In this video I loaded up my flying car / eVTOL with some cinder blocks to see how much weight it could lift. The image I used for the thumbnail was taken several years ago when I initially did payload testing, but it represents nearly the same amount of weight as I used in this video.
List of Sensors Used:
- Here3 CAN GNSS GPS
- Benewake TFmini Plus LiDAR Range Finder
- Matek 3901-L0X Optical Flow Sensor
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Video Transcript (or at least some of it):
Since this is supposed to be a flying car, I'm gonna give this giant Pikachu a front-row seat to the action. (Arming check - no throttle)
Yeah, that wasn't supposed to happen. Definitely some damage there. Lost one of the landing gear legs, that propeller is in the ground, those ESCs are all over, might have chopped some wires- we'll check on that. That was zero throttle. I'm pretty sure it can lift a few hundred pounds of weight.
2:55 Changing Parameters in Mission Planner (Ardupilot):
So I was going through some parameters- got me a little shady setup here- this might be one thing that will help. I currently have the "Spin when Armed" set to 0.15 which- if I understand it correctly- is 15% of full power, which is ok when you have a 6s configuration which is just one battery, but when you're running two, you're literally doubling the voltage, and so that's 15% of a 12s setup, which is just way too much power. So now I've changed those parameters to where it will spin at 9% when it's armed (Spin when Armed = 0.09) instead of 15%, and the "Spin minimum"- when it's flying- is at 12% (Spin minimum = 0.12) instead of 20%.
5:59 Sensors Demonstration - GPS / Lidar / Optical Flow Sensor:
To give the flying car more stability, I decided to use more sensors, which I've installed on this drone as a test, just to make sure they all play together nicely. I have four sensors on this drone that I'm going to move over to the flying car. Two of them are these GPS units, and I just have 2 instead of 1 because it makes it more stable. I also have this lidar range finder, which just senses the distance from the ground, and then I have this optical flow sensor which basically works the same way as an optical mouse by constantly taking pictures of the ground to sense movement.
6:38 Ardupilot Flight Modes Demonstration - Stabilize Mode / Flow Hold Mode / Position Hold Mode:
Right now I'm in Stabilize Mode which requires input from the pilot to stay in position. Now if I stop giving it input, it starts drifting- both up and down, and sideways. Now I've taken control again. But if I switch it to Flow Hold Mode which I'm doing now, no more input required and it stays pretty well in place. But you can see it still drifts just a little bit. So now I'm going to switch to Position Hold Mode right now, and you can see it's extremely stable. And that's because it's not only using the optical flow sensor now, but also the lidar sensor and both of the GPS units.
7:37 Lidar Range Finder Demonstration:
One of the cool things about using a lidar range finder is that it will automatically adjust the altitude to avoid obstacles. So if I go to the left, it automatically increases altitude so it doesn't hit the trailer. Then if I go back down to the right again, it can sense that the trailer is no longer under it, and goes back to its same altitude.
8:08 Next Video - Transferring Sensors and Flying:
I'll be transferring the sensors and flying in the next video, so subscribe!
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Chapters:
0:00 Flying Car (eVTOL) Arming Check Accident
2:04 Fixing the Flying Car (eVTOL)
2:55 Changing Parameters in Mission Planner (Ardupilot)
3:43 Preparing the Flying Car (eVTOL) for Payload Testing
4:02 Payload Flight Test
4:54 Post-Test Analysis
5:59 Sensors Demonstration - GPS / Lidar / Optical Flow Sensor
6:38 Ardupilot Flight Modes Demonstration - Stabilize Mode / Flow Hold Mode / Position Hold Mode
7:37 Lidar Range Finder Demonstration
8:08 Next Video - Transferring Sensors and Flying
Keywords:
FPV, DJI, Mavic, eVTOL, hoverboard, fpv drone, fpv goggles, Ardupilot, Mission Planner, QGroundControl, PX4, PixHawk, Cube, Matek, CubePilot, Betaflight, PID tuning, PWM signal, flip, waypoints, quadcopter, quad, hexacopter, octocopter, multicopter, multirotor, GoPro, UAV, UAS, Part 107, Part 108, Part 135, 44807, FAA, license, fixed wing, manned drone, Insta380, ESC, ESCs, motor, motors, BLDC, brushless
#evtol #flyingcar #fpv