[HN Gopher] Drones from Scraps
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Drones from Scraps
Author : mooreds
Score : 45 points
Date : 2021-10-26 14:26 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.hardwarethings.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.hardwarethings.org)
| jacquesm wrote:
| I once had an idea for a _very_ low cost servo for flight control
| (cents), I really should try that out to verify if it works, if
| it is reliable enough it would allow their cost to drop a bit.
| stavros wrote:
| What's the design like?
| jacquesm wrote:
| Email?
| stavros wrote:
| Sure thing, it's in my profile.
| jacquesm wrote:
| sent.
| stavros wrote:
| Thanks, replied!
| btbuildem wrote:
| This is really cool. I imagine this infrastructure could provide
| a two-way channel, for example the hospital could send critical /
| time sensitive supplies (like refrigerated drugs) back to the
| community, based on samples previously submitted.
| HeyLaughingBoy wrote:
| This is amazing. Not just the construction of drones from
| leftover materials, but using them to overcome the problems of
| limited infrastructure.
|
| I could spend all day reading stuff like this!
| diego wrote:
| This is a good story, but really the airframes are the cheapest
| part of fixed wing drones. You can build them out of dollar store
| foam if you'd like, people have been doing it for years [1]. The
| expensive part are the electronics, in particular if you'd like
| the drone to do something useful. The motor, servos, speed
| controllers, flight controller, gps, receiver, antennas, payload
| can be 99% of the cost.
|
| [1[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAd5Zbb-p6I
| Ancapistani wrote:
| As a drone nerd, the very first thing I saw was that the wings
| they pictured were using a Pixhawk. That model is around $100
| by itself, and you're not going to be finding them in trash.
|
| Meanwhile, a complete wing from some manufacturers with an
| autopilot, is ~$150.
|
| On further inspection, they're using a 3D-printed fuselage, and
| presumably 3D printed wing supports. In that case, the only
| thing that _might_ be made from "scraps" is the cardboard
| skin.
| stavros wrote:
| Foam: $10
|
| Flight controller: $15
|
| GPS: $15
|
| ESC: $20
|
| Motor: $20
|
| Receiver: $15
|
| Two servos: $5
|
| If you want video, that's another $30 for camera+vtx. That's
| it, $130 for the whole thing, with FPV video.
| itsyaboi wrote:
| Absolutely. In fact, just gluing a $30 flight controller +
| servos/motor to a foam board can work [1].
|
| I am curious about the "custom SMS" solution used to control
| the plane. Shame that wasn't expanded on.
|
| [1[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhNWSxHbFjw
| jacquesm wrote:
| I read that as instrumentation, not control.
| stavros wrote:
| It probably was, but it's pretty simple to add waypoints to
| a mission via SMS, just text it the coordinates (and
| altitude) you want it to go to.
| jacquesm wrote:
| You'd need to authenticate that or before long your will
| have your drones stolen or crashed.
| stavros wrote:
| Certainly, but it's easy to make it accept commands only
| from certain numbers or containing a password.
| Ancapistani wrote:
| With a local operator with a radio - and granted, that's not
| super cheap - you can omit the FC and wire the radio receiver
| directly to the servos. Then you'd only need an ESC and a
| motor.
| stavros wrote:
| A cheap FlySky radio costs $30 or so. The receiver costs
| another $15. It's really not expensive at all.
| Ancapistani wrote:
| That's true, but if you're operating on-site that far
| away you'd need an FPV receiver.
|
| Granted I'm coming from a position of privilege, so when
| I price this in my head I think "$200 for a RadioMaster
| TX16S, $600 for a Skyline 04X".
|
| You could totally use a much cheaper setup and have it
| work just fine. For video feed, you can get COTS
| solutions for ~$50. You could probably build it for $30.
| stavros wrote:
| Yeah, if you want the good stuff, you'll spend a lot of
| money, but a TX16S is way overkill for what they're
| doing. Plus, if you're going to spend $600 on goggles,
| might as well get digital ones :P
| Ancapistani wrote:
| > Plus, if you're going to spend $600 on goggles, might
| as well get digital ones :P
|
| That's bait :)
| stavros wrote:
| Oh man I got the DJI ones and now I can't fly my analog
| planes because I don't like having my image composed of
| three blobs.
|
| Seeing this from the goggles is fantastic:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn9th3C1XDI
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