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April 18 2012
DIY 737 Flight Simulator
The San Jose Mercury News posted a video about air traffic controller and pilot James Price, who converted the nosecone and cockpit of a 1967 Boeing 737 into his own DIY flight simulator. Built in his garage over the course of three years, 90% of the Lufthansa 737′s systems are working and James even retrofitted the cockpit with modern instruments. He says, “I like the technical aspect of it. Not only flying a simulator, but building the systems, programming the software, making it all work.” [via Kyle Wiens]
Brooklyn Aerodrome video on their R/C stunt plane on the cover of MAKE vol. 30
Splinter and Breck of Brooklyn Aerodrome posted a video appreciation/critique of our cover for MAKE vol. 30, which features (a version of) their Towel R/C flying wing. The Towel is one of the featured projects in the magazine, and Breck did a fantastic job writing and photographing the how-to article.
The video notes some liberties that we took with the wing shown on the cover. Here is our official response:
Thanks guys– you rule! It was fun working on this.
On the safety issue, note that the all-Coroplast body version of the wing that we built and shot for the cover of MAKE vol. 30 is a variant of the Brooklyn Aerodrome design that’s detailed in the how-to article inside. Our engineering intern Dan Spangler (that’s him flying it on page 83) built it for fun after building the by-the-book version inside, and we all loved how it looked.
We agree with this video that, all other variables being equal, it would hurt more to be hit by our “cover model” variant than by the original foam-body flying wing described in the actual instructions, and that by sizing the removable deck such that it reaches the leading edges of the airframe rather than stopping back an inch makes it more subject to damage. That’s also a good point about the receiver being backwards on the cover photo version.
The take-away here is, if you want to build the Towel R/C flying wing, follow the instructions, photos, and illustrations in the actual article, not our cover model– which (like other cover models) looks good but might not be as practical.
YouTube: Brooklyn Aerodrome on the cover of Make Magazine!
March 28 2012
Five Money-Saving Tips for Avoiding This Summer's Spiking Airfare [Travel]
“Tacocopter” Scheme Spotlights Delivery-by-Drone Prospects
Tacocopter has been trending for awhile, now, but I wanted to hold off on covering it until the hype wore off a bit and a more sober analysis appeared. And now it has, thanks to Huffington Post reporter Jason Gilbert, who got an interview with MIT Personal Robots Group alum Star Simpson, one of three brains behind behind the project, and heard it straight from the horse’s mouth: For now, at least, Tacocopter is more stunt than startup.
Simpson told HuffPost that because of the FAA’s regulations — as well as other minor problems, like navigating the treacherous terrain of an urban environment, keeping the food warm, finding a city map precise enough to avoid crashes 100 percent of the time, avoiding birds, balconies and telephone wires, delivering food to people indoors, delivering food to the right person, dealing with greedy humans who would just steal the Tacocopter as soon as it got to them, etc. — the Tacocopter website exists more as a conversation starter about the future of food delivery (and delivery in general), as well as about the commercial uses of unmanned vehicles, than an actual startup plan or business.
The “Lobstercopter” graphic (“Taco Of The East!”) at the bottom right corner of the Tacocopter page is another strong clue, IMHO. [Thanks, Rachel!]
Tacocopter Aims To Deliver Tacos Using Unmanned Drone Helicopters
More:
March 27 2012
Stop-Motion Build of an RC Helicopter
Check out this krispy stop-motion build of a SAB Goblin RC helicopter, along with some clips of some cool stunts, including upside down flying! [via Frankie]
March 05 2012
Flapping Wing Rings
Much as I admire Dukno Yoon’s evident skills as a jeweler and metalsmith, I have to say his aeronautical engineering needs a bit of brushing up. There’s just no way he’s ever going to get off the ground in that thing. [via CRAFT]
More:
Centuries of cranks vindicated by human-powered ornithopter flight
February 25 2012
John Collins (the Paper Airplane Guy) Throws for World Record Attempt
This Sunday, tomorrow, paper airplane wizard and Maker Faire presenter, John Collins will be attempting to set a new world record for paper flight. The world record attempt will happen at 9:45am PST. The throws will take place at McClellan Air Force Base (3028 Peacekeeper Way, McClellan, CA) in a hangar. The aircraft is designed by John and will be thrown by Joe Ayoob.
You can listen to a radio interview with John from earlier in the week here. And you can see the entire event, streamed live, tomorrow.
Things are looking great in practice flights. John writes:
The plane flew more than 230 feet yesterday. The best throw of the day was just a bit more than 233. For our practice purposes, that was a test throw and so didn’t count as one of our selected ten throws of the day. The best of the 10 were 227 and 225. In all, we beat the record 5 times with 3 planes on January 29th. We’re definitely on track to re-write the distance record on February 26th. Stephen Kreiger’s world record stands at 207 feet and 4 inches. It’s all just talk until we officially attempt to break it February 26th.
Godspeed, John Collins!
More:
Maker Faire Bay Area: The Paper Airplane Guy Interview
February 23 2012
Gogglevision Quadcopter Video
Steve Lodefink sent me the amazing video of a flying his quadcopter around his neighborhood using a goggle vision system. He even flies it through his(?) house. What fun!
