Learning to Fly

"I don't always do something stupid, but when I do I make sure to post it on the internet so everyone can laugh with me." 

My most recent goal has been to build a FPV Racing Quadcopter as folows:

FPV Racing Quadcopter

My intent with this project is to develop and build a 250mm FPV Racing Quad copter. I’ll put resources and links as I find them available. Initial challenges with the MINDS-i system will be making the frame small and lightweight enough for 5-6in propellers to provide ample thrust to weight ratio.   

 QAV250 Mini FPV Quad copter Review by Tested

As you can tell my original design was to use the MINDS-i pieces. The main problem is plastic flex, will the frame bend too much? With a little inspiration from Tested I had a good idea of what I needed to do. So I went and built this:

Here it is! I used the colored beams to mimic the flight lights on modern aircraft. (I didn't have any green beams, so I used blue.) Evenually, I'd like to use some LED's but let's just get this thing tuned and flying first. The reason for this color coordination is so that I will always know which way my quad is facing. On this I'm using the 10x4.7 props, so it's actually pretty overpowered for a small copter. It's about 12in wide and long so it is much bigger than the 250mm class quad but it's a good place to start. 

I'm using the same top and bottom plates as the MINDS-i kit uses but the plates are mixmatched as to make it as sort as possible. One bottom plate and one top plate is used on the topside as shown, and mirrored on the bottom. This allowed me to remove a few spaces in the overall length. This is using the APM board with external GPS and it has a 4 cell 2250mAh battery. I'm using the other stock 1100 KV motors and  30 amp esc's on the MINDS-i kit. Testing this showed that it was completely overpowered, because of the smaller frame. Here are a few notes from my initial tunning:

PID TUNING - 12/14/15

Unsuccessful attempts at PID Tuning the quad. Changing multiple values appears to not make any effects. In most cases it flies normally until the error ramps up, (about 5 to 10 secs), the quad will continue to shake back and forth uncontrollably. Changing the D seems to make the most difference controlling how fast the quad shakes the higher the value the faster.  (D= 0.001 to 0.008. D=0.004 seems to be the best) However, no setting appears to work. We also tried the Auto Tune function but it would deactivate the moment it was armed.

Thoughts?

I may need to set the P value below 0.08.

I would like to try auto tune again, see if it will work.

The flex in the frame may be causing it to shake. 

After doing a little bit of research on these sites I returned to tuning the next day.

Helpful Links:

http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/ac_rollpitchtuning/

http://diydrones.com/forum/topics/arducopter-tuning-guide

http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/tuning/

12/15/15

The tuning seems to be going better. I think I can negate the up and down wobble from the string and focus on getting the “shakes” out. It seems to almost be flyable.

From DIYDrones I’ve found the following excerpt helpful. Starting with D.

“I’ve found the quickest way to tune the arducopter is to start with rate_D, (but you simply can’t do this unless you can hold your beast in hand or in a jig as the copter won’t fly without any rate_P or I) so a more universal way to start, and actually a more informative way is to start with rate_P.

STEP TWO – Tuning rate_D

1.       You have found a nice rate_P value (or so you think), so leave that fixed for now. For example 0.110

2.       Set a range of rate_D from 0.000 to 0.025.

3.       Throttle up in hand with rate_D at 0.000, things should be as you left them at the end of step one.

4.       Now start turning up rate_D, again move the sticks, shake the beast about, you will notice that at a fairly precise point you start to see very fast oscillations. This is your maximum rate_D, I’d set it just under where you can induce these fast oscillations by moving the sticks fast of shaking a leg.

5.       Now you can go back to rate_P and tune that again, you should be able to increase it considerably!!! So to step three.

NOTE: once you have found your rate_D you can try something interesting - you will have to hold onto your bird for this obviously. Set rate_P to zero, then crank up your rate_D as you just have. You will discover that these fast oscillations occur at pretty much the same level of rate_D, no matter what you have set rate_P to. This is why I think it’s more than possible to start tuning rate_D then move on to P. But that’s a shortcut, and this is not what this guide is all about.”

What I did:

Tuned D to 0.003

Tuned P to 0.087

After a few test flights, it wasn't working at all, it would either not arm at all or when did it was very under-powered. To fix the problem I went back and redid all of the calibration and parameters. 

