Q500 with a recovery claw lifting a Breeze

Elcoucho · Mar 28, 2018

Doing some volunteering at a local maker space that is helping to host a student drone challenge and robotics contest. Will be helping to build obstacles and devices to assist with the event. I downloaded a 3D print file (G-code) from Thingiverse.com and printed then assembled a “Mantis Claw” which is a nifty self-grappling mechanism: Simplified Mantis Claw by mitchelledgar

Suspended it under my Q500 and attempted to grasp and lift a Yuneec Breeze. First test was quite successful....more to come.

DoomMeister · Mar 28, 2018

Please check the link to your video. It is not showing.

Elcoucho · Mar 28, 2018

DoomMeister said:
Please check the link to your video. It is not showing.

Hmmm....I’ll check the settings and get it sorted, thanks!

Elcoucho · Mar 28, 2018

Elcoucho said:
Hmmm....I’ll check the settings and get it sorted, thanks!

Fixed... I had it set to ~private~ by mistake

DoomMeister · Mar 28, 2018

Elcoucho said:
Fixed... I had it set to ~private~ by mistake

Thanks

Jagerbomb52 · Mar 28, 2018

Cool video. Just a to let you know the Q500 ESC do not like to work overtime on the typhoon Q500. Any extra weight could and has (yes I have first hand experience) cause it to drop from the sky.
Just letting you know it does have its limits and the result is not pretty

Elcoucho · Mar 28, 2018

Agustine said:
Cool video. Just a to let you know the Q500 ESC do not like to work overtime on the typhoon Q500. Any extra weight could and has (yes I have first hand experience) cause it to drop from the sky.
Just letting you know it does have its limits and the result is not pretty

Thanks for heads up. The camera was removed to help offset the added weight of the lift.... as you can see in the video it was only carrying the additional weight briefly. And to quite honest, I bought this Q500 for very little money just to experiment with. I have other multirotors that have much greater range and capabilities, I’m really just using the Q500 as a test bed, not to mention I really enjoy flying it. If I burn it’s brains out, you’ll be the first to know.

Jagerbomb52 · Mar 29, 2018

LOL
I like the claw, it very cool. Just thought I would pass on some experience I had a few years ago. Having the camera off will for sure help offset the weight. I'm sure you will be fine with the short flights you are doing. Mine was a few minutes long and a tad heavier so wind drag played into the unexpected crash to the ground.
Good luck with your experiments.

Elcoucho · Mar 29, 2018

Agustine said:
LOL
I like the claw, it very cool. Just thought I would pass on some experience I had a few years ago. Having the camera off will for sure help offset the weight. I'm sure you will be fine with the short flights you are doing. Mine was a few minutes long and a tad heavier so wind drag played into the unexpected crash to the ground.
Good luck with your experiments.

The claw is a neat bit of design, lots of other variations of it on Thingiverse.com too. I’m planning on some more extensive flights with payloads, but trying not to exceed 400 grams. The CGO3 camera/gimbal unit weighs in at about 200g, so if it's removed, the Q is only lifting and additional 200g, which seems reasonable. I'll post more videos as our maker-space team progresses.