MSP430-based Palm Size Quad Copter

palm_sized_quadcopter_msp430

[Thanh] has spent some time flying quad-copters measuring 12” motor to motor, but wanted to build something smaller so that he could fly indoors. Instead of building just one, he actually constructed five different quad-copters, with motor to motor arm spans ranging from 10” to just 3”.

In his forum post, he highlights the construction process of his 10” copter, covering each step in great detail. While he breaks down his component lists into two categories based on motor to motor span, the one common item is the TI MSP430-based controller board. In particular, he used the eZ430-RF2500 development kit, which has the added benefit of a built-in 2.4 GHz wireless radio. His quad-copter uses a Wii Motion Plus gyro board to help keep it aloft, as well a handful of other components which should be pretty familiar to most of our readers.

It’s great to see the construction broken down in such detail, we imagine it will be a great resource for anyone else looking to build their own quad-copter.

Stick around to see a quick video demonstration of his mini quad-copter in action.

[Thanks, Panikos]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tLiZxjQrVg&w=470]

13 thoughts on “MSP430-based Palm Size Quad Copter

  1. Hmmm…. He seems to elude to code existing somewhere on google code, but the only thing I can find is the precompiled binary. Is anyone else seeing the source?

  2. @FredP @Matthias

    I believe the word he was looking for was allude. :-)
    al·lude/əˈlo͞od/Verb
    1. Suggest or call attention to indirectly; hint at.
    2. Mention without discussing at length.

  3. Does anyone actually sell these small quad copters in kit form? I think it would be cool to play around with but I honestly have too many partial projects going on to take this on.

  4. @aztraph If that is so, I’m still a kid…

    @that1guy I am suprised that you can’t find kits either. I would think these things would fly off the shelves around Christmas time…

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