lsutiger607
Junior Member
Hello all, I have plans to build my own version of a Spider Hex Mini Quad. It is still very much on the drawing board and I want to finalize the design until I begin cutting and spending. I do have an idea that I want to run by the community…..
In my opinion, the best Mini-multirotor video footage is of the low and fast variety. The problem is that to go fast the copter must be pitched nose down at often extreme angles. At low altitudes, the pilot gets a screen full of ground and can have trouble 'seeing the road ahead' so as to avoid obstacles. I plan on using a MultiWii Flip 1.5 as my flight controller (on the hex). Since this board already has a gyro/accelerometer on it, I thought it would be a neat idea to use the 'angle of pitch' information from the Wii and feed it to a simple 9g servo to change the tilt angle of my Mobius. The idea being, that when the Wii senses a nose down pitch of the copter, it will command the servo to move (probably on a simple hinge) and tilt the camera up a bit to see the horizon ahead. Since the wii is capable of controlling 8 motors and I'm only using 6, I thought I could use one of the outputs to control this servo. My guess, is that some modifying of the Arduino code would be required. Anyone have any useful info on this?
Let me avoid two options before you post them:
Yes, I know that there are camera gimbals out there that do this very same thing but I don't want to use them for a few reasons. One is that they control brushless motors and considering this is a mini, I don't want to add the weight of a 7th motor to the system. Also, would have to add another controller board and wiring for this gimbal and it just seems a waste given that I already have a gimbal on board (in the form of the MultiWii).
Also, I guess a last resort would be to split the pitch command running from the receiver to the MultiWii and just directly actuate a 9g servo to control the tilt of the camera. I really want to avoid this because it would move the camera based only on pitch command (from the Tx) and not quad angle (which is not always the same thing).
Let me end by saying that my goal is NOT TO STABILIZE THE VIDEO FOOTAGE. I am merely trying to give the pilot a better view ahead so he/she doesn't hit anything.
Any thoughts?
In my opinion, the best Mini-multirotor video footage is of the low and fast variety. The problem is that to go fast the copter must be pitched nose down at often extreme angles. At low altitudes, the pilot gets a screen full of ground and can have trouble 'seeing the road ahead' so as to avoid obstacles. I plan on using a MultiWii Flip 1.5 as my flight controller (on the hex). Since this board already has a gyro/accelerometer on it, I thought it would be a neat idea to use the 'angle of pitch' information from the Wii and feed it to a simple 9g servo to change the tilt angle of my Mobius. The idea being, that when the Wii senses a nose down pitch of the copter, it will command the servo to move (probably on a simple hinge) and tilt the camera up a bit to see the horizon ahead. Since the wii is capable of controlling 8 motors and I'm only using 6, I thought I could use one of the outputs to control this servo. My guess, is that some modifying of the Arduino code would be required. Anyone have any useful info on this?
Let me avoid two options before you post them:
Yes, I know that there are camera gimbals out there that do this very same thing but I don't want to use them for a few reasons. One is that they control brushless motors and considering this is a mini, I don't want to add the weight of a 7th motor to the system. Also, would have to add another controller board and wiring for this gimbal and it just seems a waste given that I already have a gimbal on board (in the form of the MultiWii).
Also, I guess a last resort would be to split the pitch command running from the receiver to the MultiWii and just directly actuate a 9g servo to control the tilt of the camera. I really want to avoid this because it would move the camera based only on pitch command (from the Tx) and not quad angle (which is not always the same thing).
Let me end by saying that my goal is NOT TO STABILIZE THE VIDEO FOOTAGE. I am merely trying to give the pilot a better view ahead so he/she doesn't hit anything.
Any thoughts?