This semester has been full of headaches and annoyances, but after much head banging and hard work we were able to accomplish minor goals. Although we didn’t accomplish everything we had wanted to, we feel that the progress we made was significant for the time we had. We took pre exsisting python code, rewrote it into ruby follwing OOD, organized it, heavily commented it, as well as fixed the fishtailing issue that taking place with the old code.
With the progress we made obtaining level flight without the dolphin kicks that were previously present, the next step of GPS waypoints is obtainable and the code can be transfered safely to occam-pi and placed on a physical device. We feel that these are the next logical steps for the project.
We have a week left of class, and we would like to try and tie in our heading into our pitch so it can turn as well as change altitude at the same time. If we can accomplish this, the plane will behave as a “real” plane flies. We are unsure if we can accomplish these goals with such a short period of time, but its worth a try.
There is now a robot, called the HyTAQ hybrid that can travel by air and land! Its pretty cool.
Please look here to see the video and article.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/28/hytaq-hybrid-quadrotor-robot-travels-by-air-and-land/