LA ruby conf unleashed!

the good folks over at confreaks have just released the footage of flying robot from ruby conf, so check it out and enjoy!

The blimpduinos are coming!

I just got my hands on the first few blimpduino boards ( thanks to Chris and Jordi over at diy drones) , and damn are they small! After spending almost 2 months slaving away, building our prototype board, its a huge relief to know that I will only have to do nominal soldering this time around, not to mention the weight savings!

The blimpduino wasn't designed to be used with a gondola, so Ive had to make a few modifications.

1: I cut holes in the bottom of the gondola for the IR sensors and sonic range finder, as well as a hole in the side so I can access the power switch.

2: I am soldering several pins to the back side of the board for easier access

3: I am re purposing several pins currently designated for rc in(since we are using the xbee modems for our control interface) for something else... but more on that later.