Solo - The Smart Drone from 3D Robotics

looking good. Not sure if it's worth the upgrade from a P2 though, the results may be the same in the end - although a bit harder to achieve with the P2's manual only controls.

A relativeley lightweight System for the MicroCC would be really cool.
 
this is a big WOW! ironic that this is the guy that represented DJI with the first Phantoms until there was some sort of falling out with DJI.

this is a bit of sweet revenge back at DJI I'm thinking.

very impressed and at a price of 1k its really a no brainer.

david
 
Yeah, the Solo 2 then. I'm trying to wait before entering into the drone market until there is a lighter (than GH4 setups), safer, simple to fly, and under $4k setup that can still fly a camera that actually looks good, like the Blackmagic one likely will. The idea of spending close to $4k on a DJI Phantom to have mediocre image quality has never sat well with me as I don't want to have to blend mediocre image quality with the higher image quality cameras used for the rest of a production on the ground.
 
david_p said:
this is a big WOW! ironic that this is the guy that represented DJI with the first Phantoms until there was some sort of falling out with DJI.

this is a bit of sweet revenge back at DJI I'm thinking.

very impressed and at a price of 1k its really a no brainer.

david
Click to expand...

Yes DJI effectively killed off DJI NA, everyone Colin and all his staff lost their jobs, by the sounds 3DR employed not only Colin but all his staff. So you have all the knowledge of 3DR (the Arducopter developers) plus the old DJI marketing and product knowledge directed towards one product.

The director of support for 3DR is called Vu Tran, he's ensured the customer service is outstanding and that's built up an already loyal fan base for the company. I've been a long time advocate of there being a need for good service in the multicopter industry so I've been impressed by 3DR's approach to RTFs.
 
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Whilst it's no guarantee we'll ever see this, even the motors are modular on the Solo, so they can be swapped out easily, so a third party company is already trying to see if they can fly the Black Magic even if it means making a modded version of the Solo. (They posted on the Solo Facebook page last night)...

The company trying this is: aerialskylab.com

The camera gimbal bay is fully open to third parties, including the hdmi port, so 3DR are expecting a number of camera options to be available.
 

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I was really on the verge of pulling the trigger. I own and operate a Phantom 2 with a Gopro Hero 3 Plus/ Go pro 4. With Pro tune and knowing what you're doing, that little camera is capable of High End Broadcast, and probably some cinema quality footage (in bright situations, of course)

https://vimeo.com/104840203

My only concern with this 3D robotics proposition is range. I heard the FPV only goes as far as 500m, vs the 1km of Phantom3. Is this true? Would like to have confirmation on this. Mileage obviously varies concerning location to location, but I end to get 700m from my Phantom as the limit. I'm afraid that, following same reasoning, I would be getting about 300 from 3d Robotics. Would be nice to hear about this from them!
 
The range argument makes no sense to me, anyone flying even the distance the Solo reaches is potentially breaking the law in the US and Europe. If your intent is to film 1/2 mile is way more than enough surely? As it happens the antenna for the HD Link on the Solo are external and you can change them, so right or wrong, I'm sure it'll be possible to swap them for a greater range. It's worth nothing the latency is around 180ms so slightly better than the Lightbridge from what I've heard.

1/2 mile is 804m isn't it?
 
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I have not seen enough footage yet shot with the Solo to gauge its overall stability in the hover and in forward flight. The Inspire is a superb machine but everything I have seen shot with it consists of simple camera moves.
The Solo's camera computer really is a killer feature enabling some lovely moves, if the Solo can approach the Inspires flight characteristics DJI should be very worried.
 
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Some indoor footage from NAB yesterday, obviously there's a need to see more outdoor footage too. This is also on Page 2 so you may have seen it...

 
I have to admit i'm really impressed. So any confirmed Range please in meters? If its more than 600meters I will immediately preorder in BH.
 
The range quoted is up to 804 meters (1/2 mile), that'll be unobstructed.

Official Twitter:
https://twitter.com/3drobotic
User Group FB
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3DRSOLO/

Spec:
Up to 25 minutes of flight time (20 with camera and Solo Gimbal)
HD video streaming to mobile
Top speed: 55 mph
Max altitude: 400 ft, per FAA rules (A parameter that can be changed)
Weight: 1500 g; 1800 g with Solo Gimbal and GoPro
WiFi range: up to half a mile, depending on environment (the antenna can be changed)
Controller with colour screen and live flight data
Pixhawk 2 flight controller
APM fully-autonomous flight control software
Customizable colour LEDs for orientation
Solo Battery: 4S 14.8 V LiPo (5200 mAh)
Rechargeable controller battery: 2600 mAh / 7.2 Vdc; lasts 4 hours (8 hours with optional extendable battery)
10×4.5″ self-tightening props
880 kV motors
 
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If anyone is interesting in the techie side, the controller is new, it's a Pixhawk 2, this is really very much like the existing Pixhawk, albeit redesigned, so it's smaller, but most importantly it has more sensors that make it even more redundant to failure:

It has 3 x 3 axis accelerometers, 3 x 3 axis gyros, 2 x 3 axis magnetometers, 2 x barometers, with in built vibration isolation.

