World's Smallest Homebrew RC Unit

MC68040 writes "I assume you've seen the mini-helicopters and airplanes that are becoming increasingly popular as office toys out there. Well this guy decided the market wasn't filled enough, luckily =) He's built the by far simplest and most functional mini Remote Controlled unit. It weighs under 7 grams, is made of carbon fiber and it's smaller than your thumb (or a hamster, as the author seems to prefer to compare). Go check it, it's truly a amazing feat."

Comments

Re:Flight issues at small scale?

[Moderation abuser]

The small cheapo ones don't have gyros. The more expensive, larger RC ones usually do.

Re:Neat-O! No swashplate!

[wfberg]

A patent was filed early 2001. The 'problem' is that soon after that, a company took a license on this technology, and required to keep confidentiality. This implies I can not show pictures, or give details or comments about the way this works.

European patent search

DEVICE FOR STEERING A HELICOPTER, filed 24-03-2003, inventor Van de Rostyne, Alexander, number WO03080433; on this link, simply click on the number again to get access to 31 pages (each in one PDF document)..

The original link is slashdotted, but at least we can admire this guy's "secret" patent.

Re:he should really

[dougmc]

He should really attach a little beeper thing to it. Like a car in a parking lot, this thing could be lost very easily.

You mean something like this? At 7 g, it would double the weight of his helicopter. :) (but yes, you can buy or build similar devices that weigh less.)

Still, for larger (larger than 7 g anyways) R/C planes, these things are *very* nice. I put one in just about all my planes, and already they've saved me lots of trekking around in the woods looking for a plane of mine that I've lost ...

Re:google cached

[swilver]

Working link

The United Stated is the whole world, isn't it?

[frovingslosh]

I'm not sure about abandoned applications, though. In addition, the full text of every patent since the mid-1970's is available online at www.uspto.gov.

Look at the site's URL. Alaxender isn't in the United States. Why assume he filed the patent with the uspto? Still, the "secret" may be a matter of public record, but not likely at the link you gave.

more

[Anonymous Coward]

there's a nice article here

Mirror to picture

[va3atc]

I have managed to get a picture off the slashdotted webpage. Appears small might be an overstatement of its size.

Re:Want to buy one?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a prototype. Perhaps possible in the future, the guy is working with a vendor.

Actually, you can nearly buy a 100 grams one from Petter Muren, Oslo, who can get a mini video cam, and can be driven entirely with the image (it's much more stable). In fact, proxflyer also made a sub 7 grams helico, and the two men have done that in friendly competition. Here is their press release:

Engineers in Belgium and Norway have developed the worlds smallest and lightest autonomous and remotely operated flying robots.

BRUSSELS, Belgium and OSLO, Norway, December 17, 2003. After many years of development in technology, concepts and materials, it has for the first time been possible to build micro flying robots weighing less than 7 grams. Unlike other micro flying robots, these recently unveiled robots operate fully autonomously without any cables to transfer power or control signals. The power comes from onboard batteries and they are operated by infra-red or radio based control devices. The micro flying robots were announced today, on the 100 year anniversary of the first powered flight by the Wright Brothers.

In Brussels, Alexander Van de Rostyne together with leading suppliers of micro robotic components, has developed the Pixelito, a 6.9 grams helicopter-like flying robot with a full 4- axis control similar to larger helicopters. Its two-bladed rotor has a diameter of 148 mm and can be controlled by an infra-red control device that enables the pilot to have full control over it in all the dimensions of space.

In Oslo, Petter Muren in close contact with the same team of component suppliers, has developed the Proxflyer Micron, a 6.9 grams totally silent and aerodynamically stable coaxial rotor flying robot that has a rotor diameter of 128 mm. It is controlled via a 2 channel radio transmitter and an onboard FM radio receiver.

Both the Pixelito and the Proxflyer Micron are battery powered, utilizing onboard state of the art lithium polymer batteries, micro electronics and coreless motors. Space age material technology including carbon fiber and Kevlar is used in the rotors and in the mechanical structures. Both robots rely on new and patented, but totally different ideas to radically simplify the necessary control mechanisms. They are built, and unveiled to the public as proof of concepts and as a demonstration of what is possible to achieve in this field of technology using current commercially available materials and components.

The robots are believed to be the lightest and the smallest flying robots or helicopters ever built anywhere in the world and they open a whole new area of possible applications, including indoor surveillance using onboard micro video cameras, military operations as well as other applications in the hobby and toy market. According to the engineers behind this latest achievement, it is possible to build even smaller and lighter flying robots with today's technology, and as the development of motors and batteries moves on, the flight time and capabilities of such robots will further increase.

with a picture

They beat Epson who did a 9 grams one just one month before: Press release

If you want more on micro R/C, see RC groups

If you want to buy a 10 grams living room plane,
Didel, Switzerland sells a kit. The weight record seems to be 4.4 grams, with muscle wire :) in this thread.

--
Croco

Re:Neat-O! No swashplate!

[mindstrm]

That's not true... that's just what you learn on slashdot because everyone just reads the patent synopsis or summary or whatever (Which has no legal standing) and doesn't read the patent and all it's claims.

Re:Want to buy one?

[skaag]

I temporarily Mirrored the site here:

http://gw.nsa.co.il/pixelito

It was simply too slow and I figured why not...

Skaag

Re:Want to buy one?

[danila]

Needless to say, Richard doesn't have anything to do with hamsters.

I particularly like the following part: "Cedars-Sinai is apparently the best-staffed hospital in the world, since several hundred different doctors and nurses were reportedly on duty at the time Mr. Gere was allegedly brought in for treatment."

And the recording of a radio announcer breaking up (300 Kb, Real Audio) as he attempted to read one of the versions of the "gerbil in the anus" article as a straight news story.

You can buy them

[ASDFnz]

Even though the guy does not sell the ones he builds he got together with a German company a while ago called Ikarus. You can now buy micro-helicopters all over the Internet at places like http://www.slyshobbyden.net/fun_piccolo .

Re:Flight issues at small scale?

[Suidae]

Radio Shacks ZipZap Special Edition 1/64th scale RC cars use a digital proportional control system for throttle and steering. When it works correctly you get about 7 discreet steering steps to the left and right, 5 foward speeds and 3 reverse.

Unfortunately Radio Shack can't seem to get the manufacturing right and the steering usually sucks in a big way. There are three models of the PCB (so far), one can be fixed and works beautifully, the other two pretty much just suck.

You can find lots of information about the various cars on the micro RC forums, one of which can be found here . Just be aware that most of the contributors are in the 10-15 year old age range.

You can get smaller

[abennett]

Jean-Marie Piednoir of France makes an even smaller one. 3 channels, built in speed control and weights 2.2 grams, including crystal.

You can get them in the US from Bob Selman (http://users.joplin.com/~bselman/JMPCombo.htm).