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Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

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Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#151

Post by 83 »

nostrademons wrote: post #128
hylaride wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And a lot of it is all open source! ESC software: - https://github.com/am32-firmware - https://github.com/mathiasvr/bluejay Flight controller (you mentioned these): - https://github.com/betaflight - https://github.com/ArduPilot - https://github.com/iNavFlight Control link: - https://github.com/ExpressLRS (also uses ESP32/ESP82 chips) Radio Controllers: - https://github.com/EdgeTX 5+ years ago the vast majority of thi…

You can start for ~$400 - I just bought parts for 2 drones for my kids. My shopping list: - Flywoo Goku F405 HD 1-2S 12A ELRS AIO V2 flight controller, $64, flywoo.net - Radiomaster Pocket radio controller, $65, radiomasterrc.com - EAchine EV800D VR goggles, $109.81, banggood.com - Meteor 75 frame, $5, tinywhoop.com - 4x 40mm props, $2.25, tinywhoop.com - BetaFPV canopy, $5, tinywhoop.com - TinyWhoop Pinch Premium FP…

You could knock at least a third off that total cost as well if you buy this stuff around holidays when its on sale at aliexpress.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#152

Post by fransje26 »

nostrademons wrote: post #128
hylaride wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And a lot of it is all open source! ESC software: - https://github.com/am32-firmware - https://github.com/mathiasvr/bluejay Flight controller (you mentioned these): - https://github.com/betaflight - https://github.com/ArduPilot - https://github.com/iNavFlight Control link: - https://github.com/ExpressLRS (also uses ESP32/ESP82 chips) Radio Controllers: - https://github.com/EdgeTX 5+ years ago the vast majority of thi…

You can start for ~$400 - I just bought parts for 2 drones for my kids. My shopping list: - Flywoo Goku F405 HD 1-2S 12A ELRS AIO V2 flight controller, $64, flywoo.net - Radiomaster Pocket radio controller, $65, radiomasterrc.com - EAchine EV800D VR goggles, $109.81, banggood.com - Meteor 75 frame, $5, tinywhoop.com - 4x 40mm props, $2.25, tinywhoop.com - BetaFPV canopy, $5, tinywhoop.com - TinyWhoop Pinch Premium FP…

Instead of the analogue eachine boxgoggle, you could go full digital for $199.99 with the Walksnail Avatar HD Goggles L.

Of course you will also have to pay extra for the HD camera system, and the system might be slightly on the heavy side for tinywhoops, but the upgrade to digital image is absolutely worth the price. And you might be able to get a bundle discount if you buy the goggles with a camera system.

As a disclaimer, I should add that I have 0 experience with the Walksnail system, but I do fly the other two HD systems on the market.

From my experience, starting with an analogue system was, in hindsight, a waste of money. And a disappointment as the image quality of the low cost analogue systems was particularly poor.

As a second tip, have your kids fly on the computer first, using the radiomaster pocket as a controller. That will help decrease your repair efforts due to unavoidable beginners crashes.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#153

Post by nostrademons »

stavros wrote: post #140
nostrademons wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can start for ~$400 - I just bought parts for 2 drones for my kids. My shopping list: - Flywoo Goku F405 HD 1-2S 12A ELRS AIO V2 flight controller, $64, flywoo.net - Radiomaster Pocket radio controller, $65, radiomasterrc.com - EAchine EV800D VR goggles, $109.81, banggood.com - Meteor 75 frame, $5, tinywhoop.com - 4x 40mm props, $2.25, tinywhoop.com - BetaFPV canopy, $5, tinywhoop.com - TinyWhoop Pinch Premium FP…

I don't see the ESCs, are they in the AIO?

Yeah the ESCs are on the flight controller board.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#154

Post by nostrademons »

83 wrote: post #151
nostrademons wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can start for ~$400 - I just bought parts for 2 drones for my kids. My shopping list: - Flywoo Goku F405 HD 1-2S 12A ELRS AIO V2 flight controller, $64, flywoo.net - Radiomaster Pocket radio controller, $65, radiomasterrc.com - EAchine EV800D VR goggles, $109.81, banggood.com - Meteor 75 frame, $5, tinywhoop.com - 4x 40mm props, $2.25, tinywhoop.com - BetaFPV canopy, $5, tinywhoop.com - TinyWhoop Pinch Premium FP…

You could knock at least a third off that total cost as well if you buy this stuff around holidays when its on sale at aliexpress.

