The Solo Gimbal and the Code that Drives it. Hmmm....

[Jubalr]

So here is a scenario for you...You have a product or knowledge that many are seeking. What do you do with it? If you release it to the world for free, others would capitalize and develop products from it and make money from it. Do you come up with a licensing plan? Develop a hardware solution that would have to be purchased from you?

This is what I believe is the reason we have yet to see the magic sauce that drives the Solo Gimbal. Being able to use larger gimbals and cameras with the existing gimbal code would open a lot of possibilities

! With such a unique ability that has still, after 2 years or more. not been duplicated on any other consumer drone, what would you do with it if you had it? If it is released, in what form will it be?

Things that make you go HMMM..What do you think?

 

[pyrate]

you could, release it without releasing it
lets break it down
the real trick here are the algorithms that manage the 3 axis positioning in concert with the three axis movement of the platform in the sky to point a camera on a target, and to interpolate the transitions between points.
Most of the craft positioning is in the smart shots (drone code) and to a degree the gimbal positioning, aka smart shots in solex.
So why not release in the form of raw calculation variables to a smart group of folks who could reengineer the commands from an onboard computer to a gimbal.

Just seems like there would be a way for 3DR to help a dedicated fan base to insure their flagship product to live on, even if for the sake of the brand sticking around

 

[Dogman1973]

I'm super interested myself, and would love to see it released as GPL, because I am so over the gopro... having setup a NEX-5 on my mapping bird (static mount), the quality difference from the gopro is night and day.

But in terms of $$$ for secret sauce, I think a simple licensing model where a 3DR royalty is paid by a gimbal manufacturer would be a good start. A properly integrated gimbal that gives me better camera options is something I'd quite happily pay for.
I know that doesnt help the hardcore DIY'ers though. :-(

I guess the other question is... that after 2 years or more, why hasn't it been replicated by someone else?

Lets face it people like me (and many others here... lets call us "semi-pro's" or even high end "pro-sumers") are NOT going to sell anyone 1000's of drones a month. 3DR took an interesting product development philosophy by investing heavily in the software... but when the mass market is happy with a phantom 3... look where it got them. :-(

 

[pyrate]

licensing to a gimbal manufacturer would be great
If I had some capital to burn it would not be in airframes
everyone is doing that to death, and getting pummeled by DJI and an uneducated consumer.
but
No one is really focusing on payload as a technology
If I had the cash, I would hire some top rate software and mechanical engineers
and get into the platform agnostic gimbal business focusing on getting the latest camera and sensor tech into the air.
Look at that black magic mini camera. Heck that thing has an interface that will take RC input to control camera function.
Let camera makers make great cameras
Let airframe makers make great airframes
you produce the two straw shake to bring them together

Then approach 3DR and buy the code or license it

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

The moment 3DR gives away, licenses, or sells it to someone else, it is over. China will steal it, replicate it, and sell it for pennies. There no point in even bothering to license it out to others. They might as well just open it up like they did with the companion computer. But I think today, the chinese manufacturer that holds most of 3DR's assets probably doesn't want that. They want to sell off what stock they have in proprietary gimbals first.

 

[pyrate]

yep, nothing from a business perspective and those are valid points
one can still wish 3Dr could or would do the right thing by the loyal followers

 

[Maxheadspace]

yep, nothing from a business perspective and those are valid points
one can still wish 3Dr could or would do the right thing by the loyal followers

I agree, although 3DR may no longer have rights to any of their intellectual property. That was probably part of any deal to pay off their suppliers when things went south.

Working a deal with a gimbal manufacturer means working a deal with the Chinese. Solo has a finite lifespan now that they've stopped manufacturing. Once our spare parts are finished there may be some opportunity to cash in with modded replacement parts like gimbals, but by that time many of us will probably have moved on to newer, flashier technology in drones.

 

[pyrate]

oh contraire
even if solo never releases anything else, solo flying on the green cube and master opens an entire new route
RTK GPS
Throw and Boat flight modes
Flow control
Object avoidance
etc

 

[Maxheadspace]

True, there are more options for the Solo, but will they be marketable? Will they make a buck? From this point on, the number of Solos flying will decrease. Can't predict how fast the existing Solos will crash, fly away or just stop working, but the fact is right this moment is the most Solos there will ever be. Having said that, however, with the new 2.1 Pixhawk emerging, I imagine if the product is not locked to the Solo it may also have a customer base with the hobby community in general. Hmmm. There may be a strategy there... Believe me, I WANT a Solo gimbal that would be fully functional with a non-GoPro camera. If he had one I would buy it.

