Slashdot Mirror
Autonomous Model Glider Flies from 60,000 Feet
saccade writes "A couple
years ago we read about a telemetry laden balloon launched
to 80,000 feet single-handedly built by a laid-off engineer. Here's an even more elaborate
one built at around the same time: A balloon launched model
glider taken to about 60,000
feet that autonomously finds its way home. It had an auto-pilot
and elaborate mission control system. Also impressive is the
extensive testing
done before launch."
Parent was modded up funny, but this raises a serious question: what is stopping somebody with bomb-making skills from flying a plane like this loaded with explosives to a high-profile target such as the White House or other government buildings?
thisnukes4u.net
OTOH, he seems to have had some problems with navigation and obstacles (i.e., the mountain in the way), but I can't see how he can deal with that without using something like EGPWS. Standard GPWS (ground proximity warning systems) use radar and the power needs would be far to high. EGPWS extends this with a digital ground model and a GPS. He has the GPS, but whether he could make and store an model with terrain elevation would be an interesting question.
(and too bad that he still lives, sez i)
"He who throws mud, loses ground." - proverb
The two stories mentioned in the article were the source for inspiration for me that caused me to start building a wheeled robot that I had been thinking about for a long time. I read the baloon story on Slashdot and then searched for more similar stuff online and I found the glider article. That was about a year ago - maybe a year and a half.
:)
n sai1.jp g
Today, the robot (which I call Bonsai) is ready. The goal for it was to be able to do a couple of fairly basic things that would allow it to be a platform for later ideas that could be built on the base work. The things it had to do were:
It had to be able to know where it was in the world, how it was oriented and moving in the world, and to be able to use that information to figure out how to drive to get from point A to point B (possibly through a complex path).
It had to be able to be manually controlled in addition to the automatic control.
It had to have a good remote control software complete with moving map, full telemetry of all functions on the robot, and the ability to command every function of the robot remotely.
It had to have a camera, and the remote control software had to be able to see the image from that camera real-time (or as close to real-time as possible).
It had to have a wireless communications link.
It would have to be able to operate at least 60 minutes.
It had to have a solid vehicle base that had to be able to operate for at least 60 minutes and be able to operate precisely and reliably.
The vehicle base would have to be able to carry the load of the computer, batteries, as well as a sizeble amount of additional electronics and equipment in the future.
The whole thing would have to look decent.
It took about a year to design and build, but it was very fun and in the end, it turned out to be fairly easy and nowhere near as expensive as I imagined it would be. Projects like that are a great way to learn new stuff about electronics and I highly recommend it to anyone who has been thinking about something like this. In the end, all the goals of the project were met, and I now have a really fun toy!
The URL below is a picture of the robot in its final form:
http://www.saunalahti.fi/macpeep/bonsai/bo