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zakabog
Feb 27, 2015, 12:35 AM
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I'm in the process of building a quadcopter that I'd like to eventually bring climbing with me. The idea is to eventually have the thing programmed to follow a target so I can set it up to follow me up some interesting routes. One of the problems with multicopters however is the amount of noise they generate. While I might be having a good time climbing as this buzzing copter follows me around, others might not be as welcoming to the sound.
I figured I'd start with something simple like bouldering, so if anyone was bothered by the copter it's right there and I can just shut it down. Plus that would give me a decent idea of the ability to follow a target without having to worry about the thing falling out of the sky while I'm 60 feet up. I'd also probably mostly film single pitch sport routes since the battery life is short on these things (I don't expect to get much more than 15 minutes out of the quadcopter I'm putting together.)
So, since my goal here isn't to piss off a ton of strangers, I figured I'd get an idea here first of how everyone might feel about such a thing hovering around the crag?
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6pacfershur
Feb 27, 2015, 4:21 AM
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you can bring your quadcopter if i can bring my 12-gauge....
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olderic
Feb 27, 2015, 2:41 PM
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Pull
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mojomonkey
Feb 27, 2015, 3:57 PM
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zakabog wrote: I'm in the process of building a quadcopter that I'd like to eventually bring climbing with me. The idea is to eventually have the thing programmed to follow a target so I can set it up to follow me up some interesting routes. One of the problems with multicopters however is the amount of noise they generate. While I might be having a good time climbing as this buzzing copter follows me around, others might not be as welcoming to the sound. I figured I'd start with something simple like bouldering, so if anyone was bothered by the copter it's right there and I can just shut it down. Plus that would give me a decent idea of the ability to follow a target without having to worry about the thing falling out of the sky while I'm 60 feet up. I'd also probably mostly film single pitch sport routes since the battery life is short on these things (I don't expect to get much more than 15 minutes out of the quadcopter I'm putting together.) So, since my goal here isn't to piss off a ton of strangers, I figured I'd get an idea here first of how everyone might feel about such a thing hovering around the crag?
Seems like a terrible idea if anyone else is there, even bouldering. The noise aspect is probably not your biggest concern. Are you familiar with the regulations and liability / legal issues you may be courting? (you appear to be in the US, no idea what the rules might be elsewhere)
(This post was edited by mojomonkey on Feb 27, 2015, 3:59 PM)
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coolcat83
Feb 27, 2015, 5:05 PM
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It sounds like you plan of having this copter being autonomous?
I'm a climber and have been flying R/C for over 20 years. First, people will have a problem with the noise. I would not recommend doing this if anyone else is around because you will make someone nervous and you don't want to draw negative attention to rock climbing or rc flying.
Second, what's your flying experience? having a multirotor follow a target automatically while maneuvering is not going to be easy with a cliff and trees around. There are some products that exist with a lot of engineering $$ behind them but they are not cheap. I know of one quad that is being developed that does wht you want, and several stationary object tracing cameras exist. That might be a good was to go, get a couple tracking cameras and set them up from different angles. Quiet and safe.
If you really want to do this I would recommend having a ground crew, pilot and spotter. They could also help with any potential issues with other climbers and land users. However unlikely accidents do happen, propellers are sharp, and a couple pounds falling a hundred feet is going to hurt.
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iron106
Feb 28, 2015, 1:42 AM
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Unless it is for search and rescue, id see it as annoying.
And why are these toys so popular?
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zakabog
Mar 2, 2015, 5:30 PM
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Thanks for all the feedback, I guess that's a no unless I go for some weekday winter climbs when there's no one around. I was pretty much expecting that kind of response which is why I figured I'd come here before pissing off anyone at the crag.
Legally the quadcopter and flying it like this would fall within the FAA guidelines, I just don't want to be that asshole with the annoying gadget. The noise is really my biggest concern which is why I'm building a copter with large slow spinning rotors that aren't as fast since I'm looking for silence and stability, not speed and agility.
The woman that was injured by a quadcopter at TGIF was injured after the pilot attempted to land in her hand, I'm not expecting the copter I'm building to be within 10 feet of any climbers and I'm well aware of the dangers those rotors pose. I'm also aware of the risk of it falling out of the sky and injuring someone, while that is a small risk it is still a risk. I wasn't expecting to fly anywhere unless there were a ledge nearby it could hover above or near, in case anything goes wrong it can easily land or at least not fall 300'.
As far as the feat of autonomous flight, I know it can be a very difficult process but I'm excited for the challenge. The camera tracking and object following are the simple part, the collision detection is going to be difficult but I'm hoping to use sonar based sensors to detect things like tree branches, people and the cliffs (there will be plenty of test flights having this thing follow me around the park near me before I ever consider bring this climbing.)
Anyway, based on the feedback I won't be bringing this climbing unless I go somewhere where I don't expect anyone else to be climbing. Or at least someplace with few enough people that I could just ask while I'm there about using the quadcopter.
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marc801
Mar 2, 2015, 6:20 PM
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iron106 wrote: And why are these toys so popular?
How about getting a video camera to places you could never reach before either because of expense and regulations or because the small quad or hexa copters can go places a helicopter can't.
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