Rolling Spider
Intro
Originally the Rolling Spider from Parrot is a Bluetooth controlled flying quadrotor, designed to be controlled with an Android or iOS device. Not any more: With a few simple clicks you can run Paparazzi on the Bebop and have full autonomous flight and much more!
Features
Connectivity
- Bluetooth Smart technology, Bluetooth V4.0 BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy).
- Normal bluetooth also possible
Sensors
- Ultrasonic sensor
- 3-axis gyroscope and 3-axis accelerometer (MPU 6050)
- Vertical camera
- Pressure sensor
Battery
Lithium-Polymer and removable Lasts up 8 min (6 min with wheels) and full recharge in 90 min
Weight / Dimensions
- 55g (65g with wheels)
- Rolling Spider diameter: 140 mm
- Propellers' diameter: 55mm
- Motor spacing: 85 mm
How to connect
There are two ways to connect to the Rolling Spider with Paparazzi. The first one is an USB cable and the second one is Bluetooth (4.0 or normal). Both have the possibility to connect as WiFi access point and transfer files through FTP and execute programs over telnet. But be warned that connecting over USB disables the vertical camera, as it uses the same USB bus.
Connect with USB
- Set the Rolling spider on
- Just plug in a micro-usb cable from your drone to the computer
- A new network device will show up
- Connect with 192.168.2.1 through ftp or telnet
Connect with Bluetooth
- Turn the rolling spider on
- Make sure you have bluetooth enabled on your computer
- Execute "hcitool scan" and look for the mac address of the "RS_...." device. (If you cannot find it look at #Setup normal Bluetooth)
- Install the bluez-utils package (if not installed) with "sudo apt-get install bluez-utils"
- Execute "sudo pand --connect <MAC address> -dGN -n", to connect to the bluetooth of the drone. *
- Execute "sudo ifconfig bnep0 192.168.1.2 up", to setup the ethernet device over bluetooth. *
- Connect with 192.168.1.1 through ftp or telnet
* This has to be done everytime you reboot the drone
-- Note -- You will need to enable the actuators by telnetting to the drone and typing: gpio 39 -d lo 0 After uploading Paparazzi, you have to start it manually via telnet. Go to /data/video and type ./ap.elf
Setup normal Bluetooth
- First connect over Bluetooth 4.0 or USB to the drone as described above
- Connect with telnet to the drone. (telnet 192.168.*.1)
- Open the "/etc/init.d/rcS" file and search for the line with "BLEproxy". (vi /etc/init.d/rcS)
- Now change the "BLEproxy" to "BLEproxy --normalbt"
- Reboot your drone by executing: "reboot". (This makes sure the filesystem is saved)