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College project got away from them. - 7/12/2006 7:09:47 AM   
airpilot


 

Posts: 7
Joined: 2/8/2003
From: Troms�, NORWAY
Status: offline 		I have a funny story that happened my last year of college.


At my college, some guys were making an autopilot for a model helicopter. The ultimate goal being that one could program the helicopter to fly where you wanted, and it would do so by itself. They had made a prototype gyro/gps unit for it, and were out in the field to try it out. The previous year, my friend and I had been responsible for the R/C models, because we have some experience. This year though, the guys didn't have any experience with R/C models at all. And now they were going to try to fly an R/C heli. They had been taught all the technical stuff, like how to start the thing, and one of the guys could fly airplanes in the simulator with chase view. So, they fill her up. Attach the glow booster. Mount up the starter, and let her rip. Engine turns, doesn't start. Try again, engine turns, engine starts. At this point the engine gives full throttle, the guys don't know what's going on, set the heli down. Being at full throttle, the rotor starts turning, and it starts turning fast. The heli lifts off the ground, sets a nice smooth course up and foreward, flies over the field over the trees, and is never seen again. They had indeed forgotten to turn on the power on the heli. Luckily for them, they hadn't attached their gyro/GPS unit yet. This was their degree project, so it would have been too funny if they had sent it flying 1 month before it was due!
       Post #: 1

RE: College project got away from them. - 7/12/2006 7:21:01 AM   
zflarez


 

Posts: 61
Joined: 11/30/2005
From: Menifee, CA, USA
Status: offline 		Was the program made to dodge obstacles such as trees, if so that would be pretty cool. I saw the segment on the history channel about the unmanned vehicles and there is some pretty hotsy totsy programming involved.

(in reply to airpilot)
       Post #: 2

RE: College project got away from them. - 7/12/2006 7:25:51 AM   
zflarez


 

Posts: 61
Joined: 11/30/2005
From: Menifee, CA, USA
Status: offline 		Do you happen to know what kind of opperating system they used one there oneboard computer, possibly bsd.

< Message edited by zflarez -- 7/12/2006 7:34:52 AM >

(in reply to airpilot)
       Post #: 3

RE: College project got away from them. - 7/12/2006 7:58:39 AM   
airpilot


 

Posts: 7
Joined: 2/8/2003
From: Troms�, NORWAY
Status: offline 		I don't have many details about their project. They had just a microcontroller with three gyro-chips for each axis, and a GPS module, and some memory to store output data. This was early in the whole project, so the goal was to record positions, and get the microcontroller to keep the heli in a stable hover.

(in reply to zflarez)
       Post #: 4

RE: College project got away from them. - 7/12/2006 11:28:53 AM   
APIA


 

Posts: 302
Joined: 8/27/2004
From: Roanoke, TX, USA
Status: offline 		It appears that these guys forgot to use their checklist...

< Message edited by APIA -- 7/12/2006 11:29:56 AM >

(in reply to airpilot)
       Post #: 5

RE: College project got away from them. - 7/12/2006 11:39:32 AM   
Dr1Driver



Posts: 3589
Joined: 7/25/2002
From: Spartanburg, SC, USA
Status: offline 		It appears that these guys forgot to use their checklist...

It appears that these guys forgot to use their BRAINS!

Dr.1

_____________________________

There's a Hun in the sun!

(in reply to APIA)
       Post #: 6

RE: College project got away from them. - 7/12/2006 12:39:47 PM   
Flyboy Dave



Posts: 13549
Joined: 3/20/2002
From: San Bernardino County, CA, USA
Status: offline 		Good story....and a Welcome to R/C Universe....

I wonder how far it went ???

Flyboy Dave.

_____________________________

An engineer says.... "That won''t work".
A mechanic says..."Oh yeah, watch this".
"Old Age, and Treachery will overcome youth and skill".
Revver Bro #4.

(in reply to Dr1Driver)
       Post #: 7

RE: College project got away from them. - 7/12/2006 1:36:19 PM   
rjm1982



Posts: 1117
Joined: 2/9/2005
From: Chesapeake, VA, USA
Status: offline 		More importantly...i wonder what it destroyed when it stopped flying

_____________________________

I flew the wings off of my helicopter
aim: roosterjm2k2

(in reply to Flyboy Dave)
       Post #: 8

RE: College project got away from them. - 7/12/2006 2:11:19 PM   
airpilot


 

Posts: 7
Joined: 2/8/2003
From: Troms�, NORWAY
Status: offline 		Thanks Dave!


The area it flew over was mostly forest, and there's also a small lake... so who knows where it ended up. It might still be hanging from the top of a tree.

(in reply to rjm1982)
       Post #: 9

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