Helicopter

[mechamithrandir]

http://media.howstuffworks.com/mit/vide ... rticle=364

If MIT could do it, so can we. In fact we can do better!! Aside from attracting the interest of various corporations such as NASA and USAF, it would be fun to build one and play with it. But aside from all that it may be a lot of work. So to start, funding might be nice as well as assistance from professors around poly however, in order to convince them to help, it would be a good idea to know some things about helicopters and some possible uses for them. Any ideas? I'll be looking into helicopters a bit myself in my free time.

[hasn0life421]

If you watch that video, they say MIT bought the helicopter. They didnt make it. What they made was an autonomous stabilization system for it. lol

[Widget]

Aye, Heli's that big are expensive. Beyond Polybots' budget at least. You may be able to do the boring stuff, the stabilization system and programming, on the cheap without the helicopter, but where's the fun in that?

[kakarot1232001]

Besides, that the autonomous airplane plane systems. There is that project in poly.

[zeerobot]

hey

can such an autonomous platform be designed for a smaller cheap helicopter? for a micro rc helicopter like the one they sell
in hobby and toy stores? take a look for example at these remote controlled toys.
the problem with these helicopters is their thrust to weight ratio. they will only be able to carry really light weight extra gear , but the commercial value of making such a platform for these type of toys is really big.
they also larger helicopters that can be found here http://www.danbartoys.com/rc-helicopters .
looking forward to your reply

[tralfam]

You are exactly right about the thrust to weight ratio. I've looked into it, and for my applications, it was very cost prohibitive to get a helicopter that could provide enough thrust. It is just an unfortunate fact that those micro-helicopters cannot hold enough weight on them. The ones that can provide enough lift to make an actual autonomous robot cost a ton of money, and are out of the hobbiests' budget (at least mine, anyway).

Good luck and post back if you get something working!