Atmel Microcontroller Powers Kickstarter Sci Fi Hoverbike

According to a recent post titled "Hoverbikes may soon become a reality," the futuristic hoverbike featured in an in-progress Kickstarter campaign is controlled by an Atmel ATmega32U4 microcontroller (MCU).

Cyborg Buster on scale model hovercraft

The Atmel post explains that the Kickstarter campaign supporters dont get a full-size human-carrying hovercraft, but rather a 1/3 size model of the airborne motorcycle current design.

"Hoverbikes may not be ready for your daily commute just yet, but thanks UK-based Malloy Aeronautics, we’re now a step closer. Debuting just days ago on Kickstarter, the firm is producing a one-third sized version of its design to help fund the full-sized prototype. “This drone was originally built as a proof of concept for our latest full-sized Hoverbike prototype...After testing the one-third Hoverbike, we realized that it had lots of features that made it a fantastic drone, not only this — selling this scale Hoverbike to the public would allow us to raise funds to continue the development of the manned version.”...the 1.15-meter-long mini replica can carry payloads of around 1.5kg and weighs in at 2.2kg unladen. The 3DR Pixhawk flight controller allows for it to be controlled remotely, as well as follow predetermined flight paths — or the pilot themselves — automatically. The mini-hoverbike also comes equipped with a third-scaled, 3D-printed humanoid ‘pilot’ complete with a space on its head specifically-designed for a GoPro camera."

Hovercraft folds up

There are several aspects of this MCU project and Kickstarter campaign worth remarking on, some of which come from my recent immersion in the world of MCUs and others from my years of covering aviation innovations for the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The aspects of interest are:

1. The MCU controlling the scale model is a relatively low-powered 8-bit AVR unit, the ATmega32U4. It would be interesting to know what their criteria was for choosing that specific MCU.
2. Its kind of cool that the hoverbike project has spun off the Macro Micro Arduino-compatible board that can be bought for $50 from the Malloy Aeronautics hovercraft website. Thats an opportunity made possible by the open source concept of the Arduino ecosystem.
3. The hovercraft folds up for transportation.
4. I like the Cyborg Buster rider designed for and shown in pictures of the Kickstarter hovercraft. It will be 3D printed by people who want the lifelike figure, and it has a cavity in its head for a Go-Pro video camera. Creating an appealing cyborg which really has nothing to do with whether this

   

   Cyborg Buster

   is an airworthy hovercraft is an excellent marketing strategy.
5. The quadcopter design of the hovercraft is unusual in that the two front props appear to partially overlap, as do the two in the rear. Im not an aeronautical engineer or pilot, but it would be interesting to know how that impacts the aerodynamics of the craft.
6. The Kickstarter campaign page combines two stories -- one about the full-size hovercraft and one about the scale model quadcopter. Mixing the two stories like that may leave the reader somewhat unclear as to exactly what they are funding when they contribute to the campaign.
7. The radical departure from traditional aircraft paradigms mean that the hoverbike Kickstarter supporters should not expect a commercial model of the full-size flight-ready hoverbike for quite a few years. Check the history of the Terrafugia Transition and the Martin Jetpack -- youll see what I mean.

With respect to the Atmel MCU and the scale model hoverbike quadcopter, the Kickstarter website says:

"If you have never flown a multicopter before, we highly recommend purchasing a small drone to practice with first (the Hubsan X4 is great to start with).  We designed this 1/3rd scale Hoverbike to be safe and robust, however without rc experience you will be sure to fly your brand new Hoverbike into the ground on the first day and there are practical limits to how strong we can make this!...Our MAcro Micro is an Arduino Micro compatible microcontroller that is easy to program, with 3A inputs and outputs, up to 30V in, analog out, and has hundreds of uses in robotics and home projects, including stepper motor driver, LED strip light controller, servo actuator, fan speed controller, brew kit controller, electric car window conversions...We designed this tiny board to drive the multicolor LEDs on the Hoverbike, and to allow owners of our 1/3rd Hoverbikee to do more with their drone than just look passively from the sky, by switching and actuating levers, release pins, spot lights via their radio or program."

