81–90 of 105 posts
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The props are made of plastic (I have a similar unit as the person who made the video, I just don't live near a volcano). Coincidentally, I actually ordered a spare set today: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1013324-REG/dji_part3_...
Would you recommend DJI Phantom or are there other up and coming hobbyist drone manufacturers worth looking at?
This is supremely cool. Tangential stupid question: Obviously there's been a ton of buzz lately (and innovation) in the drone space. What's the big technological driver that's allowed / caused this to happen? I don't know the details of the internals but it seems that the tech has been around for a while (radio controlled planes, servos, helicopters, smallish cameras, etc.).
The multi-rotor drones are basically uncontrollable without computers; you need a reasonably powerful processor, which in turn means a fairly high-capacity battery. I think a lot of the innovation has come from mobile phone tech; there's now a lot more demand for small, light, high-performance processors, batteries and cameras, and so while much of the tech is not really new it's a lot more available to hobbyists tha…
True.
> which in turn means a fairly high-capacity battery.
Not true.
A microcontroller CPU is good enough. Take a look at the KK2.1 flight controller.
https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__49254__Hobbyking...
Its brain is an ATmega644, which only requires 240µA @ 1.8V, 1MHz, according to the spec sheet.
http://www.atmel.com/devices/atmega644.aspx
You do need energy-dense batteries, but all that energy goes into the rotors.
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Just curious, which music would you use? This happens to be important to me, so some analysis would be appreciated. EDIT: Assume only a visual feed was available, no audio.
I would frankly like to hear the sounds of a spewing, gushing, burning volcano, even if it's underneath the (also very fun to listen to) sound of the drone itself and all the wind noise. It doesn't seem like a huge leap in intuition to realize that this would be exciting to hear even if the environment is noisy.
Nice footage but I didn't really like the editing. On a side not, damn $900 and it can fly 22 minutes. That sounds very little, I hope this things will improve soon they sound amazingly fun!
From a hacker's perspective, this is very want.
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Watching an uncontrolled drone strafe an overpass at street level and split power lines for a commuter train, really increases my sympathy toward those who want to regulate these.
Sure, everything has to be regulated; but how do you propose to regulate and then how do you propose to enforce those regulations?
The Phantom 2 are pretty great drones ... but they're also prone to "fly away" where they decide to take-off on their own - ignoring your commands. There's a bunch of videos on YouTube showing people's Phantoms flying away. Like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkQ9eB7M7iQ This video purports to help prevent that from happening, though it's not guaranteed to prevent your $1000 drone from making a break for it…
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We really should also regulate pigeons.
Pigeons usually do not have fast-spinning blades attached to them. I am not really for regulation, but these things can actually hurt people [1]. RC Helicopters (with one large, main rotor) have actually killed people [2]. Hobbyists must take great care to operate their drones safely, and companies should assume some liability for runaway situations like this if they ever result in injuries. Warning, pictures of inju…
BRB attaching circular saw to pigeon
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It fails as soon as one of the rotors deforms. That doesn't make it very reliable. I wonder how many rotors they went trough the entire lifespan.
I backed their Kickstarter, and have also met the guys and seen those airframes in person at their "Game of Drones: Flight Club" meetups in SF [0]. You're right that they still use normal propellers, and that those will be the weak spot when ramming into things. But the point is simply that the airframe itself is sturdy and nearly indestructible. They're designed to battle in the air against one another, which inevit…
Footage got better by turning the sound off. I wonder if editors in general have poor taste in music or are simply trying to convey their excitement thru dub step background music.
Yes seriously, this was my first thought. The funny thing is that it isn't even dubstep. It is some kind of subgenre that seems to have been the trend for 2013/2014. It sounds like a microsoft surface commercial. I coined the term "clubstep" for it. Looks like someone beat me to it [1]. I've also noted an alarming trend in latest sci-fi movies with this awful music being portrayed still being the hottest thing in clu…
Maybe it would have been better without sound, but calling something "awful" or of "poor taste" just because you don't like it is a bit much, especially for something as subjective and personal as musical taste.