I bought for Black Friday sales so there's already some discount included, but the FC is also more expensive than it needs to be because I wanted something compatible with both ArduPilot and Betaflight, and the motors are more expensive than they need to be because my kids had color preferences. I think you can easily get a FPV whoop BOM well under $100.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#155

Post by hylaride »

nostrademons wrote: post #128
hylaride wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And a lot of it is all open source! ESC software: - https://github.com/am32-firmware - https://github.com/mathiasvr/bluejay Flight controller (you mentioned these): - https://github.com/betaflight - https://github.com/ArduPilot - https://github.com/iNavFlight Control link: - https://github.com/ExpressLRS (also uses ESP32/ESP82 chips) Radio Controllers: - https://github.com/EdgeTX 5+ years ago the vast majority of thi…

You can start for ~$400 - I just bought parts for 2 drones for my kids. My shopping list: - Flywoo Goku F405 HD 1-2S 12A ELRS AIO V2 flight controller, $64, flywoo.net - Radiomaster Pocket radio controller, $65, radiomasterrc.com - EAchine EV800D VR goggles, $109.81, banggood.com - Meteor 75 frame, $5, tinywhoop.com - 4x 40mm props, $2.25, tinywhoop.com - BetaFPV canopy, $5, tinywhoop.com - TinyWhoop Pinch Premium FP…

If they stick to it, you'll eventually want to get this charger: https://viflydrone.com/products/vifly-whoopstor-6-ports-1s-b...

It'll do storage voltage (which very few 1S chargers support), which is much better for battery longevity.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#156

Post by dheera »

the__alchemist wrote: post #119
dheera wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also > All-in-one PCB: Doesn’t need any 3D printed parts or such I actually am fine 3D printing and laser cutting stuff at home but I don't have the stuff to make a PCB and don't have the hand skills to do anything more than through-hole soldering.

The intent is not at-home fabrication: It's sending it to a company in Shenzhen (e.g. JLCPCB) to do both PCB fab, and SMT assembly for you. 10-day time between order and arrival. (USA), and astonishingly low cost. PCB are sometimes used in these structural scenarios, (Where they are not the right tool for the job) as they're one of few(?) ways to get a custom part fabricated at low cost. If the device has electronics…

> JLCPCB

Minimum order of 5, as is the case for many similar factories.

Great for startups, sucks for hobbyists.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#157

Post by fitsumbelay »

mciancia wrote: post #125
fitsumbelay wrote: post #31

love everything here but I'm skeptical of real time control via wifi. for me there's always been a noticeable delay in video streaming and receiving control signal so I'm curious how this works?

Well, given how well game streaming can work (local, not cloud), I think low latency for drones should be possible :)

if you've ever streamed video on a local network over web sockets you'll notice latency. no matter how fast sending text based control messages may be, latency in the video stream will cause users to send controls with the same latency which makes control impossible as far as I know.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#158

Post by fitsumbelay »

m00x wrote: post #118
fitsumbelay wrote: post #31

love everything here but I'm skeptical of real time control via wifi. for me there's always been a noticeable delay in video streaming and receiving control signal so I'm curious how this works?

There's no video feed on this drone

if that's true then that might be helpful as your visual feedback comes directly from your eyes and not latent video plus latency for control signals is probably less. thanks for pointing this out

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#159

Post by jauntywundrkind »

not_the_fda wrote: post #72
jauntywundrkind wrote: post #32

Feels like a poor fit, given the limited number of cores available. Would be awesome to see rp2350 or some such, where there are very low power io cores available that can do work whether the main core is on or not. Embedded really is one of the best places for many-core, but it's so so rare there are good offload architectures and puny Programmable IO systems. Should out to folks like Silego/Dialog/Renesas with thei…

You don't need more cores. Ardupilot runs on much less capable hardware https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-autopilots.html#com... , we've sent people to the moon with less capable hardware. More cores just make things more complicated.

I agree that we have a wealth of capabilities available. The modern Cortex M7 cores are fantastically powerful.

Still, cramming everything into a main core had tradeoffs. It's a big core to wake up & run, with significant power draw. If you start running a bunch of stuff, it can be hard to meet realtime constraints, to provide reliable processing where needed.

The blanket statement that more cores is more complicated feels too broad. There's times when io cores are much simpler cinceptually, such as when you have realtime needs such as drones might. Subdivision of responsibility & dedicated cores is a powerful way to de-complect concerns. And it can bring huge energy savings.

Multi-core is also the chip making strategy that actually makes sense. We can cram so many transistors onto a tiny tiny chip, but what do we use the transistors for? We can keep trying to build bigger faster single cores, but there's only so much instruction level parallelism and caching we can actually effectively utilize. Having tiny io cores dedicated to specific tasks can use an incredibly tiny amount of extra die space, while providing incredibly low power dedicated processing for specific subsystems. Seems like a win.

Let's resist making broad statements like "you don't need". What's "needed" might not be what's best. We should have open minds to consider advantages & disadvantages. I for one think tiny io cores can later in amazing possibilities, have seen the rp2040 as a huge leap in capabilities (throwback to the Parallax Propeller with wide SMT like behavior) that's enabled a ton of interesting flexibility & novel low power embedded creations to get off the ground.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#160

Post by gitaarik »

phoronixrly wrote: post #2

What a great time for this article! The US is having a mass hysteria event and it turns out you can churn out DYI drones for the fat sum of $12-13 each? What a time to be alive! Edit: Hmm, considering that people are taking stars for UFOs lately, maybe a cheap drone is an overkill and a 20-pack of Chinese sky lanterns would be more than enough to keep the average US neighbourhood in a state of constant fear / see how…

The only way to cover up real sightings is with fake sighthings.
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