Multirotors, or drones as they’re popularly called, are so ubiquitous as to have become a $10 toy. They’re no less fun to fly for it though, and learning how they work is no less fascinating. It’s something [Science Buddies] has addressed in a series of videos examining them from first principles. They may be aimed at youngsters, but they’re still an entertaining enough watch for those of advancing years.
Instead of starting with a multirotor control board, the video takes four little DC motors and two popsicle sticks to make a rudimentary drone frame. Then with the help of dowels and springs it tethers the craft as the control mechanisms are explained bit by bit, from simple on-off motor control through proportional control to adding an Arduino and following through to how a multirotor stays in flight. It’s instructional and fun to watch, and maybe even for some of us, a chance to learn something.
We’ve had multirotor projects aplenty here over the years, but how about something completely different made from popsicle sticks?
Good stuff! starting from the principles is the way to go; ready-made quads are so cheap these days that nobody even cares about learing how to DIY one (really from scratch) anymore.
I completely disagree, the drone hobby is heavily centered on building and repairing what you fly. There’s a whole lot more to the hobby than dji or other off the shelf drones, and you almost have to know some of these things to be successful.
Laughs in FPV drone
Reminds me of my undergrad days. For my capstone project I designed a tiny pcb quad and I built a little suspension platform for it so I could tune the pid loops without risking it taking off and smacking into me, the ceiling or the ground.
Yep, that’s exactly the idea here. Way more difficult to jump directly to 6DOF flight, so we give it training wheels so the students can experiment with one thing at a time.