Tau Labs OpenPilot mainboard V Octo Flying

[Gary Mortimer]

There are several versions of the Pro board flying, a name I hate BTW really think we should have a naming competition. We have been rubbish at naming these boards so far!

That is the bigger brother of the CC, it has native GPS, compass and baro.

Anyhow Sambas has flown a V octa, still to be tuned.

 

[dankers]

It good for people to see these very early flights, we will follow this up and show how it flies tuned.

Not bad though for the AP guys as this frame style works well. Note this is an prototype of the Pro/INS platform and not CopterControl.

 

[ssassen]

Anyhow Sambas has flown a V octa, still to be tuned.

Is the grass trimming a feature that it ships with? Or is that just due to piloting skills? In the former case you will see strong sales I'm sure, that would be a novel way to keep the front lawn looking nice and clean. Thought of retail packaging yet? In this case I would propose Grass Control as a name for the contraption (sorry, my attempt at being funny).

Cheers,

Sander - ImmersionRC

 

[dankers]

I think what people will need to understand is OpenPilot does a lot of development is in the open, so there are videos around like this to show people real work and effort goes in to the development. Octo V support was added as a community request and hence we are showing the community how far along we are and what the first ever flight looked like.

Even some Open Source projects work on their development in secret, we don't. Don't judge piloting skills or anything else on that video, its the first time ever OpenPilot has flown an Octo V on prototype hardware, videos like this are taken in case it all goes wrong, then the dev team can discuss what happened and can help resolve it. The fact that the first ever time we tried this and it actually flew is real impressive to me.

This is step one only, watch what happens when it is tuned.

 

[ssassen]

Don't worry, I'm just poking fun, you should see some of my (spectacular) crash videos, sometimes sh*t hits the fan despite careful planning, sifting through the code, charging you batts and not relying on duct tape for crucial structural elements. Either way, I appreciate the effort, to the extend that I already ordered and paid for three CC boards ...

Cheers,

Sander - ImmersionRC (= the FPV equipment guys)

 

[Macsgrafs]

So where can one find out more info on this board, looks like its a winner before its even tuned!!!!!

Sander, nice to have you on board for us FPV freaks

Ross

 

[Gary Mortimer]

Its all over at the OP main site Ross, we have been working on it for 18 months now. It won't be released soon as when its released it will be right.

 

[Macsgrafs]

I did look, but couldnt find it Thats the main problem with 99% of those MR websites, they make it far to confusing for us newbs to navigate around & find the right info.

Ross

 

[dankers]

We hope to be different.

I would say forget about the Pro/INS until we know a bit more ourselves, we are big on R&D and getting things right and things change often based on new information. The only one thing I can say about the Pro/INS platform is it will be good, but I know people won;t like this, it has to be a case of it being done when it is ready. Its too much work and we care too much to release junk.

We must get the community involved in CC and get that to live up to what it can become first. We have Helis to get right and also fixed Wing UAVs as well.

 

[dankers]

So here we are a day later:

Remember this is an early prototype of the Pro/INS platform flying an Octo V on pre-alpha software using PWM ESCs on its 2nd flight.

Its nice to see a progression like this and shows a lot of the working being done. Should make the AP guys happy with that stability already.

 

[CopterCam]

Excellent progress ............. one step closer to the release. That Octo V frame is growing on me and makes a lot of sense for AVP ?

Sid

 

[Gary Mortimer]

Well IMHO its the best frame, camera along the power axis, can look up and down. Basically a set of sticks! No teetering high undercarridge. I could go on.

 

[CopterCam]

Yeah !...... very interesting. I wonder if it would be practical to have a modular design, could help greatly with transportation etc.

Dave(Droider) made reference to a frame design contribution from MRF to honour the CC ? ......... maybe we should explore this config. ? Jeremy where art thou............. ?

Sid

 

[Macsgrafs]

Hence why we have chosen to go with retractable undercart

 

[Bartman]

I'm very glad that there are people out there with the patience and time to sort through these things.
Thanks!
Bart

 

[jes1111]

Yeah !...... very interesting. I wonder if it would be practical to have a modular design, could help greatly with transportation etc.

Dave(Droider) made reference to a frame design contribution from MRF to honour the CC ? ......... maybe we should explore this config. ? Jeremy where art thou............. ?

Sid

I'm here! I'm here!

Slight potential problem with the H8 frame is that Ascending Technologies (makers of the Asctec 8) apparently have a European patent on the H8 layout. I'm trying to locate details on that to verify.

We should open a dedicated thread to iscuss a community frame project. "I'm in!", as they say.

 

[CopterCam]

mmm ! ....... thought I had seen something like it in the past, AsTec, the big hitters.............. a H8 with converging verticals ? Do we need the Legal Dept. on this one ? Interested to see what your Patent research throws up.

Good idea on the dedicated thread............... Dave (Droider) are you listening ?

Sid

 

[dankers]

You mean this application?

View attachment 373

I do wonder what they will try and do with that? Seems overly broad and I do not see an actual invention? Apart from arranging motors on sticks and then angeling them, obviously nothing original or unique and hardly an invention. Does present a threat to the whole community and is very poor form.

Its much too easy to get patents of course, seems bizarre that some one can change something in a minor way and claim it as a new invention.

Lets be crystal here: Its an H8 which has existed for years and they are trying to get a patent on tilting the arms a few degrees so a camera is unobstructed, which is just common sense. Wow, I am stunned, angeling the arms a few degrees is claimed as *new* invention?

 

[jes1111]

You mean this application?

View attachment 743

I do wonder what they will try and do with that? Seems overly broad and I do not see an actual invention? Apart from arranging motors on sticks and then angeling them, obviously nothing original or unique and hardly an invention. Does present a threat to the whole community and is very poor form.

Its much too easy to get patents of course, seems bizarre that some one can change something in a minor way and claim it as a new invention.

Lets be crystal here: Its an H8 which has existed for years and they are trying to get a patent on tilting the arms a few degrees so a camera is unobstructed, which is just common sense. Wow, I am stunned, angeling the arms a few degrees is claimed as *new* invention?

Ok - I didn't know they'd also applied for a US patent. I gather that the European patent is already granted. Also a pain-in-the-butt is the recent grant of a European patent to airrobot.com for the Y6 layout (for which Draganfly already hold a US patent).

If anybody has a friend/relative who is (or knows) a patent lawyer - now would be a good time to chip in! Even if these patents are not enforceable, it takes time and money to fight injunctions if they are issued - I'd love to get some professional opinions on this.

 

[dankers]

Even if these patents are not enforceable, it takes time and money to fight injunctions if they are issued - I'd love to get some professional opinions on this.

Exactly and I also realize that is what they are up to, it is a huge threat. It is obviously these are not real inventions, I suspect there is prior art for all of these as well but it takes time and money to get a bad patent invalidated. I suspect these are "insurance" against the smaller more dynamic businesses come in to the market, this is not at all a threat to OpenPilot but it is for all people who make frames and sell them and for smaller businesses that wish to take OpenPilot and offer complete platforms around it.

I do find it ironic that the patent system was designed to protect inventors against big corporations and these days it seems that corporations use them to stifle innovation by the little guys.

Its is so obviously a farce and that these designs are copied from the community when you have two different companies, in different locations holding a patent for the exact same thing. It does seem like they just look at forums for new ideas from us and then patent the good ones, thus trying to remove ideas from us that we created.