We’ve seen small quadcopters, and we’ve seen do-it-yourself quadcopters, but this new quadcopter from Bitcraze combines both a very small size with the pat-on-the-back feeling you get from completing a do-it-yourself project.
As mentioned above, the Crazyflie is quite tiny, measuring in at just 9cm x 9cm and weighing around 19 grams, and comes in two different versions, with the difference being the amount of sensors available on the unit. Bitcraze notes that there currently isn’t firmware for the unit with the extra sensors yet — keyword “yet.” There are two commercially available units: the Crazyflie Nano Quadcopter Kit 6-DOF ($149), and the 10-DOF ($179), both of which include a USB radio dongle and accompanying 2.4GHz antenna.
The quadcopter can fly for up to seven minutes, and the lithium polymer battery takes around 20 minutes to charge through a standard USB dock.
Bitcraze has also made the quadcopter open-source, releasing firmware source code along with the Crazyflie schematics. Considering the Crazyflie is a DIY kit, it comes with a bunch of pieces, including the radio, control board, motor mounts, coreless DC motors, propellers, the battery, and antennas. What isn’t included in the kit, but required to run the unit, is a PC, a PS3-compatible controller, and a micro-USB cable for charging. The only tools required for assembly are a soldering iron, solder, a tweezer, and hot glue. Of course, you should also bring some DIY expertise if you don’t feel you have much of that.
The Crazyflie is available for pre-order from January 31 to February 18, with shipping expected to begin on April 25. If you’re interested in making a pre-order, or simply want more information on the project, head on over here.
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