There's a companion computer running Linux, that controls the communication between the Pixhawk, Gimbal and the Application on your tablet/phone.

Also of note is the Solo does NOT enforce the use of smart batteries, so it's open to third parties to make their own batteries, smart or dumb. For now only 3DR official batteries are on the market but I'd be surprised if that remained the case.
 
P13 said:
The range quoted is up to 804 meters (1/2 mile), that'll be unobstructed.

Official Twitter:
https://twitter.com/3drobotic
User Group FB
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3DRSOLO/

Spec:
Up to 25 minutes of flight time (20 with camera and Solo Gimbal)
HD video streaming to mobile
Top speed: 55 mph (GPS Mode - 3DR's own pilots confirm 70mph in manual)
Max altitude: 400 ft, per FAA rules (A parameter that can be changed)
Weight: 1500 g; 1800 g with Solo Gimbal and GoPro
WiFi range: up to half a mile, depending on environment (the antenna can be changed)
Controller with colour screen and live flight data
Pixhawk 2 flight controller
APM fully-autonomous flight control software
Customizable colour LEDs for orientation
Solo Battery: 4S 14.8 V LiPo (5200 mAh)
Rechargeable controller battery: 2600 mAh / 7.2 Vdc; lasts 4 hours (8 hours with optional extendable battery)
10×4.5″ self-tightening props
880 kV motors
Click to expand...

Thanks for the great info. Some additional and final questions, sorry for the hassle!

Is the height limitation easily resettable/configurable ?

In HDMI monitoring mode is the range of FPV also half a mile? I'm using an analog transmitter/ connection right now on my Phantom 2

It really sounds great!
 
No worries, I've been following this closely so I'm happy to post anything I know.

There's a HDMI out on the transmitter you hold (720p) which you can connect either a monitor or goggles to, so you're seeing the same video feed so yes the range is the same.

EVERYTHING configuration wise in the Pixhawk can be changed, obviously never tamper with parameters you don't understand but yes the geofence which sets the height and distance limits can be changed or turned off altogether. The tablet/phone application the Solo comes will may not allow you to change the height, but you can do this with Mission Planner (PC), APM Planner (Mac) or Tower (Tablet).
 
P13 said:
No worries, I've been following this closely so I'm happy to post anything I know.

There's a HDMI out on the transmitter you hold (720p) which you can connect either a monitor or goggles to, so you're seeing the same video feed so yes the range is the same.

EVERYTHING configuration wise in the Pixhawk can be changed, obviously never tamper with parameters you don't understand but yet the geofence which sets the height and distance limits can be changed or turned off altogether. The tablet/phone application the Solo comes will may not allow you to change the height, but you can do this will Mission Planner (PC), APM Planner (Mac) or Tower (Tablet).
Click to expand...

This is great to know, because I am obviously not in the US, and often go shoot in locations were certain rules are different. Having the ability to take this limitation out is key for certain shooting scenarios. I can understand the reason its there, but its essential that the option to remove this limitation, at our own risk, obviously, is provided. Will this compatibility with said free software be available at launch? Will it be too complicated to configure?
 
The software already exists, Tower is only on Android at the moment, but by the sounds there should be iOS software too, if not Mission Planner or APM Planner are free downloads as well.

The software that runs on the solo is called Arducopter and the idea is everything can be tweaked or changed, there aren't any no fly zones forced either.

With the Solo they're trying not to scare people with lots of settings so people probably won't be encouraged to change the settings, but there's a wiki detailing everything here: http://copter.ardupilot.com/

The best thing to do if you do buy a Solo is hang around on the Facebook group for now (3DR is planning it's own specific forum soon), there's a lot of helpful people there which will be able to help once you delve deeper...
 
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Thanks p13, really reassuring. Will be placing an order and hopefully sharing experiences and footage here!
 
Wow! Looks like they can do to the drone world what Apple did with smartphones. Add user friendly interface and cool apps and take over the market.
 
P13 said:
No worries, I've been following this closely so I'm happy to post anything I know.

There's a HDMI out on the transmitter you hold (720p) which you can connect either a monitor or goggles to, so you're seeing the same video feed so yes the range is the same.

EVERYTHING configuration wise in the Pixhawk can be changed, obviously never tamper with parameters you don't understand but yes the geofence which sets the height and distance limits can be changed or turned off altogether. The tablet/phone application the Solo comes will may not allow you to change the height, but you can do this with Mission Planner (PC), APM Planner (Mac) or Tower (Tablet).
Click to expand...

This is good to know. I'm getting a drone to shoot some mountain scenic stuff and 400' just isn't going to cut it.
 
I haven't seen the maximum payload numbers posted. Does anyone know if they've published anything official in that regard?
-Thanks in advance!
 
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