Welcome to the OctoCam OctoCopter Project Page!
This project is currently under active development!
This project is dedicated to building an economical, fully redundant, fully autonomous OctoCopter for light/medium/heavy lifting Arial Photography use, or just about anything else.
I have long been interested in Arial Photography, but using a pod and boom model helicopter is rather complex and expensive. A multicopter presents an excellent platform and is relatively simple and efficient since there are no moving parts except for the motors & props themselves. There are many types and sizes of multicopters, from 3 to 8 motors or more, and in various configurations.
My design philosophy and selection criteria are based on the following:
Beyond this, the platform can be customized as needed.
So, you're wondering what's so special about my design? It's the combination of everything above, plus an enormous amount of R&D time and effort. Anyone can order parts and try building one of these on their own. The real expense and difficulty is the time and cost to investigate, prototype, test, crash, redesign, etc. Even if you have all the right parts to build your own, the skill and time it takes to properly assemble and make one of these flight ready for AP use is tremendous. Prop balancing, motor balancing, anti-vibration dampener configuration, wiring, Flight Controller configuration, etc., all take much time and trial and error. Add to that the weeks and sometimes months of delay waiting for parts and it's a lot of work! There are so many ways to "go wrong" that I couldn't even begin to document them all. When you factor all that in, a pre-tested and verified system looks very attractive at almost any price!
Prototypes are being developed at this time. Once they are fully tested and operating to spec, they will be made into kits with various options and offered for sale. I have no firm ETA yet, but I'm trying to make them available by summer of 2013.
Fully ready-to-fly packages will be offered soon. If you have a particular request, please let me know!
Best Regards!
This project is dedicated to building an economical, fully redundant, fully autonomous OctoCopter for light/medium/heavy lifting Arial Photography use, or just about anything else.
I have long been interested in Arial Photography, but using a pod and boom model helicopter is rather complex and expensive. A multicopter presents an excellent platform and is relatively simple and efficient since there are no moving parts except for the motors & props themselves. There are many types and sizes of multicopters, from 3 to 8 motors or more, and in various configurations.
My design philosophy and selection criteria are based on the following:
- Must be redundant: No Tri's/Quad's, Hexa's are marginal, Octo required for true motor out redundancy
- Must be efficient: No co-axials! Downward pointing motors and larger slow turning props are a plus
- Must be reasonably priced: This is for people who want professional results at a good value
- Must be smooth: Motors & props balanced for optimal performance, with vibration dampeners as needed
- Must be light: Frame design will be optimized for light weight with reasonable cost
- Must be durable: Able to withstand a crash, be modular and easy to repair
- Must be able to fly itself: An Autonomous Flight Controller with GPS based guidance is a must
- Must be able to carry a camera: In a space up to ~8 inches tall and ~12 inches wide
- Must be able to maintain camera at level attitude: Hopefully a function of the Flight Controller board
- Must be able to lift cargo: Up to ~4lbs of gear on the HL model
- Must be easy to transport: Relatively easy to take apart/re-assemble for carrying in small spaces
- Must have good endurance: Be able to fly for about 10 minutes or more, depending on configuration
- Must use relatively easy to get parts: Readily available parts will be used whenever possible
Beyond this, the platform can be customized as needed.
So, you're wondering what's so special about my design? It's the combination of everything above, plus an enormous amount of R&D time and effort. Anyone can order parts and try building one of these on their own. The real expense and difficulty is the time and cost to investigate, prototype, test, crash, redesign, etc. Even if you have all the right parts to build your own, the skill and time it takes to properly assemble and make one of these flight ready for AP use is tremendous. Prop balancing, motor balancing, anti-vibration dampener configuration, wiring, Flight Controller configuration, etc., all take much time and trial and error. Add to that the weeks and sometimes months of delay waiting for parts and it's a lot of work! There are so many ways to "go wrong" that I couldn't even begin to document them all. When you factor all that in, a pre-tested and verified system looks very attractive at almost any price!
Prototypes are being developed at this time. Once they are fully tested and operating to spec, they will be made into kits with various options and offered for sale. I have no firm ETA yet, but I'm trying to make them available by summer of 2013.
Fully ready-to-fly packages will be offered soon. If you have a particular request, please let me know!
Best Regards!
DISCLAIMER
OK, I know you're read this before but here it is: All R/C Helicopters, Multirotors, and anything else that flys can be extremely dangerous! Only trained and experience pilots should attempt to fly any aircraft without close supervision from a trained expert. I take no responsibility for any damage you may cause flying any of the things I sell. Please see the Terms of Use page as well for more details.