(lil late, but couldn’t help myself)

I do not advocate carrying any illegal payloads, or operating a civilian UAV for any purpose other than those deemed legal by the appropriate governing authorities.

Any of my comments that contradict the above statement were made for dramatic/humorous effect and should thereby not be taken seriously or otherwise construed as intent or advocacy for any action.

In the FAQ for the kit, the designer discusses payload capabilities:

“Oooh, that’s tough to answer without actually testing. My guess is it that it wouldn’t even breathe hard with ten pounds of payload. Twenty pounds should be very manageable with careful piloting. More than that and I’d consider some beefing up in certain areas.”

That’s a lot of cameras/cocaine/ANFO/etc…

Never put it together, but its a pretty big gas (well actually diesel nitro-methane) kit. Able to haul quite a bit at a decent speed..

If speed is not a concern, the Lazy Bee kit
(http://clancyaviation.globalhobby.com/lazybee.htm) is a high lift design that can take off in about 5 feet. It’s not that big but I kinda remember a larger version of the original being sold.

The only issue would be running a gas powered UAV. So far I haven’t seen anybody do this, although I’ve been itching to give it a shot.

Anyways, hope this helps anyone seeking payload capable kits for a UAV.

We can fly an autonomous UAV, but for now it’s gotta stay below 400 ft AGL, within visual range, and with immediate operator override. Needless to say, that’s putting a crimp into my dream of lofting one to 90kft.

http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844%3ABlogPost%3A28583

Re: ITAR, if all but a few subsequent code tweaks of your work is already out there, great. I had noticed the previous IMU stuff in your portfolio, which reminded me of the travails of others (working on more sophisticated stuff) who forgot that there’s no Constitutional right to “export” tech, contract or no.

Very, very awesome work. Boards look professional grade, and from what you say, the performance is too.

Took a look around your site, and all I can say is “holy crap.” You, sir, are a god among mortals.

I’ve written an article for Circuit Cellar on the IMU algorithm. It’s 15 lines on non-PHD code. I think it’s the simplest IMU code I’ve come across. Very easy to visualize. The point is always (For me) to roll your own for maximum fun and learning.

The auto land and autopilot stuff are a handful of feedback loops. Nothing too complicated.

And to cmholm: I have signed no such contract, nor do I intend to give away government owned secrets. I have none anyway. All this stuff is public domain. I’ll never understand the reasons people think UAVs are some secret weapon. I think anyone who wants to build one can do it now. I hold no secret sauce aside from my IMU algorithm, and the only advantage there is the simplicity.

It’s far cheaper and more effective to make a swarm of autonomous Honda civics! Their payload capacity is higher anyway, plus you can install bass tubes and neon under them.

I think the interesting thing about my project is simply that I did it from scratch, and it is possible for 1 person to build a UAV from the boards up without starting with someone else’s stuff.

Maybe in a year or so, a cheap autopilot will be available for a few hundred. But a plug and play version at that price point doesn’t exist.

But that’s not the point. The point is that I had a blast and made a UAV from chips. You can go buy many of the things on this site and have one in 15 seconds. But where’s the fun in that?