Miko the labrador (4M) loves to chase drones. This is his 6th EMax Tinyhawk III series drone, and it's sporting several cracks on the frame - marked in green. His previous owner told me that he loves to run after drones for fun. Here, he is happy after a session of drone play, looking very non-guilty. Let me tell you how this little device is an example of forces that have shaped our world since the 1980s - causing a massive improvement in living standards, creating jobs and lowering barriers of entry to economic freedom for many. I'm talking about the open-source movement.
The frame has two complete breaks in the forward part of the outframe (top) and partial breaks in three places around the central circuit housing. There are tooth marks and dried slobber all over the drone, and the camera lens is blurry too. Oh, and the propellers have tooth marks and bent blades, too. None of the motors points perpendicular to the optimal thrust plane, and the frame breaks have introduced frame "flex", especially as the drone makes a rapid directional change (where the input thrust and direction of travel are out of alignment).
Yet, remarkably, the drone still flies just fine. Why is this? A quadcopter flies because a computer takes what you want to do and what's currently happening and tells each motor individually how fast it should spin. This calculation happens thousands of times per second - faster than a single propeller rotation. It's impressive to think that such a small unit can even fly and in such terrible condition, yet it does.
I fly FPV, which means I wear goggles and see out a small camera mounted on the drone. All of the software and some of the hardware that makes all this happen is open source. The video system is open source (HDZero). The radio control link is open source (ELRS), and the flight control software is also open source (Betaflight).
Open source means that people and companies have volunteered their time to improve software and gave it away for anyone to use. Given the many thousands of hours it takes to build something so complex, the cost to build these drones would be prohibitively high and so few would be made and few sold. Now you can buy a basic FPV drone for a reasonable price.
And we see this pattern all throughout the technological world. The internet runs on open source software; most businesses' IT infrastructure includes increasing amounts of open source software, talks in open protocols, and then builds their proprietary needs on top. You can now get a cheap web server with impressive capabilities, proved by open-source software at its base.
So, when I see this drone - a drone that couldn't fly and would never have been made except for the volunteer efforts of many - it reminds me of a world made better through volunteers. People who used their skills to make the world just a little bit better for the next person.
Miko thanks them too.
For the best experience view this post on Liketu
Miko, please behave and take care of the drone, don't bite it so hard lol. How does Miko reach the drone? after it falls to the ground? or it only comes forward when it is within its reach.
How naughty Miko is.
Good vibes...
The other two episodes are in the sidebar.
Miko's adventures lol
I hope Miko never gets to bite the drone again. I have never seen a close up picture of a drone like this, lol
Heh. That drone is maybe three months of bites of it already. He will definitely be chasing and catching drones again today.
Hey Sir!
I tried to message you in the 'cords but we don't share any servers in common to allow that anymore. Just wanted to say hello, have seen your footprints on the recent posts and checking in with you after such a long sabbatical.
The drone is awesome. Ive got a couple but never really had a good space to fly them in where the GPS could also get a solid lock, so the "good" one I have tends to be out of control when it cannot lock a GPS satellite. I hope to give it some more goes when I get back to open space on my land in Costa Rica, but for now, it's in the hanger.
Open source the world! I like your sentiment here, even though the post is too old to vote for now. But it's good to see you still periodically activate yourself on the Hive!
That first GPS lock in a new place can take ages (15 mins) even with unobstructed skies. But, after that, lock should only take seconds. Unless you're flying FPV I wouldn't want to fly outdoors without GPS lock since so much of the flight stability relies on it.
I fly old school radio control and its a cheap drone from wallymart, but a clone of a DGI, so impressive capabilities, just a bit twitchy on the radios
Those cheap drones can take ages to lock GPS in a new spot. Just be patient - flight is much less twitchy with lock.
For sure. Looking forward to using it more in the big open spaces we have at our places in Costa Rica, but its there and im currently back in Tennessee USA disposing of my two classic Porsches and other stuff in storage to quit being bi-continental and settle there permanently.
¡Que vida!
Pura Vida! :)
Miko has an expensive toys 😂 .
I'm adding you on discord - can't seem to message you.
Boys and their toys. Heh.
That dog is so pretty 🤩🤯
And he knows it too.
I love dogs
But seeing the white people train makes me want to have a dog too
They are fun and lovely
Dogs can be a lot of work - especially the smart ones. But totally worth it!
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