 

[pyrate]

we could use fewer solos flying in some cases, ooo did I say that out loud?
like Jublar said, that is the ticket and Rich drove it home
NO ONE
has achieved what 3DR did with the two computer embedded gimbal
the question is, who if anyone can duplicate that, with or without the code

Smart shots are amazing, and even more that one person can do them with a single controller
but you don't need all of that to obtain the same results
Jublars approach is pretty good.
Have the drone fly the path autonomous while the flyer manages the gimbal movement.,
For example in most cases I use free look on my MPCC runs,. I ususally stick the speed along the cable too.
you can get pretty good results that way

 

[RichWest]

At the end of the day, everything about drones is related to video, stable video. I'm talking commercial application. The code is just that, The Code = Intellectual Property. Could you imagine the code on a 360 gimbal.... Computer vision... Sense and avoid vision. Two years later and still no other...

Like Matt, if it hits the open streets, Wang wins. Game over, done for anyone trying to enter the biz, ever. You'd need an IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Apple or any huge tech company to have ownership. They have the muscle to fight the infringement battles that would lie ahead.

 

[Ian [P13]]

I've heard a rumour a CANBUS gimbal for Arducopter that'll provide Solo like functionality is in development but you didn't hear that from me.

I'm hoping Solo's code becomes entirely open one day, 3DR overall have been good with end of line gear, although Solo isn't seen as end of line yet with Sitescan existing.

It's not commonly known but 3DR even gave away the Iris moulds in the hope a third party will build parts to keep it alive. That was a proper decent thing of them to do.

 

[Rusty Jones]

I've heard a rumour a CANBUS gimbal for Arducopter that'll provide Solo like functionality is in development but you didn't hear that from me.

I'm hoping Solo's code becomes entirely open one day, 3DR overall have been good with end of line gear, although Solo isn't seen as end of line yet with Sitescan existing.

It's not commonly known but 3DR even gave away the Iris moulds in the hope a third party will build parts to keep it alive. That was a proper decent thing of them to do.

More CANBUS would be good. Which brings up a question for me. How many devices can tr/rx on the CANBUS? Reason I ask is I have been using the PlayUAVOSD and think it is fairly decent, however I think the developers are looking to maybe make it a 2-way device. So with that and a telemetry radio, your typical Pixhawk (1) is out of telemetry ports. At least for both the tx/rx. The PlayUAVOSD has a CANBUS input, but has not been implemented in software yet. I wonder if I can steer them in that direction....

 

[Ian [P13]]

This isn't something I could answer as I've had no need to investigate CANBUS, I only get involved with things technically when I'm hands on using them.

Anything developed now, especially using companion computers is going to be done with the Pixhawk 2.1 in mind, likely alongside an Intel Edison.

 

[pyrate]

yeah buddy
already up and running.
Connecting a big DIY over UDP in MP is kind of strange. But it works well, APSync rocks, and its just beta

 

[fpvsteve]

Let's be realistic- all those nice buzzes like Lidar, optical flow, object avoidance, rtk, precision landing and so on require a lot of DIY skills.
And there has been only a handful of people in the Solo community so far who could accomplish such things. And this will not change with the "green cube" or other gear in future I am afraid.

Solo is a phantastic platform to do all of this.

But for the average pilot a P4P or other modern RTF drone will be the better option to go for such features out of the box.

 

[Dogman1973]

Just a thought on the gimbal code... is the gopro control part of that? perhaps thats part of the issue with releasing it?

 

[BigTulsa]

Just a thought on the gimbal code... is the gopro control part of that? perhaps thats part of the issue with releasing it?

That's probably a pretty good assessment.

 

[pyrate]

Let's be realistic- all those nice buzzes like Lidar, optical flow, object avoidance, rtk, precision landing and so on require a lot of DIY skills.
And there has been only a handful of people in the Solo community so far who could accomplish such things. And this will not change with the "green cube" or other gear in future I am afraid.

Solo is a phantastic platform to do all of this.

But for the average pilot a P4P or other modern RTF drone will be the better option to go for such features out of the box.

realistically? average is boring. but yes average people should just buy a DJI

 

[BigTulsa]

My brother and I build DIY hexes with Pixhawk on them. He's full on into the Lidar/Pixflow and other stuff. He's put alot of that stuff on there with some success. The DIY stuff is addicting (and can be heavy on the wallet).