12/16/15

 Yesterday: After resetting all of the parameters, re installing the firmware and re calibrating the quad it flew very nice. I was able to fly it most of the day.

Originally the error were that it would not get off of the ground, like the throttle was limited. It also had the problem of it arming and then disarming.

After I got it flying I took it out several times. There were several crashes. It would fly well for about five to seven minutes but then it would twist and fall out of the sky. It think it has something to do with the low voltage failsafe not being set correctly but it’s hard to tell.

The PID seems to be set fairly well. Its flight is very smooth. It seems to wander a bit and it does tend to shake a little in the wind, but it is able to maintain flight and I feel like I have very good control over the air craft. I think I’m done tuning the PID for now. I can focus on fixing the failsafe. 

I was able to fly it for most of the day on the 15th and the 16th testing how it flew and handled. However that night I took it home to practice flying it a little more and disaster struck. I write about my experience the next day:

12/17/15

Well I lost it. It last saw it floating off in the distance just to the north east of my house. I searched hours for it but no luck. Time to think about GPS Tracking.

To add a little bit more to the entry, I remember it flying it in circles, trying to get used to using the yaw in different directions. Flying it towards me and away from me. All the time it was in stabilize mode or in altitude mode. After flying a flew loops it slowly got higher and higher. I tried to bring it lower but there were several trees I had to avoid. At one point it started to drift and because I was not sure which way was the front when I went to correct it's course it drifted in the wrong direction until it was out of sight and drifted behind a tree. At that point I went to run to catch up to it and by the time I got there it had either drifted far from that location or crashed. I searched for hours after that but was unable to find it.

I continued to search for the quad in the days to follow. Talking to many neighbors and passing out my business cards and contact information to anyone I could talk to. I even mapped out a search area and highlighted the area I visited as well as the red areas where I could not get to, I then went and checked all the red areas the next day, but with no luck. That weekend there was some good snowfall so wherever it went was likely under snow, I continued to search through the weekend with no luck.

Since then I've started to practice more on the flight simulator Phoenix R/C version 5.5.i. I've also moved to a smaller model. This little micro quad I got for Christmas. Thank you Merrill and Rachel!

Between the simulator and this micro quad I've tried to fly every single day since the accident. I've also taken some tips from Flite Test to start in Acrobatic mode, or Agile mode. I've started that on the flight simulator and seems much more manageable now. Since then I've been following these tips in this video to be helpful. 

That's my story, in the days to follow I've continued to practice flying. I've also thought about what my new quad is going to look like and laid out an initial design. I try to update this post regularly so I can keep track of my progress and research. 

My newest project:

Levi came up with this design. After flying it around and testing it for a few weeks he'd like to make a few changes and I'd like to build a new quad so with that extra carbon fiber sheet we'll have to make another quad like this. 

The future design will have shorter stand off's so the quad height will be lower. Levi noticed that there was plenty of space in the middle so we'd like to chop off another 0.4 in off the height. We'll have to make a few custom length stand off's instead of using the MINDS-i threaded collars but that should be simple enough. Another change is to cut out as much weight as possible while still maintaining the strength. 

I'll need to get a few things to complete this quad, namely:

The multiwii flip32+ Deluxe v5.0

The Power Pack E from Flite Test.

Drones you won't believe exist.

This looks like my favorite FPV racer I've found. Immersion RC Vortex 250. 

A more interesting ideas: Top 5 Drones you should have.

5. Carbon Flyer

4. Ghost

3. C-MI

2. CyPhy Lvl 1

1. Plexidrone


Also I found this Tile Bluetooth Tracker! 

I've signed up for two new forums to help start a local RC group:

Flitetest forums

RCgroups Forums

Looking at some more quads today I found the TBS Discovery Pro Gimbal Frame, this is from Team Black Sheep.

This was designed for amateur and pro aerial videographers, the key feature to this is that it has a fully stabilized camera gimbal.

A great starting FPV wing similar to the Teksumo is the TBS Caipirinha. Much more expensive. The reason behind it  seems to be a 35 minute flight time with a range of 10km. Fully decked out it's $351.60.

