Complete Quadcopter Kit using Pixhawk flight controller.

[Ender1618]

I have had some experience on a work project interfacing with a Pixhawk flight controller, i like the level of control that it offers. I was thinking of just buying a 3DR Solo, but its a bit pricey (and i am not a fan of the controller unit it comes with).

Does anyone know of a full kit available including, transmitter, Pixhawk, frame, motors, etc. That when assembled has everything i would need for RC flight.

My first goal is to get RC working, then move on to more low/high level autonomous control.

I have a background in non-linear control system, and overall robotics.

 

[RENOV8R]

I would suggest doing a little research (there's tons of info out there) and decide what type and size of quad you want. Order all the components yourself and assemble yourself. I/m only suggesting this as in my experience, complete kits usually come with entry level motors, ESC's etc. And with your obvious mechanical and technical experience, doing your own build would be very straight=forward

 

[GJH105775]

I would suggest doing a little research (there's tons of info out there) and decide what type and size of quad you want. Order all the components yourself and assemble yourself. I/m only suggesting this as in my experience, complete kits usually come with entry level motors, ESC's etc. And with your obvious mechanical and technical experience, doing your own build would be very straight=forward

I second that a build would be great, but you first need to know what you really want. There are some things that are just aren't available to your average hobbyist, though a Phantom 4 would give you about everything you could want for a lot of basic cinematography, it lacks in affordability and fun fly abilities like racing and just faster flying in general.

 

[Ender1618]

What I am looking for is FPV capabilities in RC mode, would be nice to to be able to fly fast, but the main goal is not for racing. Also a steady 1m off ground hover would be ideal.

As for capabilities for my autonomous flight aspect of the project, is the ability to fly indoors. Something that can fit through a common door frame with at least 5 cm clearance on each side would be best. Something that can have a moderate payload, right now im looking either an onboard Odriod (or an NVidia TK1) for processing and an Arduino Uno for low-level sensor interfacing. That plus whatever kinda sized LIPO i would need to power the processing/sensors with for at least the 15 minutes.

I have been working on developing an indoor capable autonomous flight system utilizing a stereo camera pair and IMU (Visual SLAM like with EKF IMU fusion), for both localization and obstacle detection. But so far this is only been tried in Gazebo simulation, which really doesn't model the dynamics of a real quadcopter that well.

I have flown, a DJI Phantom 3, and a 3DR Solo (I am at a moderate skill level). But I have never put together my own quadcopter, thats why I though a kit would be best, as it would guide me as to what components are compatible with others (could probably figure it out i guess).

I thought I would like to build my own, since I really deal more with the higher level software at work and would like to get more into the hardware side. The project would be for purely intellectual curiosity, and a hobby.