Author Topic: Arduino where do I start?  (Read 1196 times)

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Offline hppd

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Arduino where do I start?
« on: March 11, 2014, 07:23:35 pm »
Hello I've recently got interested in arduino. My end goal is to make a 3g controlled quadcopter together with a friend.

But where do I start, and what is the cost?

Offline Phage

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Re: Arduino where do I start?
« Reply #1 on: March 11, 2014, 08:58:42 pm »
I would suggest starting out by reading a little about Arduino on their website. Then look into the different start kits which excists. Then start learning about microcontrollers, transistors, mosphets, capacitors etc.

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Offline hppd

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Re: Arduino where do I start?
« Reply #2 on: March 11, 2014, 10:15:10 pm »
I would suggest starting out by reading a little about Arduino on their website. Then look into the different start kits which excists. Then start learning about microcontrollers, transistors, mosphets, capacitors etc.
Thx will do :P

Offline Matriplex

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Re: Arduino where do I start?
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2014, 01:16:06 am »
Although I haven't ever done any actual Arduino programming, from what I've seen the beginning is pretty simple. I saw this video series a bit back and started watching it; he seems like he knows what he's doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCxzA9_kg6s
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Offline Stackprotector

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Re: Arduino where do I start?
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2014, 10:55:24 am »
Why 3g? I think there are much more fun/easy ways to do rccing with arduino.
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Offline hppd

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Re: Arduino where do I start?
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2014, 10:17:48 pm »
So I can go really long distance and can control it from everywhere :P . Still I'm open for suggestions..

And I'm going to start out by buying the beginner kit and makeing some basic projects to get me going
« Last Edit: March 12, 2014, 10:19:45 pm by hppd »

Offline Raavgo

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Re: Arduino where do I start?
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2014, 11:10:22 pm »
To start with Arduino i would recommend their website, but after you got familiar with their API you should move on to plain C and Assembler inside the IDE, especially when you plan such a complex project.

Your Quadcopter has to be able to handle turbulence and he has to be able to notice when he is falling down so he can prevent damage. (e.g. you let him fall and he prevents the collision by turning on the rotors).


For your Quadcopter you going to need knowlegde of:
  • sensoric (handling of turbulences and collision prevention)
  • signalprocessing (digital or analog whatever you prefer)
  • communication of a arduino with the internet (don't use a shield this will get it heavier, so the motors have to turn faster to fly -> electricity is wasted and the battery will get low sooner )
This is not a easy project you chose, at my Institute it was a diploma project last year and they worked 1 year on it (I think they were 3 Students), but it is manageable  if you really but some time in it.

If you got any question regarding Arduino I might be able to help you, I currently fool around with an arduino for my diploma project ( although I do something completely different (RFID- Door Lock with authentication mechanism) )

Offline hppd

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Re: Arduino where do I start?
« Reply #7 on: March 13, 2014, 06:35:49 pm »
To start with Arduino i would recommend their website, but after you got familiar with their API you should move on to plain C and Assembler inside the IDE, especially when you plan such a complex project.

Your Quadcopter has to be able to handle turbulence and he has to be able to notice when he is falling down so he can prevent damage. (e.g. you let him fall and he prevents the collision by turning on the rotors).


For your Quadcopter you going to need knowlegde of:
  • sensoric (handling of turbulences and collision prevention)
  • signalprocessing (digital or analog whatever you prefer)
  • communication of a arduino with the internet (don't use a shield this will get it heavier, so the motors have to turn faster to fly -> electricity is wasted and the battery will get low sooner )
This is not a easy project you chose, at my Institute it was a diploma project last year and they worked 1 year on it (I think they were 3 Students), but it is manageable  if you really but some time in it.

If you got any question regarding Arduino I might be able to help you, I currently fool around with an arduino for my diploma project ( although I do something completely different (RFID- Door Lock with authentication mechanism) )

What can I use then instead of a shield? I'm not planning to learn ASM too confusing for my simple brain :P. Also I was kinda hopeing there was open source quadcopter code that I could tweak to my likings after learning the API. I'm defenetly not skilled enough to do this from scratch. My physics, and mathematics are way too weak for that (still in high school and haven't had physics for 2 years ony seen the very basics). But I am quite inventive so that's a plus.