Fixed pitched 4 channel helicopter flying.... or crashing

[seedjar]

OMG - It's hard to believe that someone is actually in control of that thing. Amazing!
Yeah, the autonomous Quadrotors are pretty impressive. Right now they cheat just a little in the labs; robot vision is still something that has its limits. The obstacles are all highly reflective, and the room is lit from multiple angles with powerful infrared lights. You'll notice the hula-hoops have shiny tape on them. Still, even if it can't see without lights for assistance, it's pretty amazing that it can recognize the paths of moving obstacles well enough to maneuver through them.
I can't wait until I have my own helicopter swarm to help me with chores. Laundry, carting groceries... perhaps even tree pruning? The possibilities are endless. :P
~Joe

PS - I just realized, my apartment has vaulted ceilings and is begging for one of these. What's a good entry-level one? I've never flown before so, while the mSR looks cool, I'm not sure I'd be able to make the best use of it. Bonus points for something I can crack the case on and modify if I get bored.

[TheFury]

Well, I HIGHLY recommend this guy. It's a 3 channel heli, meaning you can control vertical throttle, yaw left/right, and pitch forward/backward. It cheats a little bit because it doesn't pitch the actual rotors; it uses a little fan on the tail to tilt the nose up and down. This is the case with all 3-channel helis.

This guy is readily available on eBay. I started out with one of those... it hovers incredibly well and is SUPER easy to fly. Surprisingly tough, and incredibly easy to control. And it's very cheap. What I also like is that you can charge it from your computer with an included USB cable! But it's SO easy to fly, you might get bored with it after a few flights!

The next step up for me was this one. It's pretty much the gold standard for 4-channel coaxial helis. Also incredibly easy to fly, but in addition to elevation, pitch, and yaw, you get roll control... so banked turns and certain stunts (funnels) become possible. It's a little expensive, but spare parts are available everywhere and Horizon Hobby customer service is great... they stand behind the product that you shell out the cash for.

Another option (slightly more expensive) is the Walkera Lama2. I have this guy as well. It's heavier and a good deal faster, and correspondingly more difficult to control. But it's a blast!

From 4-channel coaxial helis, it's not a huge jump up to fixed pitch, single rotor helis like the blade mSR that elgecko posted about, or Walkera's answer to it, the CB100. That's where the real fun happens.

I would almost say jump straight to the mCX2 rather than the 3-channel heli. Although it's understandable if you'd want to dip your toe in the water with a $30 heli rather than jumping straight in with a $120 toy!

EDIT: you mentioned wanting to modify the things. They're really sensitive to added weight, but there's some breathing room. There seems to be a larger following of modders for Walkera helis than Horizon Hobby/E-Flite. But there are mods for the mCX2 too. Like this swashplate mod that improves forward flight speed.

[seedjar]

Aha, thank you for explaining. I suppose I could've looked but I'm still feeling lazy and groggy at this hour - I was puzzling over the difference in channels. I know enough about RC to know they represent degrees of freedom in the control signal, but I couldn't figure out where you'd be able to vary that in heli control schemes.
The $30 might be more accessible for now, since I'm in the hole and won't be buying any toys any time soon unless I get a big lump of cash from my parents for Christmas or something. But otherwise I might start with a more high-end model if my situation turns around unexpectedly. In terms of modifications I'd probably be doing things like replacing the control circuit and transmitter with a reprogrammable microcontroller and maybe one of those wifi-in-an-SD-card wireless network adapters, and maybe some sort of sensor apparatus if I can find something light enough that would actually be worth the trouble.
I guess I'd be interested in doing other things, but these guys are so tiny that the only thing I can think of off the top of my head is to add features to the controls or make them autonomous. I guess once I get one and tear it down I'll probably learn some stuff about helicopter mechanics and want to tinker with my own designs, but in the mean time I don't think I have enough insight as to how it works. Robots are really more my thing.
~Joe

[elgecko]

@elgecko - these ultra micro planes interest me too. I wish I had the outdoor space to fly them! Heck, my apartment is hardly big enough for an mSR (as you say, good thing they're iron-clad!)

Some day I hope to be able to do what this guy can...

The mSR is one tough bird.
You should have no trouble making a jump to a fixed blade from your coaxials. At least your use to the controls, which took me a little time to get used to since I've only ever flown the 3 channel ones.

I've seen some other video of people flying there helis 3D.... but lets be honest here. This guy has no idea how to fly a heli and he made it look like he tried all that!

PS - I just realized, my apartment has vaulted ceilings and is begging for one of these. What's a good entry-level one? I've never flown before so, while the mSR looks cool, I'm not sure I'd be able to make the best use of it. Bonus points for something I can crack the case on and modify if I get bored.

The 3 channel heli TheFury pointed out , the Syma S107, or the HeliZone FireBird (I have video on page 1 of this thread.) are all excellent beginner 3 channel helis.



Here is some video of some better flying I did early this morning.


This heli is a blast.

[TheFury]

Here is some video of some better flying I did early this morning.

Nice spot landings!

Also, great video quality. What do you use to record?

Ever heard of FPV flight? I think this stuff is sweet. Check the video out below... you mount a camera to your heli (or airplane) and wear video goggles to fly it around. You can see the pilot with his goggles on at one point in this vid. It lets you fly well beyond visual range and the first person view is really cool, but it does look kinda creepy.

[elgecko]

Nice spot landings!

Also, great video quality. What do you use to record?

Ever heard of FPV flight? I think this stuff is sweet. Check the video out below... you mount a camera to your heli (or airplane) and wear video goggles to fly it around. You can see the pilot with his goggles on at one point in this vid. It lets you fly well beyond visual range and the first person view is really cool, but it does look kinda creepy.

Thanks. I'm getting better at flying it.

I use a little Sony MHS-CM1 camcorder.

Interesting.

[seedjar]

Good lord, what have you all done to me? Downloaded FlightGear... haven't compiled it yet because my harddrive is cluttered with movies and sprawling MineCraft saves. Once I burn these movies to disk... well... you might not see me for a while. XD
~Joe

[elgecko]

A quick clip of the mSR stability once dialed in.