The sub-$1,000 UAV project

Chris Anderson
The Long Tail

March 12, 2007

While I was at TED I had the opportunity to talk to everyone from Dean Kamen [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Kamen ] to Jeff Bezos [ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6822763/ ] about my 3D Robotics League idea [ http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2007/03/lets_start_a_3d.html ]. The consensus was that it's a great idea, but that $10,000 [ http://www.procerusuav.com/productPricing.php ] is too high a cost of entry for a competitive aerial robot. ($5,000 is considered the ceiling for school robotics teams, and I want to make this open to individuals, too). So the first order of business is to find a way to bring the cost down.

This summer my project will be to come up with a set of resources and instructions that will allow regular non-engineer people (and kids) to put together a drone for less than $1,000 that has most if not all of the functionality of this $10,000 beauty [ http://www.procerusuav.com/productsZagiTestAirframe.php ]. The DraganFlyer autonomous helicopter platform [ http://www.rctoys.com/rc-products/DF-SAVS.html ] shown above starts at just $2,400, and these guys [ http://autopilot.sourceforge.net/ ] seem to have made good progress on the essentials of a $500 helicopter UAV, although the commercial version sells for $16,500 [ http://www.rotomotion.com/prd_UAV_SR20.html ]. But my sense is that foam flying wings are the cheapest way to go, starting with basic autopilots available here [ http://www.maxxprod.com/mpi/mpi-16.html ].

Needless to say, this is going to take some hacking. Suggestions gratefully received.