Trip to Parallax for Reference Photos

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Daniel, Dave and I set out to start building the ELEV-8s yesterday, and we had some questions about wiring and layout, so Nick graciously agreed to meet with me this morning at Parallax.  Nick (pictured below) and Kevin have both been really helpful, answering questions about the quadcopters, and providing general technical guidance.

UntitledWhile I was there, I took a series of reference photos (below) of a fully built ELEV-8.  Holding a finished one in my hands has helped me map out the next steps in the build – hopefully I’ll make some good progress tomorrow.

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This is a Quadcopter

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This is a quadcopterReally.  I picked up some of the last remaining project pieces from Parallax this morning.  I was surprised (and pleased) to find safety glasses (2 pair!) in the box.  Safety first.

I also picked up crash packs, which contain the bits that are likely to break in a hard landing, and some spare motors.  We’re close to putting these things in the air – once they’re built, of course.  The batteries haven’t come in yet, but I have a feeling they will be here soon.  This is what the project looks like so far:

Project Pieces

On the left are some Arduinos and GPS data loggers, then the receivers and telemetry bits, tools, cameras and field monitors in the middle, transmitters and crash packs on the right, and the two ELEV-8s in and out of boxes front and center.  Soon!

More OpenROV Photos from Maker Faire

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I had a good conversation with David from OpenROV this morning.  We talked about potential partnerships, and I shared information about the Watershed Education Summit (WES), a project involving various El Dorado County high schools, the state Water Resources Control Board, the El Dorado County and Georgetown Divide Resource Conservation Districts, and the U.S. Forest Service.  From the website:

During the four-day event, students, teachers, and resource professionals work together to complete the following tasks: stream cross-sections, stream gradient and stream water flow and velocity measurements, substrate pebble counting, macroinvertebrate sampling, shade measurement, Global Positioning Satellite data collection, water chemistry testing, riparian vegetation measurement, and large woody debris location. Partnerships with the El Dorado Resource Conservation District and the State Water Resources Control Board’s Clean Water Team are instrumental in making WES a success.

In quadcopter news, the POs are in, so I think I’ll be picking the ELEV-8s up from Parallax this week.  The Go Pro HERO2s arrived last week, as well as some of the tools and odds and ends.  Still waiting on the batteries, receivers, and some other pieces, but we should be ready to fly in the next couple of weeks.

The Gear Begins Rolling In

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The quadcopter controllers arrived – specifically, a pair of Spektrum DX8s.  They’re complex-looking things, with numerous switches and dials.  They also have a sweet screen that will (as I understand it) display telemetry data.  I put in a requisition for the telemetry bits today, and these should be the last of the reqs for phase 1.

 

This is Tess holding the DX8 box.  If you’ve ever worked in an institutional or government context, you know that “getting things” takes a fair amount of work.  There are forms to be filled out in triplicate, arcane budget strings to be chanted, quotes to secure – much crossing of t’s and dotting of i’s.  Tess did the lion’s share of this work, and I am very grateful.  Thanks Tess!

Parallax Multirotor Demo and Tour

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Kevin!Spent the afternoon out at Parallax in Rocklin.  Kevin and Nick and Ken flew various iterations of the ELEV-8 platform, and thrilled the gathered crowd with feats of derring-do.  Balloons were popped, streamers were clipped, and one flying machine landed in the drink.  A good time was had by all.

After the demo, the FLC contingent – Dan Ross (CIS and Engineering), Dave Myers (student and president of the recently chartered FLC Robotics Club) and I toured the facility, and I had the chance to talk to Nick about some of the particulars of FLC’s project, and to say hello to Jessica of Dweeb Den fame.  Can’t wait to get the quadcopters in and get them flying!  Below is a video of a two copters dogfighting, and here’s a link to the complete set of photos from today’s event.  Thanks to Jim and and the whole Parallax crew.