TO CREATE FUTURE FLYING MACHINES.

Hello,

My name is Vivek Todmal and i am a engineering student from India. This journey started for me when i watched a TED talk named the future flying machines.The technology of UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) flying is grown a lot these days where USA has drones like Mach 6.0 which can fly from one end of the world to other and destroy a target within hours. Using modern technology as weapons is not something new and has been done for hundreds of years from the inventions of gunpowders to the invention of planes.This technology can also be used for other constructive means. These unmanned vehicles can be used for delivering payloads to remote areas. Can be used to scout from various angles. They can be used for building and construction also which is the latest research going on at MIT. There can also be multiple drones deployed which can co-ordinate with each other for a particular task. Mini-drones can also be used for scouting a vehicle across a city by just following it. Most of the tasks mentioned above are not yet practical because the UAV's are not yet safe to be operated within human area.

I wish to use this technology of drones for future research so that i can create flying machines which are helpful to the human race and not just a toy. I am a computer grad student and have no background from electronics. But i have an intense desire to learn and build so i started my journey some 6 months ago when i started learning about drones. As i am low on the amount of money i can spend, i have tried countless hacks to get my project done.I had to build my own frame at first which was too heavy so i had to bring in a new frame. I didn't have a power source so i had to make a modification to the old CPU power supply to get 12V and 5 V power supply. I didn't even have money for a transmitter so i had to build one myself with RF module which was in turn very helpful. I have used a arduino UNO as the flight controller for this drone which is not that powerful.I think that these flying machines are the future and can be used for variety of tasks like Scouting, Guiding, Delivering items to remote places, ect. I wish to build such drones and especially make them safe for air travel. This money will help me in the future journey. All your contributed money will be used to build this project and you can contact me anytime to know the status.

• My first ever model built with a wooden frame. It couldn't lift off as the payload was too heavy for the motors.

2. Custom Transmitter built using NRF24l01 module which gives me as many channels and freedom of transmission as i like.

3. After some modifications in the design and propeller balancing it finally flies. Video above.

Now as you have seen that the drone i built can only be flown and cannot be used for other purposes. It will need a good brain(flight controller) such as APM ect. I am also thinking about adding a GPS module for co-ordinating it in 3-D space. It is gonna need ultrasonic sensors for crash management. Also there has been countless research in this field as people have come up with algorithms which can keep a drone in flight even when its injured like one of its wing is broken.Also mini drones can be used to enter places where humans can't and can be used for many such activities. I am also a good software programmer so i can build such algorithms.I have been studying about these things a lot lately and the only barrier i have is a financial one where i cannot get the required material for experimentation.

Another barrier of using this technology in practical means is the flight time. As a normal Heli drone operates on a battery, the flight time it gets is very limited. So we need to look at another approach which can keep the drone in air for longer. I have a few ideas regarding that concept too which uses solar panes on the top of mini drones.

The future of drones and robotics is very near. All these machines will be assisting humans in basic day to day tasks where by a human can then concentrate on the more important tasks. This future is very near with the Artificial Intelligence also knocking on its door.Machines generally operate on a specific set of rules known as algorithms which does not help them tackle unexpected situations.The new concepts of machine learning are changing this. The application of machine learning algorithms on the drones is also one area of my study.

Building my first drone was a very difficult task for me . Having absolutely no funds or experience in this field, i had to rely on the Internet. But i remember the happiness i felt when i got the first flight from my drone which I had built completely from scratch. And i want this continued happiness i get when i build something new or solve a new problem.

Please help me as i need funds to continue my project.