
Tiny Clever Quadrotors Now on Kickstarter - eguizzo
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/diy/tiny-clever-quadrotors-now-on-kickstarter#.UJgZOllWS58.hackernews
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Baliw
I was expecting this to link to Kickstarted, not some blog.

[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/qfolabs/mimixtm-tilt-
to-...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/qfolabs/mimixtm-tilt-to-fly-
controller-and-nanoqtm-copter)

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dsl
I agree about the direct link, but IEEE Spectrum is kind of a big deal.

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Baliw
My bad. It wasn't one I recognized right away, but had I stopped to actually
look at it in stead of automatically expecting this to link to kickstarter
then I would have given it more credit.

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R_Edward
Saw John demo one of these a couple weeks ago at my FIRST Robotics club. Cool
product, but man, I wish the battery lasted longer than 10 minutes per charge.
Also, it would be amazing if the IR dogfighting system included lasers to
paint where the shots were landing, so you could visually adjust your aim.
Gonna have to sign up for a sponsorship.

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dchuk
isn't 10 minutes pretty standard for electric RC copters/planes? I don't think
there's a battery that can last longer than that without being insanely
expensive.

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Someone
I think weight is more the driving factor than cost.

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starpilot
Yeah, this is the issue with electric aircraft. Fossil fuels are still much
more energy dense than batteries (40 MJ/kg vs 2 MJ/kg [1]), plus burning fuel
provides a nice weight reduction which increases range [2].

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density#Common_energy_de...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density#Common_energy_densities)

[2] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Range_(aircraft)>

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gojomo
Are tiny combustion engines practical for RC aircraft?

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wmf
Not indoors, but most RC planes are using engines (or were 15 years ago when I
stopped paying attention).

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bigiain
If you're curious, it'll be enlightening to pay some attention to modern RC
aircraft. Lipo batteries and inexpensive brushless motor controllers have
changed the hobby dramatically since the '90s. Fuel powered RC aircraft are
definitely no longer the majority.

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theevocater
Getting "Service Unavailable - DNS failure" from IEEE site. Did HN really just
stomp spectrum?

Maybe mods could change to link directly to kickstarter instead?

[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/qfolabs/mimixtm-tilt-
to-...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/qfolabs/mimixtm-tilt-to-fly-
controller-and-nanoqtm-copter)

 __EDIT __working again

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joshuarrrr
The IEEE's datacenter in New Jersey has been without power for days and
eventually ran out of generator fuel. There were some intermittent DNS issues
after Spectrum moved to backup servers in Arizona. I've been told they're
resolved now.

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tomkinstinch
I'm glad to see they included $37k in the Kickstarter budget for regulatory
certifications (CE, FCC, UL, etc.).

Many hardware projects on Kickstarter include no mention of it, and it's a
pricey thing to skip.

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motters
I don't see how inverting the props is necessarily any more efficient.

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nathannecro
From the Kickstarter: "Why are your props upside down? The inverted props give
an efficiency gain proportional to the amount of obstacles in the air column.
We've found it varied between 10-20% depending on the frame and protection
ring design. The inverted props also let us put the props right in the middle
of the center of gravity for awesome control response. Even better, with the
props on the bottom they keep spinning when you run up against the ceiling
making flying indoors a breeze."

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marshallp
There's some chinese comp selling $130 quadcops, linked to from diydrones

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quinndupont
You can get small quadopters for $50, with control and everything. Look on
banggood.com (they are lots of fun and worth the price)

