User:Qballm1a1/enes100/project3

This is my page for my work on project 3, the Quadcopter.

Write problem/project Goal
To create a way to attach a Nerf gun to a quadcopter to allow firing.

To repair the broken quadcopter.

To fly the quadcopters around the pylons in the galleria.

My First Task
Re-install the software for the quadcopter and re-connect my iPhone to the quadcopter.

Summary of actual work over first weekend
As I had planned to do, I re-installed the software for the quadcopter and attempted to fly it. In addition, I went to the Galleria at HCC to measure how high the ceiling was. I realized that there might be an issue with how much weight the quadcopter could lift. So, I did a couple of experiments to try and determine how much weight the quadcopter could lift. I also tried to figure out what components we would need for adding a nerf gun and what each of those components weighed.

Week1 Narrative
I was unable to connect my Iphone to the quadcopter, so I decided to download and re-install the software. I ran into issues doing this because I did not have enough memory available on my phone.

I went to the Galleria at HCC to determine the height of the ceiling so that I could make sure that the parameter for the maximum height was correct. I wasn’t sure how I was going measure the ceiling height, but I came up with 4 different methods: using a tape measure, using a laser tape measure, asking building maintenance, and estimating by measuring the height of the cinderblocks and counting the number of blocks in the pillars. I noticed that there were 2 different types of cinderblocks with 2 different sizes. The first type was the standard 8 inches, and the second type was a smaller 3 inches. There were 36 courses of the standard 8 inch blocks, and 4 courses of the smaller blocks. So the height of the pillars would calculate to 36*8 + 4*3 = 300” = 25 feet. Since the quadcopter is set in meters, I had to convert this measurement to meters, which would be 7.5 m. The quadcopter only allows whole numbers, so I had to round down to 7 meters. Rounding up to 8 meters could have caused the quadcopter to hit one of the support beams.



I started to get concerned that there was going to be an issue with the quadcopter and the amount of weight I was going to be adding. So, I decided to conduct an experiment to see how much weight the quadcopter could lift.

My first attempt did not go very well. I designed a rig to hang under the quadcopter that I could hang fishing weights from. I then tried to fly the quadcopter, but the battery was dead. So I put the battery on charge and decided to weight my brother’s uno arduino board. It weighed 1 oz without the battery, and 2.8 oz with the 9-volt battery and the connector. I also looked on-line then to see if there were ways to lighten the board, or if there were smaller/lighter options. I found a mini-arduino board called a Yellowjacket. Here is the link: http://asynclabs.com/store?page=shop.product_details&product_id=24&vmcchk=1

Once the batteries were charged, I started the experiment, I started with ½ oz. of weight, and the quadcopter lifted it without any problems. I then increased the weight and noticed that it went higher on take-off than I expected. I continued to add weight in ½ oz. increments until I got to 2 oz. During the 2 oz. trial, the quadcopter flew up into the ceiling and then turned off and crashed. So now I knew I needed to find a new way to conduct the experiment. I suspected that my handing weight rig may have blocked the altitude sensors or may have cause the motors to work too hard.

So, I decided to redesign my experiment to change the way I put weight on the quadcopter, and to prevent it from getting away from me. So I used fishing line and clamps to tether it down to the workbench in my basement, and I used lead shot in plastic bags for the weight. I attached the folded up bags to the shroud with double stick tape. I was successful in testing weights up to 4 oz. I stopped here because I did not want to damage the motor by lifting too much weight and I did not know what the ultimate goal was.

Here are the details for my experiment:

My Second Task
I plan on lightening and modifying the nerf gun and arduino so that they are light enough for the quadcopter to carry.

Summary of actual work over second weekend
I recorded the flight settings of the quadcopter, and made a tutorial for later groups on how to adjust them, as this was an area I found problematic to learn on my own. I then disassembled the Nerf gun and made a tutorial on how to lighten it. Finally, downloaded a windows application to allow the user to fly the quadcopter from a PC.

