Moderator Comment by Krzysztof Bosak on August 31, 2010 at 4:26am

Nice, but... how many equipment to lift a bottle of water?

Comment by RolandS888 on August 31, 2010 at 4:41am

The Challenge is not merely carrying the bottle of water.
Its more the development and implementation of the equipment and systems involved to successfully deliver a package to an unknown distant location, whilst maintaining a high level of safety.
Its a challenging competition.

Comment by montanajones on August 31, 2010 at 8:35am

If you don't mind me asking, what is the price of that airframe?

Comment by Nullified on August 31, 2010 at 11:08pm

What gimbaled camera system are you guys using? It looks great by the way, nice work!

Comment by RolandS888 on September 1, 2010 at 3:42am

@montanajones
the airframe cost about as much as a 1/3 or 1/2 scale RC plane. Sure its expensive, but Paul and I are fanatics when it comes to UAVs and autonomous flight. So, in true "big boys and their toys" fashion we coughed up the money and invested in something that we felt met the requirements of the Outback Challenge.

We toyed with the idea of a large (12'+) composite glider and modifying it for UAV use, but again, the price was in the same ballpark, so we went with the Penguin-B because of its suitability.

Whilst we were making these decisions, I approached UAVfactory to see if they were interested in partially sponsoring our campaign, they were interested, and before long we had purchased 2 bare airframes and started the journey to where we are now.
Four weeks to go, then its "Game On".

@Nullified
the core of the camera is a Samsung block camera, its COTS, nothing too special, but suits the purpose very well. It has also proven to be a robust choice (dont ask) in previous airframes.

I dont want to go into too many details as this is a competition, not an open source project, but I'm no genius, so anything that is in this system is pretty much obtainable by anyone.
Its more about how well you use what you've got, rather than going unnecessarily high tech or expensive just because you can.
Keep it simple, keep it reliable, and keep it safe.
Cheers. R.

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