I'm working on some research on a FPV racing multi rotor and different types and options that are out there.

On another note, I really see tow main branches of quadcopter that I'd like to look into first it the quadcopter racing and the next is photography.

https://vantagerobotics.com/snap/specs

This caught my eye because its small, folding, able to fit in a small backpack, flies very stable and has autonomous flight and tracking at a fairly inexpensive price.

A few Racing multi rotors I've been looking at are these:

http://store.flitetest.com/blade-nano-qx-rtf

The Blade Nano is a great place to start.


http://rctimer.com/product-1419.html

This multi-rotor from RC timer seems like a cheap way to get into racing multi rotors.

The Tecsumo might also be a great plane to start out with FPV.

Productivity Pyramid

Values, Long Term Goals, Short Term Goals, Daily tasks

It’s taken me all semester to really understand the power of the productivity pyramid but I’ve really really thought about it this way. I’ve always understood long term and short term goals but what I had a hard time learning is the daily tasks are the most important.  Jim Richie broke this down in such a way that I could see they are the most valuable. There are 1440 minutes in a day, these we call productivity points. We must use them wisely to work toward our long term and short terms goals. Everything we do in our day should lead up to those points. This is not to say there is not time for rest or leisure or time to enjoy the joys of life, in fact these should add up to our goals. These day to day tasks are important on the path to mastery, and it’s not always necessary to see the end goal or reap a fast profit. Sometimes it is the little things that add up to the big things. Those day to day tasks add up in the end and separate the masters from the rest.

The plan of happiness are some other very good points I have learned to love. These principles have taught me a lifestyle that by such things a person could conquer the world. They are:

1.     Get up early.

2.     Work hard.

3.     Get your education.

4.     Find oil.

5.     Make your mark.

6.     Prepare to serve / give back.

The principle of getting up early is simple but something I have always struggled with. The first step of being successful is getting up early. The next is to work hard. I would also add with working hard, work smart. The third is to get an education, not just a formal education but become a master learner in all that you do. As we continue to work hard and learn we will find our oil. Oil for me means finding that passion that corresponds with my talents. Making your mark, is the path to mastery. Unlocking those talents and using that passion as fuel from day to day we can make our mark and allow us to rise to the top. I believe making your is also in part to making a difference. The last point is to serve and give back. In light of the story of Thomas S. Monaghan, the founder of Domino’s his life is an example of giving back. In the end we must keep this value as the most important of all our daily tasks, to serve and give back.

    May these two tools, the productivity pyramid and the plan of happiness aid you on your hero’s journey, and may they bless you as you continue your ministry of business.

I learned quite a few things from the Randy Haykin, the Making of an Entrepreneur so I thought I would include a few things.

Randy Haykin: The Making of an Entrepreneur.

How did being a lifelong learner benefit Haykin's career? How could it benefit yours?

He placed a high priority on spending quality time at home with his family.

He started working at Apple Computer in sales. Eventually, he created the Apple Multimedia Developer Program. He also created a New Media Center program for higher education.

He became the director of Operation and Business Development at Viacom/Paramount’s operations, (the “Media Kitchen”)

Haykin founded Interactive Minds, “to meet this unmet need” of teach companies how to put multimedia technologies and the Internet into practice. Over time it evolved into a “venture catalyst”

“In my first year at Interactive MINDS, I tripled my salary and found myself doing amazing project with total choice and control over what I was doing.”

“The biggest challenge of the entrepreneurial situation was balancing family and work.”

Haykin convinced Carl Nichols, to join the company, and he became a partner thereafter.

“To me, a leader is someone who sets the creative direction for a concept and can harness the human resources to turn that concept into a reality, in essence, a leader is someone who creates something from nothing.”

He gained inspiration from Steve Jobs.

What was Haykin's "toughest hurdle" as a business leader? Why do the risks of entrepreneurship seem worth it (or not worth it) to you?

Toughest Hurdle: a start-up that didn’t go so well.

