Flying the Flexbot
I have a new hexcopter, the flexbot. It’s my first real remote controlled vehicle of any kind. I’ve been keeping an eye on the UAS space for a couple years, but could never really get myself to invest in RC aircraft as a hobby. Then I saw this kickstarter last year and I thought that $70 for a really cool idea was worth it. It’s a combination of technologies that I think are interesting together: Arduino, open-source software, 3D printing, and phone/bluetooth controls. All together it’s makes for a really interesting experience. This has been one of the wobbliest kickstarter projects I’ve backed, but they came trough and delivered exactly what I wanted.
I think the ideas embodied in this project are intensely interesting, and I think it was worth it, but a few flaws become apparent after trying to fly this thing. User experience and control scheme has a lot of room for improvement. I think some things could be done to make it easier for people to assemble and understand what the copter is doing.
Another big flaw is in the material properties of 3d printed parts. The type of plastic used is PLA (I think) and the design constraints of the airframe make it really vulnerable to breaking. I would love to see this craft printed out of sturdier material like nylon or carbon fiber. Anyway, I see huge possibilities for products like this, open source designs driving creation of components for users to create their own systems for their own applications. It also outlines just how challenging the process of building an aircraft of even limited scope can be. There are so many variables and constraints to consider.
Yesterday I was flying it on the concrete patio near our apartment, and I let it go a little too high. It drifted over a 15 foot chain-link fence around a tennis court. I willed it back the other direction, but of course something went wrong with my piloting and the flexbot fell on the other side. I don’t have a key to the tennis court, so I commando crawled under a loose section to retrieve my scuffed but still intact craft. Today it fell a couple feet to the carpet and my previous gorilla glue repair job failed again. So… I need some more practice, and maybe a newly printed shell. Next month, our local library is opening up a new branch that will have access to a 3d printer, so that might be my chance to fix this!