ArduBee Takes to Kickstarter as the "Smallest and Lightest Modular" Platform for ArduPilot
Available board-only for tinkerers or ready-to-fly — just add an 18650 battery — the ArduBee looks to take flight by the end of the year.
The ultra-compact, ArduPilot-based ArduBee micro drone is now crowdfunding, ahead of planned December 2020 delivery date — and its creators are asking for "the support of all the community."
First unveiled earlier in the year, the ArduBee is a mini quadcopter designed by professional drone firm LuminousBees for educational use. Built around the open source ArduPilot platform, the ArduBee is powered by an STMicroelectronics STM32H7 microcontroller board packing an electronic speed controller (ESC), inertial measurement unit (IMU), compass, barometer, and an ESP8266 for Wi-Fi connectivity, plus an 18650 lithium-ion battery.
"ArduBee is the smallest and lightest modular quadcopter platform based on ArduPilot Open Source software capable of indoor and outdoor flying equipped with powerful H7 MCU flight controller," claims Lorenzo Marcenaro of his company's project. "This tiny ArduPilot UAV will permit education and research initiatives, or just everyone who is keen to play with cutting-edge technology and who wants to explore the field of aerial applications."
"We have selected the best electronic components and created a product supported by the Ardupilot Open Source system. It’s an extensible platform with an add-ons system enabling DIY and developments. We need the support of all the community to raise our goal: produce and distribute ArduBee and create an active community around it."
To support the community, the company is launching two variants: A board-only version allows for custom motors and propellers, while the ArduBee proper comes with motors and propellers already fitted — needing only a single 18650 battery adding to be ready-to-fly. For those eager to make use of the drone outdoors, a higher reward tier includes an optional GPS in addition to the standard sensor load-out. Other add-ons range from avoidance sensors, to ultra-wide-band (UWB) sensors for swarm functionality and indoor positioning, to a development board.
The campaign is now live on Kickstarter, with rewards starting at €243 for "early bird" board-only rewards.
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