Week2 Narrative
I started this week with the task of documenting the various flight settings of the quadcopter. I took the quadcopter outside, and I first flew a control test using the default settings of the drone. I had very limited control over the quadcopter and it crashed several times. I continued to receive an Ultrasound Warning. I did not know what this meant, so I did a Google search and found a post on the AR Drone forum. I learned that the quadcopter's ultrasound sensors, which calculate its altitude, only function below 3-6 meters. Above that, the quadcopter will not hover or automatically stabilize, and the user has to control everything or risk losing the machine. That post can be found here: http://forum.parrot.com/ardrone/en/viewtopic.php?id=3663. After learning this, I decided against setting the altitude limit above 6 meters.

I then tested through the other settings on the quadcopter to see if i could find any other areas that could be causing the flight issues. I then created a tutorial with descriptions of the settings and my experiences with adjusting the flight settings for the quadcopter. This can be found here: Flight settings adjustments

After this, I started to take apart the Nerf pistol, and I documented how this was done. I have a tutorial, which can be found here:Nerf Gun Disassembly Tutorial .The tutorial shows how to disassemble the gun, and what parts can be removed to make it weigh less. I decided not to cut off some of the parts yet, such as the bottom half of the casing, as I did not have a plan for mounting the gun yet, and I did not want to cut off a part I might need later. I did remove the bulky flashlight system from the bottom of the gun, and in doing so, dropped the weight of the Nerf gun from 7.4 oz to 5.9 oz.

I have an idea on how I would mount the gun, using the accessory rail on the top of the gun, and the respective clip it attaches to glued on the quadcopter. The rail would slide onto the clip and hold the gun upside down, also giving easier access to the trigger mechanism. This needs to be accessible so that a servo can be mounted to shoot the Nerf gun.

The last thing that I did was to download a program that allows the user to fly the quadcopter from a pc. The application is can be downloaded here: http://www.mediafire.com/?40uv138abw1yc6x. I had trouble opening the .rar file, and I had to install 7zip, a program which will open these types of files. Once opened, I could not start the application. The program would start up, and then encounter a problem and shut down. I have to work through this to find a way to start the program. A discussion of this application and some of the problems other people have encountered can be found here: http://www.ardrone-flyers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=540,on the AR. Drone Flyers Forum.

My Third task
I will examine ways to create a mount for the Nerf gun, and ways of creating a mechanism to fire the gun.

Summary of actual work over third weekend
This week in class, I cleaned up several of the unused skateboard wheels in the hopes that they could be used for later projects. I also started to investigate ways to attach the nerve gun to the quadcopter.

Week3 Narrative
I cleaned two sets of the skateboard wheels from the box in the engineering shop. I have a tutorial on how to do this. It can be found here Skate board wheel tutorial. These can now be used for other projects in the future, and there are several more sets that could be cleaned up as well.

I looked into how other people have attached things to the quadcopter. The most common attachment was a video camera. Several different people have attached the camera to a mount that is attached to the the bottom of the quadcopter. I need to figure out how to create a mount that can use the Nerf accessory rail.

My Fourth task
I plan on cutting down the Nerf gun and possible attaching a mount to the quadcopter using a Nerf accessory rail.

Summary of actual work over fourth weekend
This week I cut down the Nerf gun to its lighten the weight, and I created a mount to attach it to the quadcopter.

Week4 Narrative
This week, I finally cut down the Nerf gun to make it lighter. This will make it easier to fly the Quadcopter when it is attached. I followed my previous tutorial to see where to cut, and I also cut off a few additional parts. In the end, I was able to reduce the weight of the Nerf gun from 7.9 oz to 3.8 oz. The final Nerf gun can be seen here:

I then created a mount using the rail bracket from a Nerf tactical light. This bracket is designed to attach to the rail on the Nerf gun, making it perfect to hold the gun. The bracket needs to be attached to the quadcopter, but I cannot attach mine at the moment as the base plate on the quadcopter is broken. This will need to be fixed or replaced by a later group. Here is a link to a replacement upgrade: http://www.i-drone.me/index.php?option=com_opencart&Itemid=54&route=product/product&product_id=160 I had planned on attaching the rail assembly to the quadcopter by gluing it to the base plate. This might interfere with the Ultrasonic sensor though. So an alternative mount, similar to the ones used for the GoPro cameras might need to be designed to hold the rail assembly. Here is a link to the Go{Pro mount: http://etfett.net/product_info.php?products_id=55

Complete Team Page
Fill out the Team Form (should have already copied the form, created the team page, linked to it and started filling it out).