February 06 2012
Save Big on Airfare by Booking a Car Rental with Your Flight [Travel]
February 04 2012
Top 10 Ways to Travel Smarter, Safer, and Cheaper [Lifehacker Top 10]
February 03 2012
CheapAir Lists Flights with Wi-Fi, Personal TV, and Other Luxury Perks [Travel]
January 30 2012
Kayak Airline Fees Chart Compares Baggage, Meal, and Other Hidden Fees Between 15 Different Airlines [Travel]
January 12 2012
Alt.CES: Swarming Micro Air Vehicles
These flying swarmbots would fall under the category of things that aren’t at CES but we wish were. Maybe next year? They are part of a project at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland to explore large aerial robot swarms.
The Swarming Micro Air Vehicle Network (SMAVNET) Project
More:
See all of our alt.CES coverage
January 11 2012
Alt.CES: Parrot AR.Drone 2.0
One of the more exciting things to come out of CES so far is the upgraded version of the Parrot AR.Drone. This quadcopter made a splash at last year’s show, with its on-board camera, WiFi connectivity, smartphone control, open source software, and under $300 price point.
This year, the Drone is back and it’s now sporting an updated 720p camera, HD recording, geo-location tech, automatable fly and record capability, and much improved flight control software and hardware improvements for better auto-stabilization and flying. The AR.Drone can be controlled from both Android and iPhones. The Drone is sold as a flying game platform — as a toy — but with these changes, this becomes a serious device and fits right in with PT’s prediction about 2012 being the year of the drone. The AR.Drone 2.0 will retail for the same price as the original and is expected to be available in Q2 2012.
To see some of the cool things that people are doing with AR.Drones, see Dronehacks.
More:
January 10 2012
Consult This Airline Scorecard Before Choosing Your Next Flight [Travel]
December 16 2011
Buy a Four-Wheeler Suitcase to Avoid Damage to Your Luggage and Belongings [Travel]
December 02 2011
ArduPilotMega 2.0 Launches
Another great innovation by our friends at DIY Drones:
The big advance in APM 2.0 is the introduction of the Invensense MPU-6000 sensors, which have an internal Digital Motion Processor (DMP) that does advanced sensor fusion. We’ve tested it for months, including lots of flying, and it significantly outperforms the DCM used in APM 1.0. It’s your choice whether you want to use the MPU-6000 internal sensor fusion or do it yourself in the main processor, but if you choose the DMP it frees up nearly 40% of the processing power in the Atmega 2560. This is a digital chip, so we were able to eliminate the ADC chip used in APM 1.0, lowering chip count along with cost and size.
We’ve also upgraded the barometric pressure sensor to the MEAS MS5011, which has a resolution of 10cm! This is at least twice as accurate as the pressure sensor on APM 1.0 and should give ArduCopter best-of-class altitude hold capability.
You can pre-order the APM 2.0 ($199) on the DIY Drones site.
November 30 2011
Using Quadrotors to Assemble a Building
A clever idea, first reported by Gareth a couple years ago: Architects are trying to figure out how to use quadrotors to haul and place individual bricks. The above link is in French; here’s a Google translation.
In 2011, Gramazio & Kohler and Raffaello D’Andrea launched a pioneering project around training dynamic and robotic procedures applied to architecture. Belonging to the younger generation of architects exploiting the digital tools in the architectural design and construction, Gramazio & Kohler join the engineer Raffaello D’Andrea, whose work concerns the study of algorithms and development of systems autonomous innovation. Together, they hired Flight Assembled Architecture, an architectural research on the potential of a revolutionary assembly tool, revealing joint spatial and material previously unpublished.
Flight Assembled Architecture is the first installation entirely by flying robots. Designed as an architectural structure on the scale of a “vertical village” of 600 meters, Assembled Architecture Flight testing a new paradigm of design and manufacturing, through a physical process of automated dynamic training. This project builds on the simultaneous use of multiple mobile agents. Considered as tools for adaptive production, these flying robots are programmed to interact and to capture, transport and assemble the modules to build architectural structures. They synthesize and the pragmatism of Gramazio & Kohler Architecture and visionary approach to Raffaello D’Andrea in engineering dynamics. The FRAC Centre supports this new project, which will then in its collections devoted to experimental architecture. This collaborative project will be exposed only to the FRAC Centre in Orléans.
After an initial phase of several days devoted to assembly and assembly by robots flying a model of 6 m high and 3.5 m in diameter – made of polystyrene foam modules 1500 prefabricated – the exhibition will the “megastructure” in its final form, and a film performance and restoring the entire design process.
[Via BLDBLOG]
November 29 2011
LeetZeppelin Packs an Arduino Fio and TV-B-Gone
Marcus Olsson and Fredrik Leijon built a zeppelin that uses a Fio, Xbee, and TV-B-Gone added to a toy RC blimp, and is controlled by a Wiimote. My favorite detail, the Lego Technics gears they added.
October 17 2011
Scratchbuilt: Bell H-13D Sioux
More solid-gold scratch-building from The Internet Craftsmanship Museum. Shown here, the original M.A.S.H. helicopter in magnificent brass by modeler Ken Foran:
Ken…located a H-13D being restored in Canada, visited with them for two days shooting 10 rolls of film and numerous sketches with dimensions. He later located an engine rebuilder in Detroit that was rebuilding a Franklin engine; again a visit with rolls of film being taken. Ken also located and purchased original parts catalogs and erection manuals with more details and dimensions…To add features Ken also enabled the main rotor to turn the tail rotor and turn the cooling fan for the engine. Note the 1/8” diameter working universal joint.
The work is a commission for Fine Art Models, for use as a master from which to cast molds for a production run.
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