BIG model glider. Moderately OT.

laserhawk64

Senior Member
I'm in the US and the greedy b's won't let me see the video :(

Not really worth learning how to use a proxy for this, either... but I do hope Santa brings you something nice!
 
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laserhawk64

Senior Member
I do not pay any fees for television.

In fact, for three reasons, I have not had a television on in my house (except for retrocomputing purposes) in more than three years.

Reason One: TV rots one's brains, fast -- and I am significantly disinterested in becoming a zombie. Besides, I get enough mind-numbing junk on the Internet what with trolling and general idiocy becoming the rampant norm, with 'nice' places (such as the one in which I am posting) being oases of calm and intellect, few and far between.

Reason Two: Even if TV didn't have the brain-rot effect, I generally don't care for what's on it to begin with. This has not changed as the quality (if one can even use that term anymore) has completed its nosedive and is now digging through the ground in search of new lows.

Reason Three: I live with my mother, and she has a disability, which TV tends to affect. Lots of light and motion and sound all together make her quite confused. Her and her health are quite important to me, so even if TV was worth watching, and it was interesting, it would remain off. (Such a circumstance is quite clearly in no danger whatsoever of occurring probably any time in the next decade or two!)

The levels of horrible that TV has sunk to genuinely boggle my mind -- particularly because there are large segments of the population that actively seek that gunk out! It's like people actually WANT the mental equivalent of clogged arteries.
 

tony_g

Senior Member
~20 minutes in for the possibly PICAXEable bits.
ah that would be the ardupilot, just incase some are not familiar its an open source autopilot system that uses the ar***no (boo,hiss) lol.
their is another updated version of it being sold now that is smaller than the one they used for this, im trying to get my brother to invest in it for his fpv planes so i can have a play with it lol then his plane would have a mix or arduino and the picaxe systems ive made for him in it lol.

out here it costs about $300 cad for the base package.
 

srnet

Senior Member
Not sure why an Ardupilot is needed.

The glider is presumably trimmed for a good glide, so up and down (elevator control) is not needed.

So GPS and gentle and slow right and left ought to be enough.

I would have thought you could do this with a PICAXE, its basic control requirement is not a lot different to the Robot Boat.

Remember a glider like this would if trimmed properly fly all on its own, although perhaps not in the right direction.
 

tony_g

Senior Member
i would assume they just went with the ardupilot for its features, possibly to be able to use the base station software to set their waypoints and minimum altittude requirments via laptop and monitor its flight data in realtime with a wireless link, it does seem like a capable system from all the curious reading i did on it a while ago and has also now migrated to my much loved rotary winged craft.
 

srnet

Senior Member
Probably chose it because the ardupilot is a convenient ready packaged product you just buy.

Plug and play.
 

techElder

Well-known member
We seek out British shows on Netflix. Mostly the older series of detective and "copper" shows. There are no equivalents here in the States. Good show!

James Mays Toy Stories - Flight Club --- fantastic example of microcomputer control of flight. This seems doable with a PICAXE or two. This glider spent an hour circling its programmed destination scraping off altitude and landed within 20 feet of the runway after 22 miles of flight.
 

Dippy

Moderator
It was a really good fun show.
As soon as I saw that PCB I could hear the rustling of anoraks... :)
It certainly did the job.

All so much more refreshing than 'Man v Food'.


What we need now is the transatlantic submarine sponsored by Columbian Drugs Barons.

A big thanks to the "Stupid One" from Top gear.;)
 

boriz

Senior Member
...This has not changed as the quality (if one can even use that term anymore) has completed its nosedive and is now digging through the ground in search of new lows.
From what I've seen of American TV, I couldn't agree more. Here in the UK, our TV license fee (TV Tax I think the Americans call it), is the only thing that's been keeping standards as high as they are. It's far from perfect, but it's keeping British broadcasting honest. Well honest-ish.

"I do not pay any fees for television." - Generally, you get what you pay for :)

May has done some good stuff. Did you see 'James May on the Moon' ? Great. I like him. Even if he is the 'stupid one off Top Gear'. (Another example of expensive, but excellent BBC program making)
 

Dippy

Moderator
Don't forget, fellow Brits, we get plenty of home-grown rubbish too.
And some science stuff which gets dumbed-down.
I thought the RI Chirstmas lectures were very good this year.

Over the years I have seen lots of really good Sci-Fi and Comedy from the US so I'm not going to do a general poo-poo.


Just like electronics, you have to filter the good from the bad :)
 
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