An Absurdly Small Tri-copter

The team behind the Femtoduino – an extraordinarily small repackaging of the Arduino – sent in a few videos from YouTuber [phineasIV], a.k.a. [Eric] that shows one of the smallest multicopters we’ve ever seen.

Because this isn’t a traditional quad or hexcopter, the control system is a little weird. Two of the motors and props are fixed along the vertical axis, while the rear prop is connected to a small servo to rotate from side to side. Still, the electronics are fairly standard for any multi rotor vehicle – a triple-axis gyro provides the stability of the vehicle coupled with MultiWii, while an amazingly small servo receiver, Bluetooth module,, Femtoduino, and a trio of brushless ESCs tie everything together.

The end result is a tri-copter that weighs about the same as the Crazyflie Nano Quadcopter, but is just a bit smaller. As impressive as it is on video (seen below), we’d love to see this tiny robotic hummingbird in person.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1pavL3uvTw&w=580]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbXyk6UADBs&w=580]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oacVziO6ie4&w=580]

16 thoughts on “An Absurdly Small Tri-copter

  1. Damn, it amazes me how far tech has come since I was in highschool. It seems like there is no limit to what can be done with a few dollars, and internet connection and a list of electronics supplier websites.

  2. Change battery for supercap, make a charging station, come up with a way for the copter to hover and charge -> ACTUAL humming bird tricopter…
    Or maybe even add a few more copters and have the most awesome (and most annoying :P) home decoration :D

  3. I own an Armattan quad that is plain awesome, fast, you can crash it a ton, and so forth.
    My vision is poor and I want a smaller quad so I can fly closer to myself, plus not worry about hacking someone with it. A little tri copter could be the ticket :)

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