Filed under ‘Radio control’
TrackStick GPS logger
I’ve been looking for something to track the altitude of my RC planes, and this looks like it just might do what I want. The TrackStick GPS Data Logger will keep a record of time, date, location, speed, direction and altitude – and then playback the data to your computer (via USB) using GoogleEarth or MapQuest. The TrackStick has 1mb of memory, and can record up to 4000 events – so it can even be used to plot cycling or driving routes. I’m getting one!
Cheap (but good) RC helicopter
There’s plenty of cheap RC helicopters available these days, most are cheap, and most are junk. We’ve tried a few ultra cheapies from those shops that sell brooms and plastic tubs, and unsuprisingly they were pretty ordinary. ThinkGeek’s RC helicopter is altogether different. Yes it’s cheap, but it’s also incredibly well designed. It has 2 sets of main blades that spin in opposite directions, eliminating all the torque problems that single blade helicopters suffer from – so it’s just a matter of ‘up and down’, and then using the tail rotor to pitch the heli to go forwards and backwards. With a rotor diameter of only 10″, this is ideal for indoor use – and it’s built tough, so if you crash it (which is actually kinda hard to do) it won’t fall to bits. Best of all, it’s only $39.99 (including everything you need), which is cheap enough to start an indoor helicopter racing club.
» Check it out at ThinkGeek.com
Golden Butterfly indoor RC plane
If your budget won’t stretch to the seriously expensive (and seriously good) Plantraco Carbon Butterfly, there’s always the Golden Butterfly at the toy end of the micro plane market. It’s ready to fly out of the box, and has a clever prop protector to protect the plane, and anything it might fly into. It’s obviously not in the same league as the Plantraco planes – it’s not even close, but at only $30-35 it’s actually pretty good fun.
» Available from Hobbytron
Plantraco Carbon Butterfly
Plantraco have just released a carbon version of their Butterfly micro indoor RC plane. The Plantraco Carbon Butterfly has a carbon fiber frame, which makes it nearly indestructible – and comes with the same excellent hardware and aluminum case as the original Butterfly.
» More info at www.plantraco.com
Open source SRV-1 rover
The SRV-1 surveillance robot is wirelessly controlled from a Windows, Mac or Linux computer, and runs open source software in both the firmware for the robot and the monitoring software. The robot can be operated via a web browser using the live video feed, or can be set to roving mode using the infrared sensors to guide itself.
