quadrocopter w/ROS Arbotix

[ahack3r]

what are your thoughts on using ROS arbotix on a quadrocopter/UAV like robot? I love the PIXHawk here http://www.ros.org/news/2010/09/robo...licopters.html but instead of using their board, I would use the Arbotix...is this possible?

[sthmck]

from a purely electronics stand point it would be. You would have to use ESC to control the motors and you would have to find an IMU that you could get working with the arbotix. As far as what you would be doing with ROS I have no idea how that would work. If you check out diydrones.com you should be able to find some info on arduino controlled quad copters which is essentially what you want to do here.

[RobotAtlas]

ahack3r, we love ArbotiX here, but what's the reason for you not wanting to use their board?

[ahack3r]

from a purely electronics stand point it would be. You would have to use ESC to control the motors and you would have to find an IMU that you could get working with the arbotix. As far as what you would be doing with ROS I have no idea how that would work. If you check out diydrones.com you should be able to find some info on arduino controlled quad copters which is essentially what you want to do here.

yes, I'm looking into the Arducopter, thanks!

ahack3r, we love ArbotiX here, but what's the reason for you not wanting to use their board?

for two reasons:

1. their site isn't responding.
2. I want the functionality of the Arbotix for later projects.

[lnxfergy]

what are your thoughts on using ROS arbotix on a quadrocopter/UAV like robot? I love the PIXHawk here http://www.ros.org/news/2010/09/robo...licopters.html but instead of using their board, I would use the Arbotix...is this possible?

Possible? Yes.
Easy? No.

You'd have to develop your own firmware -- these quadrotors don't have enough payload to carry a PC, and over-the-air isn't going to be fast nor deterministic enough to do control of a quadrotor. While I'd love to see an ArbotiX-based quadrotor -- I have to admit it is probably the wrong tool for the job. Lots of other boards have been developed specifically for doing quadrotors/uavs, and it would be a much simpler job to add an ROS interface to one of these than.

-Fergs

[ahack3r]

Possible? Yes.
Easy? No.

You'd have to develop your own firmware -- these quadrotors don't have enough payload to carry a PC, and over-the-air isn't going to be fast nor deterministic enough to do control of a quadrotor. While I'd love to see an ArbotiX-based quadrotor -- I have to admit it is probably the wrong tool for the job. Lots of other boards have been developed specifically for doing quadrotors/uavs, and it would be a much simpler job to add an ROS interface to one of these than.

-Fergs

I have to agree, I've been doing even more research and came to the same conclusion...I guess I will have to keep my Turret and uav projects separate, for now