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PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

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Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#91

Post by edave »

andreyf wrote: post #29
thaumaturgy wrote: post #5

Nice! This is more of what I'd like to see on HN.

Might be asking too much, but I'd also like to see a thread discussing the possible parts, schematics, and source code I could use to hack one of these together myself :) To start: what kind of rotors are those? Are they expensive?

I work with the exact same setup. You're looking at 100-250k for the "Vicon" (motion capture) setup and 4k+ for the quad rotor (an Ascending Technologies Hummingbird).

That sounds like a lot, but the motion capture system can accurately track things with sub-millimeter precision at, at least, 100fps. The Hummingbird is very sophisticated, with a 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis magnometer, 3-axis gyro and high performance brushless motors, and of course, the R&D cost for developing all of it.

DIYDrones has a lot of good info on hacking these together, but you won't get the performance you're seeing in that movie.

I've talked to people who are trying to build a poor man's version of these and they're aiming for 600-800, but it's not going to be as high performance.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#92

Post by edave »

blhack wrote: post #44
starkfist wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the USA, no, not really.

So where is this different? And how? Who is funding this outside of the US and for what?

Ironically, it's the civilian sector that's limiting this research to the DoD. The FAA has very strict regulations on flying autonomous drones outdoors (basically, you're not allowed to do it), so this has seriously hobbled a lot of research into UAVs, etc. Israel, Canada, Western Europe and other places are far ahead now in terms of commercial autonomous drones.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#93

Post by protomyth »

richardw wrote: post #90
drawkbox wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything good starts out for war, entertainment or porn. Later that technology benefits regular uses which become the mainstream. Throughout history all great minds and technological advances were close to defense development. This here internet is an example, GPS another. Good things come from war competition thats the rub.

The Wright Brothers and Ford weren't doing it for any of those, and neither were the people who invented chocolate or GM rice. People researching the solar system aren't working for the defense industry. Many, many things originate outside of war, entertainment or porn.

Using the Wright Brothers as an example might not be the best. They had a lot of dealing with US Army.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#94

Post by protomyth »

motters wrote: post #87
run4yourlives wrote: post #14

Holy. Crap. Imagine what could become of this research in 5-10 years of sustained development? God help the poor sucker that needs to deal with one of those things when coupled with less than benevolent intentions. Imagine five of these, armed and working together? Good bye urban combat, hello robotic assassins.

Based upon my observations there is no such thing as "sustained development" in academic robotics research. Otherwise I agree that larger versions of this with a weapon could make war crimes or acts of terrorism easy to commit.

Or save some civilian lives in a war zone. The robot drone soldier might actually be able to take the time to assess the target instead of split second shooting. If a normal soldier hesitates, the the soldier could die. If a person commanding a remote drone hesitates, well then maybe you have to order a new drone or some spare parts.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#95

Post by stcredzero »

The maneuvers look like something out of The Empire Strikes Back.

If the maneuvering could be calculated locally in relation to sensed objects and other quad rotors, then robust swarming behavior combined with this degree of agility is easily achievable.

Small swarms of such quad rotors equipped with video cameras could autonomously patrol a certain volume around a base vehicle. Low res video feeds could be used for automatic heuristic recognition of bipedal targets.

Perfect a lightweight weapon like a Gyrojet, and this becomes a very effective area denial and recon system. Combine this with Taser projectiles and you could have a very effective crowd control or prison security system.

14 minute battery life doesn't seem like a lot, but with a swarm, individual units could be programmed to return and perch on a battery exchange dock. Such a system could be installed on a vehicle like a Humvee or an APC.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#96

Post by stcredzero »

dejb wrote: post #84
run4yourlives wrote: post #14

Holy. Crap. Imagine what could become of this research in 5-10 years of sustained development? God help the poor sucker that needs to deal with one of those things when coupled with less than benevolent intentions. Imagine five of these, armed and working together? Good bye urban combat, hello robotic assassins.

Imagine ten thousand of them swarming in over the horizon, all sharing data and building a super accurate 3d map of everywhere they go. In 5-10 years time the cost of something like this would have to be less than $100. I guess power supply/range would be the main problem.

Operate them in swarms around base vehicles, where they can dock with a battery-exchanger. Each unit's endurance is 14 minutes, but the whole swarm is only limited by the fuel available to the base vehicle's generator.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#97

Post by stcredzero »

whimsy wrote: post #33
run4yourlives wrote: post #14

Holy. Crap. Imagine what could become of this research in 5-10 years of sustained development? God help the poor sucker that needs to deal with one of those things when coupled with less than benevolent intentions. Imagine five of these, armed and working together? Good bye urban combat, hello robotic assassins.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. When I saw it, I instantly thought of Man Hacks from Half Life 2 - flying drones with buzz-saws attached. They were far less maneuverable than these quadcopters. Buzz-saws are for chumps, though - I'm sure these things could carry more than sufficient C4 to ensure that any human-sized target was eliminated completely in the sort of way that their relatives hope their dental records are up t…

With a Gyrojet style weapon, it would be easy to fit 4 or 5 rounds of ammo with the stopping power of a 45 caliber on such a platform. Taser rounds could also be quite doable, and even adapted to the same launcher. This would be complimentary, as Gyrojets have a minimum range of 15' or so, which is a practical max range for a Taser.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#98

Post by drawkbox »

richardw wrote: post #90
drawkbox wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything good starts out for war, entertainment or porn. Later that technology benefits regular uses which become the mainstream. Throughout history all great minds and technological advances were close to defense development. This here internet is an example, GPS another. Good things come from war competition thats the rub.

The Wright Brothers and Ford weren't doing it for any of those, and neither were the people who invented chocolate or GM rice. People researching the solar system aren't working for the defense industry. Many, many things originate outside of war, entertainment or porn.

It is forever intertwined. Ford was against financing war (but also supported Hitler), but the roads and interstates that made the car viable in the US was military driven by Eisenhower's interstate system (and the railroad monopolies).

I agree things are made/innovated on outside of war, but somewhere along the line most technology is defense driven or funded.

What was the Wright brothers invention used for first? Later came commercial flight.

The solar system research is driven by science but the science programs are largely defense supported and dual purpose. For instance, many of the shuttle trips have a defense purpose or classified payloads. Even the trip to the Moon was for defense leverage on Earth.

From Archimedes to Tesla to science and technology innovation today, most technological advances are closely linked to defense funding or war technology.

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#99

Post by drawkbox »

protomyth wrote: post #93
richardw wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Wright Brothers and Ford weren't doing it for any of those, and neither were the people who invented chocolate or GM rice. People researching the solar system aren't working for the defense industry. Many, many things originate outside of war, entertainment or porn.

Using the Wright Brothers as an example might not be the best. They had a lot of dealing with US Army.

Some info on those deals: http://www.nasm.si.edu/wrightbrothers/age/1910/military.cfm

Re: PhD Student gets quadrotor helicopter moving aggressively

#100

Post by metamemetics »

hassenben wrote: post #78
metamemetics wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of cognitive science (especially AI related) and cog psychology is DoD related as well. For FY2010 60% of the US governments total R&D spending is military 40% non-military.

Reference please?

http://budgetinsight.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/research-and-d...

>Historically, between 50 and 60 percent of the federal R&D investment is made in defense.

>[mentions the American Reinvestment and Recover Act]However, despite this shift in R&D investment priorities, defense R&D spending continues to outpace non-defense R&D spending by $20 billion.

>For psychology claim, my own experience

sry takes a while to respond with /noprocast on

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