MULTIROTORS
So what is a multi rotor? Well it is simply several motors arranged in a geometrical shape; the most common ones being tri, quad, hex and octocopters. Each motor has its own speed controller (ESC) and each speed controller is plugged in to the flight controller which is connected to the receiver. What basically happens is for example, you move your stick which tells the receiver you want to turn right, the receiver then tells the flight controller which then processes the signal and tells the relevant motors to speed up or slow down. Heres one I built to give you an idea of whats involved, the frame is home made and not the one on the shopping list below.
They are great for aeriel photography or just general hooning around. They are also pretty good in the wind, so if its too windy for the plane just get your quadcopter out and away you go. They are a little bit more difficult to fly than a plane and probably more comparable to a helicopter, but if you put a few hours in on your simulator you should be fine.
These peculiar flying machines are becoming more and more popular. The airframes and electronics are relativley easy to build but you will need to get the hang of downloading and using software to programme the flight controller to run the latest firmware. Below are a set of links that will help you to build your own quadcopter and programme the flight controller. For this particular quadcopter I am recommending the KK2 board
Beginners guide to multi rotors
Find out what sort of multi rotor you would like to build
Here is a shopping list of parts you will need to build your own quadcopter
Build your own hexcopter with our Skypic 6 ARF kit
This is what the wiring should look like
Here are the installation instructions
This video will help you to tune your quadcopter
This is a build log of a UAV multirotor camera platform
how to become an aerial photographer
An interesting article on how to use your multirotor for aerial photography
Flashing your kk2 with the latest firmwares
These links will show you what you need if you want to flash your kk2 with the latest firmware
The usb asp is the link between your computer and the flight controller (kk2); this video will show you how to configure it
This is the piece of software you will need to install on your computer in order to flash your flight controller
This video will take you through the process of flashing the kk2