
Ask HN (again): What is the best affordable programmable drone? - ph0rque
Almost a year ago, a HN participant asked about the best affordable programmable drone: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=8989411<p>I&#x27;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&#x27;s, and they&#x27;re hooked. Before we purchase one, I&#x27;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).<p>EDIT: Ideally, I&#x27;d like something like this, but programmable&#x2F;hackable: http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;gp&#x2F;product&#x2F;B00MNG37C2&#x2F;ref=s9_simh_gw_g21_i1_r?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;pf_rd_s=desktop-1&amp;pf_rd_r=01GMYMFRR2QNC3AT5DG0&amp;pf_rd_t=36701&amp;pf_rd_p=2079475242&amp;pf_rd_i=desktop<p>Thanks!
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bangelo
$90. Completely open source. PCB-structure. App Enabled. Steve Holt.

[http://www.amazon.com/Crazepony-Quadcopter-Development-
Platf...](http://www.amazon.com/Crazepony-Quadcopter-Development-Platform-
Student/dp/B015MYR1GO/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-
games&ie=UTF8&qid=1452373186&sr=1-1&keywords=bitcraze)

~~~
akhilcacharya
\o/

~~~
TulliusCicero
I just realized that this emoticon is of someone raising their arms into the
air in triumph, and _not_ someone squishing their face with their hands so
that their mouth makes an O.

~~~
theseoafs
\ö/

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lucb1e
Forking off this question, if I may, I am looking for the same thing but with
a budget of around $250. If anyone knows something good but doesn't post it
because it's >$100, please reply to this message.

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!)

~~~
notspanishflu
Have a look to Erle Copter.

[http://erlerobotics.com/blog/home-
creative/](http://erlerobotics.com/blog/home-creative/)

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CCoffie
I'd have to say your best option would be the Parrot AR Drone. It's probably
will be higher than your price range but it's definitely worth it. I
personally have one and have even programmed it to dance to music. It's
extremely easy to work with and there are numerous libraries out there for
most languages. I highly recommended it, you don't even need to modify the
drone to start developing for it. I've built my own quadcopter and would have
to say I still prefer the AR Drone when it comes to development.

~~~
bangelo
but it uses JAVASCRIPT. barf

~~~
jambo
What? Sure, you can program them with javascript, but that's not required
(just popular). There are libraries for clojure (clj-drone), ruby (argus or
artoo), and I'm sure other languages.

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Palomides
What sort of drone are you looking for, and what sort of programmable?

This tiny $20 quad has a hacked, open firmware:
[https://hackaday.com/2016/01/07/open-source-firmware-for-
a-m...](https://hackaday.com/2016/01/07/open-source-firmware-for-a-mini-
quadrotor/)

~~~
ph0rque
Ideally, something like this, but programmable/hackable:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MNG37C2/ref=s9_simh_gw_g...](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)

~~~
BtM909
Just link to the product without all the ref parameters... It feels like
you're just dropping links for referral fees:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MNG37C2](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MNG37C2)

~~~
nivla
Amazon's referral values always ends with "-20" and is usually placed under
the parameter "tag". OPs link doesn't have any referral attached to it. For
those who aren't familiar with Amazon's links, it may be hard to figure out
how to detach it while still keeping it valid.

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arihant
For a starter drone even $100 is a lot. Two things that you don't realize in
demos are:

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.

~~~
smlacy
Do you have a specific 2-pack for $25-30 that you would recommend? I've never
seen anything like that before?

~~~
thenomad
I can't recommend a 2-pack, but for a nearly unbreakable single learner drone
the Hubsan x4 is the standard, and it's great.

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.

------
Pietertje
Unfortunately I cannot help you with your question, I haven't found anything
cheaper than building your own. And that's going to cost you >200USD.

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.

~~~
Merad
This is good advice, but if you're fairly confident that you're really going
to get "into" quadcopters I recommend starting with something larger like the
Syma X5/X5C. They're more expensive (~$50) but far more versatile - can fly
outside with a range of 150-200m or more, and are actually quite a bit easier
to control because their size gives them stability and makes it easier to see
the drone and its orientation.

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jsjohnst
The Parrot AR Drone isn't quite in that price range but is very programmable
and works decently well with Node.js libraries. I once controlled five of them
at the Yahoo! Open Hackday in a swarm using a Leap Motion controller.
Everything my team wrote for that hack was in JavaScript (leap motion
interface, parrot flight controller, and server that linked it all).

~~~
jsjohnst
Here's most of the source code from that hack:

[https://github.com/jsjohnst/leapcopter](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](https://vimeo.com/76095888)

------
joellarsson
I think [http://bitcraze.io](http://bitcraze.io) might be a good fit.

It's a bit more expensive($180) but have a lot of open source apps and libs
that you can play with.

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bayer_rggb
Might be off topic, but can we map 3-d space to detect obstacles like how a
roomba maps 2-d space and avoids obstacles ? (like this
[http://www.technologyreview.com/sites/default/files/images/i...](http://www.technologyreview.com/sites/default/files/images/iRobot_Newsx299.gif))

I mean, is that a solved problem ?

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edtechdev
There is only one kid-friendly programming tool that connects with drones:
[https://tickleapp.com/devices/](https://tickleapp.com/devices/) and it only
appears to work with Parrot drones, the cheapest of which is $99.

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/campk12/ScratchForARDrone)

------
heraclez
[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/728836843/codrone-
learn...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/728836843/codrone-learn-to-
code-with-programmable-drone)

------
locusm
Lots of good guidance here [http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/build-your-own-
multicopter/](http://copter.ardupilot.com/wiki/build-your-own-multicopter/)

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oskarth
Freudian reading: I read OP as _What is the best affordable programmer drone?_

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nickpsecurity
At first glance, I thought it said the best affordable "programming" drone. I
was thinking, "Damn, the HR people are getting really honest in the job offers
now." Made more sense after a double take.

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egorf
You can try Emlid's Navio [http://www.emlid.com/](http://www.emlid.com/)

It's a RPi based autopilot, it runs Linux and therefore much easier to program
and use.

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deutronium
Sorry for being slightly off-topic, does anyone have the Yizhan Tarantula x6 -
It's around £35-40 and from a number of videos I've seen, is able to carry a
GoPro.

I fancied getting that for shooting some video.

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sjtrny
Wait why do you want to program it? The fun is in the flying of it. Especially
FPV in acro mode.

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hansolhong
CoDrone on Kickstarter now. Robolink.com/kickstarter

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supercoder
Just start with any drone first and don't make the poor kids suffer through
you trying to program it