“The toughest hurdle that I have faced as a leader was one particular case

with a start-up where things just did not look like they were going in the right

direction. We ended up selling out earlier than we really would have liked. Some of

the funding that we had expected to come in was pulled, so we were left without a

way of keeping the company going. It felt like a failure. It was heartbreaking to have

to tell a team of fifteen people who had just put their hearts and souls into this project

for the last twelve months of their lives, which we all thought was going to have a big

payoff, that: “Now it is time to close this project down. It did not work, and it is

being sold off. You no longer have a job.” But I'd imagine it's an ongoing part of the

entrepreneurial process. Most venture capitalists will tell you that of ten deals that

they'll do, on average, two will be total failures, two will be not so great, and

somewhere between the remainder of one and six are going to be successful or

moderately successful. So, I know already going into the entrepreneurial situation

that something is going to fail. It still hurts, though, when you're going through it,

and real people are involved. You just feel like you misled people, or you could have

done a better job as a leader.”

Another struggle was his work/Life Balance. “In a typical week, I work 50-60 hours. I try to leave my office (which adjoins

my home) by 6 o’clock. I am on the road nearly every day, but I take very few

overnight trips, maybe one trip each month. I am never quite happy with the balance

in my own life and I am always trying to tinker with it. This includes person/work,

family/work, spiritual/work, and health/work balances. For example, making my

family or my health a priority is always a focus, but actually battling to keep these

things in perspective as I go through a busy week is not easy, nor am I always

successful. At any given stage in my family’s evolution, I’m striving to figure out

what my kids and my wife need. It proves very difficult. Even doing the simplest of

things like remembering to bring my wife flowers on a Friday night takes a lot of

effort with everything else going on. I think that’s where you lose your balance, when

you forget the simple things.”

What I learned this week:

First off, I just want everyone to watch this video, yes it's 54 minutes long, but I have never spent a better 54 minutes.

Entrepreneurship and Consecration 

Elder Gay shares with us his heartfelt response that we all must do better in these things as entrepreneurs.  

I finished reading the Hero's Journey this week. A Field Guide for the Hero's Journey by Jeff Sandefer and Rev. Robert Sirico is a inspirational book written with brief powerful stories. "a mosaic of what the greatest minds of all time had to say about nine tehemse that lead to a balanced life." To be honest I was at first confused on why there were so many random short stories, parables, quotes and poems strung together in a book. It made it difficult to read until I could take a step back and look at the whole. As I looked at each of the nine steps I stated to see how the hero's Journey came to be, and the writings inbewteen supported the outline. Here are the nine topics:

1. The First Step
2. Who Am I,  Who do I want to Become?
3. The importance of setting Guardrails
4. What Companions do you want with you on your Journey?
5. Stones in the Road
6. The Giant of Despair
7. Rest
8. Fighting the Dragon
9. Coming Home    

What I have yet to learn:

Well there is quite a bit, but one thing I would like to point out is as we seek first the needs of others our own problems shrink. From the Hero's Journey we read "you might be surprised to find that as you focus on someone other than yourself, your own problems shrink; your horizons open up; your perspective broadens and deepens.” My horizon has broadened has I have understood this topic and listened to a talk given by Elder Gay. This has been an uplifting week as I have been taught line upon line to seek the needs of others before my own. I find now that it was inspiration that a few weeks ago I wrote down that very goal, unknown to me that I would be schooled by the spirit in every step along the way. The burning question remains, what will I do today to live this principle?

Robots for Christmas


I'm writing a slightly different post today about Robotics.

I grabbed the latest copy of Robot Magazine and I was looking through their Christmas Gift Guide. There are some fun stuff in there. Two things that really popped out is the Sphero BB-8 and Acrobatics Mantis.

BB-8

The BB-8 is an app-enabled Droid. Pretty cool. The most impressive thing is what is described as "an adaptive personality that changes as you play." I'm not exactly sure how well that works but in theory it should "perk up" when you use voice commands. With other products like the Darkside and the Sphero Spark, I'm thinking the BB-8 would be a fun toy to get before the Star Wars Force Awakens.

Mantis

Actobotics has a great robot platform, but what impressed me with this kit is the in the wheel motors. Although they look a little awkward, with the motors hang very low to the ground, I'm wondering how well they do going over obstacles. In their video it seems to do fine, though I think I notice some wear on the motors where it is dragging on the ground.

That point aside, it seems like a very durable and versatile kit. I really enjoy their instructional and product videos.

