drone hacks

504 Articles

Single Rotor Drone Spins For 360 Lidar Scanning

October 4, 2024 by 9 Comments

Multiple motors or servos are the norm for drones to achieve controllable flight, but a team from MARS LAB HKU was able to a 360° lidar scanning drone with full control on just a single motor and no additional actuators. Video after the break.

The key to controllable flight is the swashplateless propeller design that we’ve seen a few times, but it always required a second propeller to counteract self-rotation. In this case, the team was able to make that self-rotation work so that they could achieve 360° scanning with a single fixed LIDAR sensor. Self-rotation still needs to be slowed, so this was done with four stationary vanes. The single rotor also means better efficiency compared to a multi-rotor with similar propeller disk area.

The LIDAR comprises a full 50% of the drone’s weight and provides a conical FOV out to a range of 450m. All processing happens onboard the drone, with point cloud data being processed by a LIDAR-inertial odometry framework. This allows the drone to track and plan its flight path while also building a 3D map of an unknown environment. This means it would be extremely useful for indoor or underground environments where GPS or other positioning systems are not available.

All the design files and code for the drone are up on GitHub, and most of the electronic components are off-the-shelf. This means you can build your own, and the expensive lidar sensor is not required to get it flying. This seems like a great platform for further experimentation, and getting usable video from a normal camera would be an interesting challenge. Continue reading “Single Rotor Drone Spins For 360 Lidar Scanning” →

The Challenges Of Charging Drones From Power Lines

October 1, 2024 by 17 Comments

Drones that charge right on the power lines they inspect is a promising concept, but comes with plenty of challenges. The Drone Infrastructure Inspection and Interaction (Diii) Group of the University of South Denmark is tackling these challenges head-on.

The gripper for these drones may seem fairly straightforward, but it needs to inductively charge, grip, and detach reliably while remaining simple and lightweight. To attach to a power line, the drone pushes against it, triggering a cord to pull the gripper closed. This gripper is held closed electromagnetically using energy harvested from the power line or the drone’s battery if the line is off. Ingeniously, this means that if there’s an electronics failure, the gripper will automatically release, avoiding situations where linemen would need to rescue a stuck drone.Accurately mapping power lines in 3D space for autonomous operation presents another hurdle. The team successfully tested mmWave radar for this purpose, which proves to be a lightweight and cost-efficient alternative to solutions like LiDAR.

We briefly covered this project earlier this year when details were limited. Energy harvesting from power lines isn’t new; we’ve seen similar concepts applied in government-sanctioned spy cameras and border patrol drones. Drones are not only used for inspecting power lines but also for more adventurous tasks like clearing debris off them with fire. Continue reading “The Challenges Of Charging Drones From Power Lines” →

Dog Poop Drone Cleans Up The Yard So You Don’t Have To

September 28, 2024 by 20 Comments

Sometimes you instantly know who’s behind a project from the subject matter alone. So when we saw this “aerial dog poop removal system” show up in the tips line, we knew it had to be the work of [Caleb Olson].

If you’re unfamiliar with [Caleb]’s oeuvre, let us refresh your memory. [Caleb] has been on a bit of a dog poop journey, starting with a machine-learning system that analyzed security camera footage to detect when the adorable [Twinkie] dropped a deuce in the yard. Not content with just knowing when a poop event has occurred, he automated the task of locating the packages with a poop-pointing robot laser. Removal of the poop remained a manual task, one which [Caleb] was keen to outsource, hence the current work.

The video below, from a lightning talk at a conference, is pretty much all we have to go on, and the quality is a bit potato-esque. And while [Caleb]’s PoopCopter is clearly still a prototype, it’s easy to get the gist. Combining data from the previous poop-adjacent efforts, [Caleb] has built a quadcopter that can (or will, someday) be guided to the approximate location of the offending package, home in on it using a downward-looking camera, and autonomously whisk it away.

The retrieval mechanism is the high point for us; rather than a complicated, servo-laden “sky scoop” or something similar, the drone has a bell-shaped container on its belly with a series of geared leaves on the open end. The leaves are open when the drone descends onto the payload, and then close as the drone does a quick rotation around the yaw axis. And, as [Caleb] gleefully notes, the leaves can also open in midair with a high-torque yaw move in the opposite direction; the potential for neighborly hijinx is staggering.

All jokes and puns aside, this looks fantastic, and we can’t wait for more information and a better video. And lest you think [Caleb] only works on “Number Two” problems, never fear — he’s also put considerable work into automating his offspring and taking the awkwardness out of social interactions.

Continue reading “Dog Poop Drone Cleans Up The Yard So You Don’t Have To” →

StratoSoar Glider Flies Itself From High Altitude

September 23, 2024 by 32 Comments

As the technology available to the average hacker and maker gets better and cheaper each year, projects which at one time might have only been within the reach of government agencies are inching closer to our grasp. Take for example the impressive work [Charlie Nicholson] has put into his StratoSoar series of autonomous gliders.

Dropped from several thousand feet by a high-altitude balloon, the glider’s avionics are designed to either guide it along a series of waypoints or head directly towards a specific target. Once at the given coordinates it can initiate different landing programs, such as spiraling down to the ground or releasing an onboard parachute. It’s an ambitious combination of custom hardware and software, made all the more impressive by the fact that it’s been put together by somebody who’s not yet old enough to have a driver’s license.

