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DIY Follow Me Drone with Camera (Arduino Based)

by Imetomi on June 20, 2016

Table of Contents

DIY Follow Me Drone with Camera (Arduino Based) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: DIY Follow Me Drone with Camera (Arduino Based) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1: Main Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 2: Gathering Parts and Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Tools: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Parts: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 3: Assembe The Propellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Step 4: Soldering Motors to The Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 5: Assembling The Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 6: Add Wires to The L293D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Step 7: The Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Step 8: Putting the Circuit on The Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Step 9: Connecting The Two Circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Step 10: Battery... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Step 11: The Ultrasonic Sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Step 12: The Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Step 13: Testing... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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 Author:Imetomi Imetomi / Imets Tamás
Hi, I'm Tamás (Thomas), a 16 years old Hungarian guy. My hobby started more than 10 years ago, and I'm the member of the KMTA (Carpathian Talent
Management Foundation), with their help I learn electronics, physics, programming, IoT and I'm sharing my projects with you, hope you like it!

Intro: DIY Follow Me Drone with Camera (Arduino Based)

Drones are very popular toys and tools these days. You can find professional and even beginner drones and flying gadgets in the market. I have four drones
(quadcopters and hexcopters), because I love everything that flies, but the 200th flight isn't so interesting and starts to be boring, so I decided that I will build my own
drone with some extra feutures. I like to program Arduino and design circuits and gadgets so I started to build it. I used the MultiWii flight controller that is based on the
ATMega328 chip that is also used in the Arduino UNO, so programming was pretty simple. This drone can be connected to an Android smartphone that sends its GPS
data to the drone, that compares to its own GPS signal, then starts to follow phone, so if I move on the street the drone follows me. Of course has many failings yet,
because I wasn't able to make a proffesional filming drone, but follows the phone, makes a video and also has a ultrasonic distance sensor to avoid the obstacles in the
air. I think this is pretty much features from a homemade drone. As soon as possible I will load up a video about a flight, but it is hard to make good quality records with
an always moving drone.

Step 1: Main Properties

The drone is almost fully automatically, you don't have to control it, because follows your phone that is usually in your bike, The ultrasonic sensor helps to bypass trees,
buildings and other obstacles and the GPS gives a very accurate position data, but let's see what do we have in total:

1000mAh battery, enough for 16-18 minutes of continous flying

ultrasonic sensor to avoid obstacles in the air
Bluetooth module to recieve data from the phone
Arduino based microcontroller
build-in gyroscope
regulated maximum height (5 meters)
when battery is low automatically lands on the phone (hopefully in your hands)
costs about $100 to build
can be programmed to anything
with the help of the GPS you can send the drone to any coordinates
quadcopter desing
equipped with a 2MP 720p HQ videocamera
weighs 109 grams (3.84 ounces)

So that is all that the first version can do, of course I want to develop it. During the summer I want to hack my bigger drone with this software.

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Follow-Me-Drone-With-Camera-Arduino-Based/
Step 2: Gathering Parts and Tools
For this project you need some new and unusual parts. I designed from low wieght and recycled parts to reduce the cost, and succeded I got very good materials for the
frame. But let's see what we need! I bought the Crius brand of the flight controller from Amazon.com and worked

Tools:

Soldering Iron
Glue Gun
Cutter
Wire Cutter
Rotary Tool
Super Glue
Ductape
Rubberband

Parts:

MultiWii 32kB Flight Conroller

Serial GPS Module
Serial to I2C Converter
Bluetooth Module
Ultrasonic Sensor
Straws
Plastic Piece
Gearing
Motors
Propellers
Screws
L293D Motor Driver (it was a bad choice, I will correct in the second version)
1000mAh Lithium Ion Battery

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Follow-Me-Drone-With-Camera-Arduino-Based/
Step 3: Assembe The Propellers
I bought these proppellers with motors from the Amazon.com for 18 bucks, they are spare parts for the Syma S5X drone, but they seemed useful so I ordered them, and
worked fine. You just have to put the motor in its hole, and attach the props to the gearing.

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Step 4: Soldering Motors to The Driver
Now you have to solder all cables from the motors to the L293D motor driver IC. Look at the pictures, they say much more, you have to connect black and blue wires to
the GND and positive wires to the Outputs 1-4, just like me. The L293D can drive these motors, but I recommend to use some power transistors because this chip cannot
handle all the four motors at high power (more than 2 Ampers). After this cut 15 cm straws these will hold the motors in place. I used extra strong straws that I got from a
local bakery and cafe. Put these straws gently on the motors's gearings.

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http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Follow-Me-Drone-With-Camera-Arduino-Based/
Step 5: Assembling The Frame
Please pain attention on the second picture, that shows how equip the proppelers. Use some hot glue and super glue to suit all four propellers then check the
connections. It is very important that the proppelers have to be by the same distance from each other.

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Step 6: Add Wires to The L293D
Take four female-female jumper wires and cut the in half. Then solder them to remaining pins of the IC. This will help to connect the pins to the Arduino's I/O pins. Now it
is time to build the circuit.

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Step 7: The Circuit
All modules are included with the flight controller kit that I odered, so you just have to connect them together. The Bluetooth goes to the Serial port, the GPS first in the
I2C converter then in the I2C port. Now you can equip this on your drone.

Step 8: Putting the Circuit on The Frame

Use some double sided tape and add the GPS first. This sponge-tape holds everything in place, so glue every module one by one on the plastic piece. If you're done with
this you can connect the motor driver's pins to the MultiWii.

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http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Follow-Me-Drone-With-Camera-Arduino-Based/
Step 9: Connecting The Two Circuits
The Input pins goes to the D3, D9, D10, D11 the others should be connected to the VCC+ and GND- pins. Schemantic will be uploaded tomorrow.

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Step 10: Battery...
I used some rubberbands to fix my battery to the bottom of the drone, and holds there pretty strongly. I plugged in and worked, just how I imagined.

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Step 11: The Ultrasonic Sensor
The sonar sensor is fixed on the drone with a rubberband, and connected to the D7 and D6 pins of the MultiWii controller.

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Step 12: The Software
You have to use a Serial FTDI module to program the chip. Tomorrow I will load up the Arduino Code, but there is a dangerous mistake that I have to correctm I don't
want to share a bad code with you, please understand this, about 20 hours and the code will be here.

Step 13: Testing...

Download the SensoDuino app from the Goolge Play or AppStore and connect to your drone. Thank you for watching, and please excuse me for the incomplete
Instrucatble, but I wanted to enter in the Make It Fly contest, so if you like it please give me a hearth and a Vote. I hope you liked and all details will be here within 20
hours.

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