The Phantom's Crash

Unfortunately we had a... hard landing with the Phantom, thankfully we were able to have access to all the tools and help from the Launch Pad in order to get it back to working conditions.

 The gimbal is the largest concern. It took a lot of the force from the crash.

 One of the wires for the FPV Hub we're using was damaged so we had to improvise by soldering another spare wire to it.

It worked great, oddly enough!

We had Joel, master solder, help us with the circuit board. 

 A ribbon wire the connects the GoPro to the FPV system was torn while fixing the gimbal. Thankfully it came with another identical one which made this repair simple and uncomplicated.

And here's the Phantom put back together, nearly back to 100%!

Overall, we were confronted with a major setback in our project and it gave us the experience dealing with it. Our time at the Pad has been a learning experience that we appreciate.

The engineers and makers at the temporary Launch Pad helped us out a lot yesterday. We met with some very intelligent people there and were able to learn a lot overall. They offered multiple options to our problems and really had a way of thinking outside the box.

After lunch we came back for some flying lessons on orientation.

We practiced with a smaller less expensive quad inside.

And afterwards had a bit of fun with the 3-D printer. Also got into some deep discussion about our plans for the zombie apocalypse. 

We got to talk with Joel, director of the Launch Pad St the Innovation Hub, about out options and got some direction with the orthoimagery.

An awesome laser cutter engraving an Innovation Hub logo into a clipboard.

Some typography options we discussed illustrated. 

Even learned a bit about brainstorming today.

The monitor has been linked to the GoPro, the blue tooth data link has been setup, and we have taken our first flights with the copter. We're eager to get to the Innovation Hub today to get some work done.

This beauty came in today! Updating firmware and setting everything up to have it ready for the Innovation Hub on Wednesday. Very exciting to take this next big step in the project.

Putting some time into the blog today, along with wrapping up emails and other prep work.

This is a DJI Phantom 2, one that Russell Burroughs showed to us when we went for a demo of some of our choices for the project.

GHS EAST Program Drone Project Description

A team of 7 Greenbrier High School EAST students are working to modify a drone that will essentially be able to create 3-D models using a 3-D rendering software. We are also hoping to incorporate a FLIR Infrared Thermal camera to detect gas leaks in time. Some examples of what we can use the FLIR camera for are: teaming with local police departments in fugitive searches at safe distances, possibly surveillance around the schools, also partnering with the Game and Fish Commission to track deer populations without disturbing them, along with many other uses. The drone will also be able to survey land and create 3-D maps, which can be useful in construction and many other educational purposes. We have partnered with the Innovation Hub who have provided a team of engineers to help us in our endeavors.

We hope you can follow our educational journey and progress through this blog.