[Charlie] originally experimented with developing his own airframe using 3D printed components, but at least for now, found that a commercial off-the-shelf foam glider was a more practical option. All that’s required is to hollow out some areas to mount the servos, battery, and the avionics. This takes the form of a custom PCB that contains a ATSAMD21G18 microcontroller, an ICM-20948 inertial measurement unit (IMU), connections for GPS and LoRa modules, as well as several onboard sensors and some flash storage to hold collected data.

The goal of this open source project is to make these sort of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) cheaper and more accessible for hobbyists and researchers. Eventually [Charlie] hopes to offer kits which will allow individuals to build and operate their own StratoSoar, making it even easier to get started. He’s currently working on the next iteration of the project that he’s calling StratoSoar MK3, but it hasn’t had a flight test yet.

We’ve seen various attempts to launch autonomous gliders from balloons in the past, but none from anyone as young as [Charlie]. We’re eager to see the StratoSoar project develop, and wish him luck in future test flights.

Continue reading “StratoSoar Glider Flies Itself From High Altitude” →

Autonomous Boat Plots Lake Beds

August 14, 2024 by 5 Comments

Although the types of drones currently dominating headlines tend to be airborne, whether it’s hobbyist quadcopters, autonomous delivery vehicles, or military craft, autonomous vehicles can take nearly any transportation method we can think of. [Clay Builds] has been hard at work on his drone which is actually an autonomous boat, which he uses to map the underwater topography of various lakes. In this video he takes us through the design and build process of this particular vehicle and then demonstrates it in action.

The boat itself takes inspiration from sailing catamarans, which have two hulls of equal size connected above the waterline, allowing for more stability and less drag than a standard single-hulled boat. This is [Clay]’s second autonomous boat, essentially a larger, more powerful version of one we featured before. Like the previous version, the hulls are connected with a solar panel and its support structure, which also provides the boat with electrical power and charges lithium-iron phosphate batteries in the hull. Steering is handled by two rudders with one on each hull, but it also employs differential steering for situations where more precise turning is required. The boat carries a sonar-type device for measuring the water depth, which is housed in a more hydrodynamic 3d-printed enclosure to reduce its drag in the water, and it can follow a waypoint mission using a combination of GPS and compass readings.

Like any project of this sort, there was a lot of testing and design iteration that had to go into this build before it was truly seaworthy. The original steering mechanism was the weak point, with the initial design based on a belt connecting the two rudders that would occasionally skip. But after a bit of testing and ironing out these kinks, the solar boat is on its way to measure the water’s depths. The project’s code as well as some of the data can be found on the project’s GitHub page, and if you’re looking for something more human-sized take a look at this solar-powered kayak instead.

Continue reading “Autonomous Boat Plots Lake Beds” →

Making An Aluminium Foil Glider To Prototype Hydroforming

July 30, 2024 by 13 Comments

Hydroforming is a very effective way to turn a ductile metal like aluminium or stainless steel into a specific shape, either using a die or by creating a closed envelope in which the hydraulic fluid is injected. While trying to think of ways to create a hydroformed airplane without spending big bucks on having it done professionally – or learning to weld sheet metal together with waterproof welds along the seams – [Adrian Perez] decided that using plain aluminium foil as found in the average kitchen might be a good way to get his feet wet here. When stuck together with double-sided tape, the foil is both strong and light enough to be inflated like a party balloon and still fly better than a lead balloon (which do fly, albeit poorly).

The basic design for the initial Luma glider that he assembled is based around a Kline-Fogleman (KA) airfoil. This type of airfoil is mostly characterized by the simplicity of construction, having been devised in the 1960s for paper airplanes. It uses a stepped approach rather than a continuous airfoil and has seen mostly attention in hobby circles. Even if this Luma glider brings to mind the ill-fated Goodyear Inflatoplane, a hydroformed version of these foil prototype gliders would not have to rely on being inflated to function.

For small-scale prototypes, using low-cost aluminium foil or similar to test out shapes before committing to a design to be welded and hydroformed does seem like a useful approach.

Continue reading “Making An Aluminium Foil Glider To Prototype Hydroforming” →

A bright orange sailboat with solar panels on the wing sail and the hull of the craft. A number of protuberances from the wing are visible containing instruments and radio equipment.

Saildrones Searching The Sea For Clues To Hurricane Behavior

July 29, 2024 by 26 Comments

Hurricanes can cause widespread destruction, so early forecasting of their strength is important to protect people and their homes. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is using saildrones to get better data from inside these monster storms.

Rising ocean temperatures due to climate change are causing hurricanes to intensify more rapidly than in the past, although modeling these changes is still a difficult task. People on shore need to know if they’re in store for a tropical storm or a high strength hurricane to know what precautions to take. Evacuating an area is expensive and disruptive, so it’s understandable that people want to know if it’s necessary.

Starting with five units in 2021, the fleet has gradually increased in size to twelve last summer. These 23ft (7m), 33ft (10m), or 65ft (20m) long vessels are propelled by wing sails and power their radio and telemetry systems with a combination of solar and battery power. No fossil fueled vessel can match the up to 370 days at sea without refueling that these drones can achieve, and the ability to withstand hurricane winds and sea conditions allow scientists an up-close-and-personal look at a hurricane without risking human lives.

We’ve covered how the data gets from a saildrone to shore before, and if you want to know how robots learn to sail, there’s a Supercon talk for that.

Thanks to [CrLz] for the tip!