All posts by personal drones

Kaizen Kinetics: Affordable Engineering Services launches sister company

I am glad to publish the following press release by Kaizen Kinetics:

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Affordable Engineering Services launches sister company

Kaizen Kinetics

Kaizen Kinetics International (K2I Inc.) is one of North America’s premier unmanned systems companies with headquarters in San Diego, California and manufacturing operations in Vancouver, BC.
Kaizen Kinetics was launched out of the offices of Affordable Engineering Services, on Coronado Island. Continue reading Kaizen Kinetics: Affordable Engineering Services launches sister company

AUVSI letter to California members

I am glad to publish the following letter that AUVSI sent to it’s California members inviting them to take action in regard to Assembly Bill 1327. You can take action too, even if you are not a member!

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From: Mario Mairena
Date:08/12/2014 12:20 PM (GMT-08:00)
Subject: AB 1327, Adversely Affecting UAS

Dear California AUVSI Member:

As you know, Assembly Bill 1327 is moving expeditiously through the general assembly. AB 1327 was introduced by Reps. Jeff Gorell (R-44th), Steven Bradford (D-62nd) and Bill Quirk (D-20th). This bill regulates the use of unmanned aircraft systems by public agencies and the dissemination and use of any images, data and footage obtained by those systems. AB 1327 was passed by the House on January 29 by a 63-6 vote and on July 1 was read a second time and was ordered to a third reading in the Senate.

AUVSI’s position is that as it is currently written, AB1327 would fundamentally change current search warrant requirements used by law enforcement, which have been established by decades of U.S. Supreme Court case precedent, and they would treat manned and unmanned aircraft differently, although they are capable of gathering the same data. Continue reading AUVSI letter to California members

NASA reply letter to an informal “research grant application” involving coca-cola and mentos for building a skyrocket

This reply from NASA to twitter user Jamie DMJ is hilarious and worth a full read. Apparently the user had sent NASA an informal request for money to develop a skyrocket based on the chemical reaction between Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola

and mentos.

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that are well known to trigger an “explosive” reaction when mixed, because the small pores on the candy’s surface catalyze the release of carbon dioxide from the soda, check out the following video: Continue reading NASA reply letter to an informal “research grant application” involving coca-cola and mentos for building a skyrocket

Third Person Driving with a Drone feels like driving in a videogame

Check out this very interesting video that features an experiment in which a car is driven by a pilot that views the car and street thanks to a video feed from a drone.

Driving a car "Third Person View", from an aerial perspective thanks to a live video feed from a drone
Driving a car “Third Person View”, from an aerial perspective thanks to a live video feed from a drone

It looks and feels very much like a video game.

The pilot is getting a live video feed from the drone thanks to FPV goggles
The pilot is getting a live video feed from the drone thanks to FPV goggles

Continue reading Third Person Driving with a Drone feels like driving in a videogame

Drone Mapping of Coral Reefs and the Coastal Zone in the Carribean

Nature.org has a great story by Steve Shill, a Senior Scientist for the Caribbean Program, developing methods, tools, and information products for countries seeking to identify high priority conservation areas based on biodiversity value and risk assessments.

The story focuses on his project, carried out with his students, aimed at mapping marine habitats with a self constructed drone, made just for this purpose.

Have a look at this beautiful little bird called “Henri”:

“Henri” is able to take off from and land in the water. Photo: © Tim Calver
Meet “Henri”. Henri is able to take off from and land in the water. Photo: © Tim Calver

“Weighing in at just under 5 pounds, “Henri” (named in honor of the king of Northern Haiti from the early nineteen century) has a tough, floatable KYDEX® frame equipped with a high-def GoPro camera, an GPS enabled-autopilot chip, and other navigation electronics tucked neatly inside an upside-down Tupperware container mounted on top that serves as a perfect waterproof housing.

Henri can be guided manually using remote control or via autonomous mode with a pre-programmed flight path.”

The "Henri" quadcopter drone flies over a red mangrove forest. Photo: © Tim Calver
The “Henri” quadcopter drone flies over a red mangrove forest. Photo: © Tim Calver

Continue reading Drone Mapping of Coral Reefs and the Coastal Zone in the Carribean

Video of police confiscating a DJI Phantom from a guy in Hollywood

Police confiscates DJI Phantom to a guy in Hollywood
Police confiscates DJI Phantom to a guy in Hollywood

Check out this video by Photographer and media activist Tom Zebra that documents how he was stopped by Hollywood Police, and then had his DJI Phantom confiscated after filming a US Navy ship.

Mr. Tom Zebra comments on his video as follows: Continue reading Video of police confiscating a DJI Phantom from a guy in Hollywood

Dronelife Launches droneservicefinder.com, the First Comprehensive Aerial Photography Services Finder Application

A Dronelife Press Release
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Dronelife.com Launches droneservicefinder.com, the First Comprehensive Aerial Photography Services Finder Application for the Burgeoning Commercial Drone Industry

Photo by Michael MK Khor https://www.flickr.com/photos/mk-creatures/
Photo by Michael MK Khor

Online Publisher SAJ Technologies, Inc. today launched droneservicefinder.com, the first comprehensive aerial photography services finder application for the burgeoning commercial drone industry. Continue reading Dronelife Launches droneservicefinder.com, the First Comprehensive Aerial Photography Services Finder Application

5 Tips for Buying a New Drone

By Nick Dragolea, Dronesden
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So you have finally decided to venture into the world of drones, UAVs, quadcopters, whatever you want to call them. Hallelujah! Maybe you’ve seen all those amazing drone videos floating around on YouTube from perspectives never seen before and you want to have a go yourself. Or maybe you just want to impress your friends, spy on your neighbour (hopefully not) or take pictures of your estate. With so many drones for sale, the question is, how do I find the perfect drone for me? You have to figure out things such your budget, flying experience, purpose of the drone and the drone flying regulations in your area.

The pocket drone, a great little personal drone to be released in the near future by http://www.thepocketdrone.com/
The pocket drone, a great little personal drone to be released in the near future by http://www.thepocketdrone.com/

Here are our top 5 tips you should consider before splashing out on a new drone: Continue reading 5 Tips for Buying a New Drone

Hobbyking’s KK2 / KK2.1 / KK2.1.5 board firmware update/upgrade: how to

KK2 boards from Hobbyking are a great and inexpensive solution as flight controllers for all sorts of multirotors. In particular in the latest versions, such as the KK2.1.5, they really fly great and stable. One of the main advantages of these boards is that they have an embedded LCD screen that displays configuration settings in an easy to navigate menu, with clearly laid out options that you can navigate and change with the 4 little black buttons at the bottom of the board. Therefore, connection to a PC is not required for configuration and adjustments (for example gains adjustments), making setup and tuning quite handy even directly in the field.

Hobbyking's KK2.1.5 board
Hobbyking’s KK2.1.5 board

I often get questions about KK2 board firmware upgrades. How do I update the KK2 board software to the latest version? Does this require superior programming and informatics skills? Well, the answer is yes it does. You don’t have to worry though, just send yours over and I will upgrade it for you for a miserable 100$. The very latest, coolest firmware, I promise.  Or, keep on reading. Continue reading Hobbyking’s KK2 / KK2.1 / KK2.1.5 board firmware update/upgrade: how to