Triple Rotar Drone

Hi ,

I'm just starting with arduino and wanted to build something . (I already knew programming before i started with Arduino)
So what i wanted to Create is a drone , so i searched a bit for Arduino drones and there was a lot of the standard stuff things and not really nice assembled.So i wanted to make something HIGH-Tech and just look good .
I want it to have 3 rotars and not like the standard frames that they are like flat but like 15 degrees on the X axis for quicker flying.

As you can see on the picture it has a very nice design. But do i need to make my own custom frame or are these for sale too ?

Regards Zapotec

I don't think you will find a frame that looks exactly like that. It appears to be a computer generated image and not a physical object. I don't think the CGI artist took care to make a model of something that would work in the real world.

With an odd number of rotors you have an inherent torque imbalance that you will have to resolve somehow. I haven't followed your reasoning for tilting the rotors like that. If you haven't done anything like this before I suggest you start with a conventional design and get that working before you move on to try to make something that looks like that picture.

Hobby trirotors have a servo that tilts one rotor to the side to counter the torque imbalance. That said, tricopters are VERY hard to build.

I would definitely start by building a quadrotor and learning how to fly that. You will by necessity crash a few (or many) times learning to fly. You should also expect to spend somewhere between $300.00 and $600.00 and dozens or hundreds of hours building, learning to fly, fixing, etc. a good quadrotor.

I would get an Arduino like board built for copters like the Arducopter APM, or the MulitiWii. These come with the code you need and make the wiring a lot simpler while saving weight. The code gets quite complex and deep into control theory, so if you can avoid writing it yourself that is likely to your benefit.

As for the angle on the blades, it seems like a very bad idea. You are effectively killing some of your lifting force by making the blades all fight each other. Lift is what you are always trying to get more of. The angle means you need larger motors and a larger (more expensive) battery just to keep the craft in the air. The small adjustments needed to keep things level would also start moving the craft laterally which would throw your guidance software for a loop. I don't think it would give you any more speed, as when you tilt a quad it is as though you are tilting all the motors forward, and this gives you the forward speed. This is all not to say that it is not possible, but it would be very hard, and should probably be saved until you have a few flying craft under your belt.

I want it to have 3 rotars and not like the standard frames that they are like flat but like 15 degrees on the X axis for quicker flying.

So what makes you think that will happen?