UMaine Hover

Atmel MCUs have been used in the drone ArduPilots for quite a few years, but this hoverbike Kickstarter campaign shows the expanding non-engineering use of MCUs. In this case, the MCU is really being used as a marketing tool to raise R&D money, rather than just being the brains of the quadcopter autopilot.

On a related note for those readers interested in this type of personal aircraft, here are links to two other hoverbike projects. The first is for the UMaine Hover, a senior design project for a group of University of Maine students. Heres a link to the UMaine Hover website. The second project was the Aerofex hover

Aerofex hover bike

bike from a couple years ago. The LA Times article has a video of thats worth watching of a test run on the airborne personal sportcraft. Looks like it would have fun to pilot. Aerofex apparently made it clear that they werent planning to sell the aircraft as a human-piloted craft, but were rather using it as a drone development tool.

If the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group wanted to get involved with quadcopters, Id be all for that. My recommendation, though, would be to get some flying experience with a well

Parrot AR.Drone 2.0

tested one like the Parrot AR.Drone. Ive flown that a little, and it was both fun and relatively easy to keep in the air. One of the participants in a recent meeting of the MCU group had interesting stories to tell about his adventures with drones and MCUs. If you have built or flown an MCU-controlled quadcopter, consider coming to an upcoming meeting of the MCU group. The next meeting is on August 7th. Hope to see you there!

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Mutli Phase Humboldt MCU Garden Project

As yesterdays Humboldt Laser Harp post indicated, the microcontroller (MCU) music group project is well under way. So now Im thinking about how to get the second group project started in the Humboldt Microcontrollers Group, one involving gardening.

MCU and sensors for potted plant

Several people whove been at Humboldt Makers Group meetings or the MCU group meetings have said theyre interested in MCUs and gardening. And it seems like lots of other people in Humboldt County might have an interest in ways to improve gardening. There are lots of organic gardeners in the area, and agriculture has been part of the Humboldt economy for much of the areas history. So Ive decided to outline a multi-phase approach to a collaborative project focused on MCU gardening. And a significant part of this collaborative project will be identifying and reaching out to Humboldt people who are involved in gardening or agriculture and might be interested in sharing their knowledge and / or participating in this project.

MCU and hydroponics

Two long term goals I have for the MCU gardening is to be involved with a successful hydroponics system and a successful aquaponics system. There are lots of websites and projects on the Internet that tell a person how to do hydroponics or aquaponics, but Im an engineer, and I like to understand what Im doing. Plus I dont have a lot of money to spend on these projects. So my preferred approach to MCU gardening is to start out small, and get more complex after I understand the technology and green thumb art involved with each part of the MCU garden project.

Below are proposed MCU garden project phases. If we get the right people involved with the project and if we can secure funding of some type for the project, we can move very quickly through the phases or work on more than one phase at a time. So if you know people whod like to participate in this project or know of money that can be used for purchasing electronic components and supplies for this, please contact me at arcatabob (at) gmail {dott} com. These are the proposed phases for the Humboldt MCU Garden group project:

MCU and aquaponics (from dzbc.org.cn)

1. Grow one plant indoor in soil.
2. Grow four to eight plants indoor in soil.
3. Grow four types of plants outdoor in soil.
4. Grow one tray of plants indoors in hydroponic system.
5. Grow three types of plants indoors in hydroponic system.
6. Grow one type of plant in aquaponics system.
7. Grow three types of plants in aquaponics system.

Phase 1 of the Humboldt MCU Garden project is simple and low cost and will help us learn the basic principles of MCU gardening. Phases 2 through 7 can easily be redefined as we get more people involved in the project and we learn more about what we dont know about MCU gardening.

