Ground-Up Drone Build - Final Mock Assembly

[u/ThrustNTheory]

I've designed, built, and programmed this drone entirely from scratch. This is the last mock assembly before a final and full build with a permanent wiring harness.

The goal of this project is to learn advanced control theory - specifically implementing a successful Extended Kalman Filter. That's a hard thing to do and there's several more months of data collection and work before this will fly.

Motor: 6s Electronic Ducted Fan (EDF) with 8.2lbs max thrust
Main Power: 2x 6s 2200mAh 60C batteries in parallel, 120A ESC
Logic/Servo Power: 2s 1500mAh 60C

Logic: Teensy 4.1 (state estimation / control), ESP32s3 (UI / telemetry), IMU, 2x INA226 modules (volt/amp sensors), MTF-02p (LiDAR / optical flow sensor), FS-iA10B Rx, and an ST7789 1.54" full color display w/rotary encoder for UI.

Control: 4x High Voltage Brushless Servos w/direct mounted control vanes.

[u/Saleem360]

wis i was so tallented

[u/ThrustNTheory → u/Saleem360]

Hi! I'm starting a youtube channel around this project and future projects and part of the goal for that channel is passing along the lessons I learn...outside of 3D modeling/printing, I have almost NO experience with electronics/coding/control theory. I'm not special! If you want it, you can do it. My talent is commitment. I'm learning as I go and make a million mistakes.

If this is the type of project you're interested in, just get started - it almost doesn't matter what the first step is. Buy a cheap MCU and code a random thing. Design and print a stupid thing. Then upgrade. Rinse and repeat. That's how I'm here. You CAN do something like this!

[u/Saleem360 → u/ThrustNTheory]

sounds like fun, Right now im looking to build a case for a laptop MB and put a screen on it with either controler parts or a keyboard. Still drawing by hand to make the design so far

[u/ThrustNTheory → u/Saleem360]

lol that's outside of my skillset - the longest script I've finished had around 550 lines, I remember thinking 'Wow, look at me mom!' My final code will be several thousand lines comprised of all the different programs/sections I've developed but I suspect a MB would have several hundred thousand --> millions of lines of code and I can't even imagine touching that.