Speaking about product videos and video ads, Gideon Shalwick has some insight into why video ads are so effective. 

Interesting facts:

Did you know that Facebook will be mostly VIDEO in 2017? And, that 63% of people are more likely to buy a product after watching a VIDEO about it? Epic video stat after epic video stat is storming around the interwebs! His steps include: 1: Define The Purpose of Your Video Ad 2: Script it out 3: Choose Your Video Format 4: Create your video  There are lots more details on his page. A good example of video adds at work is Droneology by PCSedventrues.  They have what looks like a great drone course that they offer for $12.99 teaching drone users through a fun e-course, teaching the safety and responsibility of flying.

November 28, 2015

What I have Learned:

Jim Ritchie shares how he was successful in three steps.

1. The 6 Step Success Formula
2. Terrific Marriage Partner
3. Principles from “The Richest Man in Babylon”

        Two ideas:

1. Pay Yourself First, Invest a part of every paycheck
2. Part of what you earn is yours to keep, never touch the principle

He explains that if we followed the steps he outlines anyone can become financially independent. “The reason while nearly everyone fails to make this happen is that they cheat. And if you are prone to cheat you’ll need to check out of this class and realize that you’ll probably live in mediocrity for the rest of your mortal life. But if you are willing to pay the price for a few years and set meaningful goals for what you want, you’ll discover the secret for accomplishing the worthy ambition of financial independence at any age.”

He says that we should have an Independence Account, a Budget Account, a Savings account and a God account.  

1. Independence Account,
1. a portion of each paycheck is saved
2. Budget Account,
1. living expenses
3. Savings Account,
1. Emergency fund, Gifts, Medical, vacations
4. Wish List Savings
1. Boat, cruise, fun stuff
5. Gold Account
1. Stock bonds, land, Principle is untouched.

He describes by first building the independence account we can then add to the gold account. “Tomorrows lesson begins at 5:30, and there ain't no free lunch”

What I have Yet to Learn:

Corey Bell shared an inspiring story of leaving behind regret and doing something that is worthwhile, he said, “If I believe I can do it, I try it. “

Ann Miura-Ko talked about striking balance between life and business. “It’s hard to say it’s balanced,” But she says that you have to believe it’s worth it.

Randy Komisar notices that there is no balanced life between being a CEO, because it is a 24/7 all consuming job, “you have to love what you do, it has to be your life.” Though he learned later that he needed something else, he describes it as a limited view he had to start living life, essentially giving up money for something he loved to do. As he developed a “whole-istic” view he was able to find that balance. “Never put yourself in a situation where you can’t say no”

Meg Cadoux Hirshberg says that entrepreneurs must develop a plan to balance their life. She mentions that as a business owner you can bring your kids to work and you should be able to talk and discuss work with them. Apart from sharing quality time with your spouse you can also invite them with you.

November 20, 2015

 
What I have learned:

A few of the points I have learned is to trust those you work with, find the passion in creating, learn to feed my correct emotions, and believe and seek for change. Here are some of the details.

Marissa Mayer, License to Pursue Dreams, describes how at Google 20% time is given to employees to work on whatever project they want. According to here review, 50% of Google’s projects came from the 20% time.

Passion and momentum build when skilled employees have access to great tools and the time to stretch them in new directions.

Kathy Hubers talks about how “there is a passion and joy about creating.”

Jim Ritchie: From Woody Woodwards book “Your Emotional Fingerprint”, He tells the story of the Cherokee of two wolves on Evil and One Good, the Evil represents bad emotions while the Good represents to the good ones. The question is asked which one wins and the answer is simple; What you feed grows. He concludes that by validating your emotions allows you to unlock your personal success.

A true entrepreneur seeks growth or change and believes they have the ability to realize goals.


What I have yet to learn:

Of all the lessons I have yet to learn it is this: to become. It's a life long journey, a process, a path, a way of life. I find comfort in the gospel of Jesus Christ because it gives be the motivation to become when all other sources fail. Elder Oaks talked about the Final Judgement being an acknowledgment of what we have become. "Conversion is a change of nature," where the gospel challenges us to do and to become. 

Taylor Richards says "Do not underestimate yourself, it’s not harder to be great than good."