The first draft design of the Humboldt MCU Garden project includes:

1. One type of plant.

   

   LEDs and lettuce

1. Lettuce is my first choice, partly because of whats being done with optimized lettuce mcu gardening in Japan and other places (see my blog post "LED Lettuce, The HydroTower And LED Humboldt Hydroponics.") We might be able to find useful data about optimum growing conditions for lettuce (light wavelengths, relative humidity, nutrients, temperature, etc.).
2. If other people who want to participate in the Humboldt MCU Garden project prefer to grow something other than lettuce and have information about good growing conditions for that plant, Im willing to switch from lettuce.
2. Growing container.
1. The type of growing container probably wont be too critical for Phase 1. Mainly something large enough to hold the soil and drainage system that will provide good growing conditions for the plant.
2. A five gallon plastic bucket is one option, especially if we can find a free one.
3. We need to figure out where the container with the plant and MCU Garden system will be kept. It seems like Phase 1 should mostly be indoors because that means we dont need to have a rain-proof system. But having a Phase 1 container thats easily movable would be nice so we can roll or carry the container outside on nice days.
3. Growing condition sensors
1. Light sensor -- very important so we get good photosynthesis (and good respiration?).

   

   One type of light sensor (from Adafruit)

2. Soil moisture sensor -- very important because too dry means dead plant and too wet means dead plant.
3. Temperature sensor -- important for growth, especially during Humboldt winters. Temperature will be less critical for plants like lettuce, but very critical for plants like tomatoes.
4. Relative humidity sensor (RH) -- RH wont be critical for lettuce growth in Phase 1, but it will be critical as the projects future phases try to minimize water usage and as we try to grow RH-sensitive plants like redwood trees.
4. LEDs for indoor gardening
1. RGB LEDs will let us adjust the light if we want
2. Red and Blue LEDs appear to be used for optimum lettuce growth.
3. Research and / or people who know plant growth lighting and LEDs are required.
5. MCU to gather and record sensor data
1. Which MCU we use for the Humboldt MCU Garden project depends partly on who wants to be involved with the project.
1. If we can get a sponsor for the Humboldt MCU Garden project, such as an MCU manufacturer or distributor, Ill use whichever MCU they manufacture or distribute!
2. If no MCU manufacturer or distributor sponsor can be recruited, the MCU will be determined by whoever takes the lead on programming for the project.
1. If Ed takes the lead, well probably use a Texas Instruments MCU.
2. If Josiah takes the lead, or if Im filling that role, it will likely be an Arduino or Arduino-compatible.
3. If someone other than Josiah, Ed or me volunteers to lead the garden-variety programming for this project, that person can choose the MCU type.
6. Type of soil
1. Determining what type of soil to use will require research or a project member who has good experience with growing plants indoors in containers.
2. The type of soil will likely affect other gardening aspects such as what nutrients we need to add and the soil moisture measurement.
7. Fertilizer and trace nutrients to add
1. Fertilizer and trace nutrients is another topic that will require research or a project member experienced in the art.
2. Might want to evaluate whether pH or some other batch or continuous sensor (pH? nutrient analysis?) should be used to track nutrient levels.
8. Data gathering and analysis
1. There are no specific requirements for data gathering and analysis for Phase 1 since its such a simple system. However, part of the purpose of Phase 1 is to learn how to effectively monitor growing conditions, so it makes sense to establish good gardening data practices (GGDP) for those growing conditions and different types of sensors.
   
2. As part of my goal to get Humboldt people more involved in the Internet of Things (IoT), it would be good to use services like open data bases and IFTTT (If This Then That).
3. One gardening data goal is to use that data to automatically track, alarm and interpret the data generated by the sensors. It would be nice to generate online graphs and have alarms sent out by IFTTT when growing conditions reach or approach setpoints where action needs to be taken.

The above outline give you an idea of what I think Phase 1 of the Humboldt MCU Garden group project should look like. Next steps for me to get this project rolling are (1) talk to and try to recruit a couple people whove expressed an interest in MCU gardening, (2) promote the project to other people in the Humboldt Makers and MCU group and try to recruit some of them, (3) develop a one-page MCU project proposal that I can use to pitch to potential sponsors, and (4) continue to do research for Phase 1 topics like sensors, nutrients and soil types.

If you are interested in this project or know someone who might be, please email me at arcatabob (at) gmail {dott} com or come to an MCU group meeting or Humboldt Makers meeting in the near future.

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