Epic 24-Hour EdTech Jam 2012!

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

Epic 24-Hour EdTech Jam 2012Join colleagues from across the district for an Epic 24 Hour EdTech Jam.  Pick an edtech project that you’ve never been able to find the time for – learn a new tool or technology, convert an onground course to hybrid or online, create audio/video lessons or OER resources – and commit to working it out in an all night grueling marathon of innovation, creativity, and productivity.  Embrace adversity!

November 2 – 3, noon to noon NONSTOP
FLC Innovation Center (FL1-130)

Wear comfortable clothes.
Bring your own device.*
Come prepared to work on a weighty project.
If you need Zack’s help with anything, let him know ahead of time – he’ll try and help you out.

*A limited number of desktops/laptops/netbooks will be available, if you don’t have your own.

Frequently Asked Questions

Success, Slowly

by ⋅ 2 Comments

Friday’s flight ended in a tree, but in the seconds before that crash, I had the idea for the first time that I might just be able to fly this thing.  I thought about it all weekend, and resolved to never again fly without the GoPro.

This morning, I strapped the camera to the bottom of the aircraft, and headed down to the loading dock behind the bookstore.  I’m actually starting to get the hang of this thing, though I am still seized with a tiny bit of panic when first it jumps into the air, and sometimes when it seems to make its own decisions.  Nevertheless, I was able to execute seven or eight successful – successful here being defined as flights that don’t end in repairs – takeoffs and landings.  Here’s video from the best one:

To do:
Tweak the camera settings to limit the width of the angle
Come up with a better way to secure the camera to the quadcopter – as it is, I’ve zip-tied it to the bottom, but have to waste a tie each time I remove the camera.

Quadcopter = Tree Trimmer

by ⋅ 1 Comment

Got a bunch of flight time in today, and I’m starting to just barely get the hang of it. Things were going well until the quad went over my head, and I got disoriented and flew it into a tree. Broke a prop, but am slowly learning how it responds in the air. Last week, I took it over to Parallax, and Nick flew it in the parking lot and gave me some pointers. Nick and Jim and Kevin have been nothing but supportive!

First Epic Crash

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

Taking Nick’s advice, I mostly just hopped around the field, but I had something of a yaw problem, and then ended up crashing in order to try and prevent a crash.  Go figure.  Broke 2 props and 2 landing gear bits, but I learned something.  39 more hours of practice, and I should be able to fly this thing!

Build Log – All Props Are Not Created Equal

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

Untitled
Can you guess what the problem was?  I feel a bit foolish, but realized after much fussing and tweaking of settings that the kit contains two kinds of props:  clockwise ones, and counterclockwise ones.  I had three out of four correct, merely by accident, but once I replaced the errant one, I took the quad out into the night for just a basic spin up.  Result:  the roll problem is, of course, gone.  Foolish though the mistake may have been, I’m reporting it here in the hope that someone might stumble upon it and learn from my errors.  Tomorrow, we fly!

Build Log – Radio Settings

by ⋅ Leave a Comment

Untitled
See that 26% setting? I think that’s what’s going to make this work. Taking a step back, I’ve been struggling all day with takeoff, one a surprise, the other a genuine break-the-prop failure. The craft seems to want to roll to the left when I hit the throttle.

After breaking two props, I suspended the ELEV-8 from a tree with a bit of twine, and was able to confirm that in fact, at full throttle, it would just flip itself over. I believe the problem has to do with setting a particular value in the Gear setting, and even though I read a bunch of forum postings and also the DX8 manual, I only now understand (I think) what needs to be done. Tomorrow, I hope to have a successful takeoff!