Gunter's Flying Robots Blog

GCOPTER is now part of the CoCo standard Software

admin — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:45:54 +0000

I’m happy to announce that after several month of work the GCOPTER SW including the possibility to extend the functionality using the 2nd serial interface is now included in the latest SW update from Conrad Electronic. This update is available for all Conrad Quadrocopters (450 and 650) and will also be available for the upcoming MEMS version.
In Addition the configuration Software known form the GCOPTER is now compatible with the Conrad Quadros. However the “old” way to configure the Quadro by using the Transmitter is still available.

I’m still happy to provide additional information for those who are willing to extend the Conrad Qadro or would like to build professional applications with the Conrad Quadro electronics.

TUHH Quadrocopter Project

admin — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:52:03 +0000

Long time no post. I was moving to the new house (and the new 40 m2 workshop) and we were busy on working on the Conrad Copter extension boards coming out soon. Too much stuff was happening during the last year to keep this blog up to date.

This time I would like to draw your attention to a amazing Quadrocopter project using the Conrad platform. However it’s not a CoCo anymore it’s something much more powerful, but it is still using the CoCo Frame and BLC’s. Better Sensors and a ATOM Processor provides enough power to do real image processing and better processing of the sensors.

Find out more: http://quadro.fst.tu-harburg.de/

The TUHH Quadrocopter with 450er frame and “Stabiplatte”. Looking forward to see it flying soon!

Object Tracking with the GCopter

admin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:43:34 +0000

This is mainly developed to test the performance of the GCopter extender Interface. In this case the serial interface is extended by an wireless link to a PC. The PC runs a video analyzing Software that returns RC-overwrites everu 20ms via ti link. T vide signal is catured by a wireless camera attached to the copter. The reciver is connected to a video capture device in the PC.
This application is realizing a “object heading” functionality and the PC application overwrites the yaw signal only at this point.

GCopter SDK is ready! Start your Flying Robot Projects!

admin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:40:10 +0000

The GCoper Software development Kit to start you’re your own flying robots project in a simple an cost efficient way without limitations in usage the resulting project can now be ordered. Go to “GCopter” for more information.
The difference between the original Quadrocopter 450 and the GCopter SDK is the software that is extended by an external control Interface. This interface can be used to query real time status data as well as overwrite the RC Receiver Signals to realize external control applications. This Interface should give enough flexible to turn the Conrad Quadrocopter into the base for your flying robots projects.
Currently we are in the process of finalizing the SDK software and documentation that can be found in this Blog. To not compete with the “mass market” Version of the Conrad Copter sloth through Conrad we will sell a different Version of the Main Control Unit board that cannot be used with Quadrocopter 450 software update binaries. And the GCopter binaries cannot be downloaded to the original Version. However the Hardware that is used is the same in both cases.

CopterConfig: Configurations Software for the GCopter

Forum is now online!

admin — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:54:55 +0000

After a huge number of mails and support requests and people who want to use the Conrad Quadrocopter in educational or other commercial applications I decided to open up a forum dedicated to the Flying Robots that are using the Conrad Quadrocopter as a platform.

This comes along with the possibility to source a quadrocopter SDK (Software Development Kit) to get started on flying robots development. If you are interested - send me mail and tell me about your project and ideas. In addition I will be communicate additional info inside de the Forum.

The Forum is still under construction. Recommendations and suggestions are welcome. (www.pccon.de\forum or the link onthe right)

Hammer Test

admin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:16:24 +0000

Another video of the updated Conrad Quadrocopter taken by “Hammer”. He does not like the landing gears and removed all the covers :-) but it shows how to fly the copter in “sport” configuration

Another Testflight

admin — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:02:52 +0000

Another Test flight of the Conrad Quadrocopter 450 ARF with the original Conrad Flight Control. This one is was taken in Hallbergmoos on the MFV-Hallbergmoos (www.mfv-hallbergmoos.de) airfield.

Yes it’s flying - really?

admin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 07:44:43 +0000

Looks like some customers of the Quadrocopter 450 ARF experienced some issues with sensebility to temperature and other issues but the copter is actually flying. The video shows it. I would like to here your experience - even i’m not the the conrad supportline I may able to help.

In addition I’m now able to share some technical details on how the HW can be pimped and can be used to build your own SW and HW extensions. Take a look under Quadrocopter 450 Tab

Indoorgaudi 2009

admin — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:29:35 +0000

The Indoorgaudi 2009 is gaining more and more intrest in the helicopter idoor flying scene around Munich. This time we had a few more quadrocopters pilots as well. A good mixture of all types. TT-copter, Mikrokopter, UAVP and the new Conrad Quadro as well.

This is my 2nd time visiting the Indoorgaudi and the first public presentation of my quadrocopter with distance control. Some of you may know that i have tested this on a Mikrokopter 2 years ago in Ireland (klick!). 4 IR distatnce sensors and one for the hight control make this quadrocopter reacting to his environment. Just watch this video and tell me what you think. it’s not perfect as the code was just finished the night before and this was almost the first test flight. But you can see it’s working.

The robot is using the Conrad Quadrocopter 450 Hardware with an AD converter extender board to connect 5 distance sensors. This board is based on a MEGA168 AVR. i willpost more about this in a couple of days

Welcome Back

admin — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:44:02 +0000

Welcome to my new Blog. After a few month of silence some people may ask what was happening. I was finally able to move to the new Blog system and had time to summarize what i have been done over the last few month.

This is the result of the last few month:

The new Quadrocopter from Conrad Electronic (Germany) is now in production and i had a chance to be part of the test pilot team. I would say This quadrocopter is the best what you can get for 299 EUR. Powerfull brushless engines. MEAG 128 based conrol board with 3 gyros and one 3 axis acc.

I also have a video from one of our test flights availiable for download