Ask HN (again): What is the best affordable programmable drone?
Almost a year ago, a HN participant asked about the best affordable programmable drone: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8989411
I'd like to ask the question again. Are there any new contenders for the best programmable drone, ideally for $100 or less? I have two daughters, nine and seven years old, who have just seen a demonstration of a drone by a friend of our family's, and they're hooked. Before we purchase one, I'd like to take the opportunity to buy a programmable one so I can mess around with it, too (and teach the kids to program it).
EDIT: Ideally, I'd like something like this, but programmable/hackable: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MNG37C2/ref=s9_simh_gw_g21_i1_r?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=01GMYMFRR2QNC3AT5DG0&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2079475242&pf_rd_i=desktop
Thanks!
49 comments
[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 106 ms ] threadThis tiny $20 quad has a hacked, open firmware: https://hackaday.com/2016/01/07/open-source-firmware-for-a-m...
... and now I learn that I can hack the firmware! so for an "affordable programmable drone suitable for children", I think that's the best answer (it's just $14 on banggood). Buy spare batteries though, and maybe with budget < $100, buy two of them :)
I do have some advice before you invest in a drone. Buy a cheap non-programmable mini-drone first ~15 USD. Flying a drone is not easy, you'll crash a lot in the beginning and you rather wreck such a mini-drone than a more expensive one. Plus, mini-drones are almost indestructable.
I've been pretty happy with the Hubsan X4, and it stands up to abuse fairly well. I'd hesitate to recommend anything much smaller than that, as they tend to be a bit harder to control.
I fancied getting that for shooting some video.
It's a bit more expensive($180) but have a lot of open source apps and libs that you can play with.
Many multirotors you see on webshops are finished and ready to fly, which tells me nothing about their repairability or hackability. There are also kits which I'd prefer (so I can learn what's in there and how to put it all together) but they have nearly the same issue: can I replace or add components, or is this combination the only way it's going to fly? Is there room to add components, like a missing GPS module? Or could I swap out those motors for stronger ones in a year without needing to replace 90% of the electrical system? Does it run open software that I can modify or do I need to overwrite its firmware to do that?
All that is a bit difficult to judge as a beginner (I can fly alright, but not build) and I've been casually looking around for at least three months now, coming back to this point every time I saw something cool.
(@OP, ph0rque, if you think this pollutes the thread, reply and I'll edit/remove it!)
http://erlerobotics.com/blog/home-creative/
You do the assembly, and the CrazyRadio provides you with a USB interface to control it.
There are onboard sensors (gyro, accelerometer, compass, and altimeter) but I'm not sure about adding your own.
In case you don't have an ipad, there are other visual coding tools that work with robots, but not drones, like Scratch. Someone did make a hack to connect Scratch to the Parrot AR Drone, which is more like $300: https://github.com/campk12/ScratchForARDrone
https://github.com/jsjohnst/leapcopter
And here's a promo video I made after the hack to show at work the following week:
https://vimeo.com/76095888
1. Drones are notoriously hard to fly.
2. The battery life is a true buzzkill. Even Parrot lasts 15 minutes or so.
What you want to do is buy a cheap 2-pack for $25-30 each. See if your girls and you still like them. You'd probably break them while learning. But that won't hurt you cause they are cheap. You'd also get a good idea of kinds of projects to do with them.
Then get a drone that fits, as you'd have a better understanding of what matters to you. I settled on a $80 drone that's not programmable. That's cause I stick a BLE arduino on it. Turns out that's all I needed. But get something cheap and break it while learning how to fly.
Here are two that I just found:
- http://www.amazon.com/Cheerson-2-4GHz-6-Axis-Quadcopter-Brig...
- http://www.amazon.com/4DCopter-Fly-Love-Quadcopter-Controlle...
Syma X12S Nano 6-Axis Gyro 4CH RC Quadcopter with Protection Guard, Color White https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VVP31DQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_r7BK...
When you and your kids start flying drones you WILL crash them. A lot. Hence why the "unbreakable" bit is important.
My girlfriend and I both bought one each last year, and we had a lot of fun with them. They have a (terrible) camera, they can go pretty fast, they can fly outdoors and fight at least light wind, and most importantly, particularly if you add the propeller guard, they're almost indestructable.
We bought an extra pack of propellers and an extra pack of batteries (the latter to extend flight time) and that's all we needed for a few months of near-daily flight.
We crashed them into trees, dropped them from 100 feet up, flew them at inadvisable speeds indoors, bounced them off walls, ceilings, light fittings, furniture, and occasionally each other, and they survived fine barring a bunch of propeller replacements (which are very cheap).
10/10 would crash again.
http://www.amazon.com/Crazepony-Quadcopter-Development-Platf...
It's a RPi based autopilot, it runs Linux and therefore much easier to program and use.
It's a RPi based autopilot, it runs Linux and therefore much easier to program and use.
I mean, is that a solved problem ?