drone that can actually do autonomous GPS-guided stuff, the Kakute F7 can be flashed with Arducopter (Arudpilot), and is $49 with a power distribution board. Mostly intended for small racing drones, but can be used for other purposes. https://www.getfpv.com/holybro-kakute-f7-aio-flight-controll... https://shop.holybro.com/c/kakute-f7_0486 Or you can get the version that combines a…

What is the approximate price range to get everything needed?

absolutely everything, there's some common ground station stuff (your handheld transmitter, and goggles or 7" LCD monitor + video receiver), that's an unavoidable upfront cost separate from the aircraft itself. Figure at minimum $300 to $400 for that.

For a small quadcopter, $400-500 total parts cost, anything below that will involve a lot of quality compromises.

Take a look at some of the RTF / ready to fly specifications sold by getfpv.com or helipal.com for examples.

Re: Show HN: The Jankest Autonomous Drone Built and Programmed from Scratch

#32

Post by alexozer »

djpilot wrote: post #19
alexozer wrote: post #15

Hi, I'm the creator! Thank you all for your thoughtful comments. Some of you wanted a photo album of the journey; I quickly collected one here [0]. Apologies for duplicates, no descriptions, and Google. The full album shows a lot more of the process, but I also linked some quick highlights / milestones at the end of this comment. Also, to those who were wondering, I am still in the market for a Summer 2019 internship…

How did you get the remote control to work? Looks like you started with an Xbox controller?

I originally used an Xbox controller as a case, but the hardware was my own. Eventually I ended up putting everything inside a Raspberry Pi case. Inside I put a protoboard with an Arduino and a radio module which communicates with the radio module on the drone. The code for message serialization is custom.

Re: Show HN: The Jankest Autonomous Drone Built and Programmed from Scratch

#33

Post by StavrosK »

auto wrote: post #25
StavrosK wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oooh you should learn how to route PCBs, you're going to love both the process and the result.

I've definitely done some research into a few different manners of making my own PCBs, but I'm trying to find the right balance of doing things myself vs. time/cost associated. Since the majority of the PCB learning is going to be around KiCad, and I'll just be able to send the files along with $15 off to oshpark and get perfect boards in a week or two, it's hard to start the investment of fully custom boards.

> Since the majority of the PCB learning is going to be around KiCad, and I'll just be able to send the files along with $15 off to oshpark and get perfect boards in a week or two, it's hard to start the investment of fully custom boards.

I'm not sure what you mean here. Since it's just KiCAD and then you can get boards for cheap, why is it hard to start the investment?

Re: Show HN: The Jankest Autonomous Drone Built and Programmed from Scratch

#34

Post by auto »

StavrosK wrote: post #33
auto wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've definitely done some research into a few different manners of making my own PCBs, but I'm trying to find the right balance of doing things myself vs. time/cost associated. Since the majority of the PCB learning is going to be around KiCad, and I'll just be able to send the files along with $15 off to oshpark and get perfect boards in a week or two, it's hard to start the investment of fully custom boards.

> Since the majority of the PCB learning is going to be around KiCad, and I'll just be able to send the files along with $15 off to oshpark and get perfect boards in a week or two, it's hard to start the investment of fully custom boards. I'm not sure what you mean here. Since it's just KiCAD and then you can get boards for cheap, why is it hard to start the investment?

Sorry, when I saw fully custom I mean printing designs on photo paper and doing the chemical, as opposed to just having oshpark print them.

Re: Show HN: The Jankest Autonomous Drone Built and Programmed from Scratch

#35

Post by mrguyorama »

shard wrote: post #6

For a minute I thought the drone algorithm was somehow running on Scratch, and I was curious as to how the author had managed to accomplish this feat...

You might find his style grating, but Michael Reeves did something related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZDE6I5B9-E

Re: Show HN: The Jankest Autonomous Drone Built and Programmed from Scratch

#36

Post by StavrosK »

auto wrote: post #34
StavrosK wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Since the majority of the PCB learning is going to be around KiCad, and I'll just be able to send the files along with $15 off to oshpark and get perfect boards in a week or two, it's hard to start the investment of fully custom boards. I'm not sure what you mean here. Since it's just KiCAD and then you can get boards for cheap, why is it hard to start the investment?

Sorry, when I saw fully custom I mean printing designs on photo paper and doing the chemical, as opposed to just having oshpark print them.

Oh, no, that's too much hassle, I meant KiCAD instead of perfboard.

Re: Show HN: The Jankest Autonomous Drone Built and Programmed from Scratch

#37

Post by StavrosK »

joshvm wrote: post #29
earleybird wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Came across this little PCB mill just today: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX44z-SSL7LzcB4xxgUdHHA

I used to make PCBs at home, first using toner transfer and ferric chloride (never again, impossible to avoid staining everything in your lab), then with a UV lithography mask (photoresist and a laminator) and an exposure box used for making stencils. The UV stuff is actually pretty good, you can easily go down to 0.5mm pitch with some practice. Etching is still a pain, but I started using a clear etchant (sodium per…

That's what I do as well. I switched to JCLPCB from Dirty PCBs and am pretty happy, but I was pretty happy with Dirty as well. They give me ten 10x10cm paneled boards for like $15, and because I design tiny boards I get around 100 of them in the end, which is 99 more than I reasonably need. It's so cheap, though, that it's not worth doing anything else.

Re: Show HN: The Jankest Autonomous Drone Built and Programmed from Scratch

#38

Post by massivecali »

alexozer wrote: post #16
massivecali wrote: post #2

I've only seen the word written as jank, janky or jankiest. First for jankest. Where can I view photos of the various physical build attempts?

Yes, my use of jankest is possibly 100% contrived. Also, I recently added a comment with a photo album if you are interested!

Great! Thanks!
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