Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I want to make an autonomous intelligent quadcopter that could fly without any RC Transmitter. A robot that could start and fly on its own. Or if it can fly on a destined path then it will also do. But I want to make it either intelligent or an android controlled bot. Please tell me what to do. What equipment to buy?

Hi jaynaeros,

This is a complicated enough project that we won't really be able to give you an exact list of materials in this forum. It will probably take a good deal of Google searching on your part. I would suggest looking into using an Arduino, a type of microcontroller that is very popular with hobbyists and the quadcopter community. The website Instructables.com has a ton of examples of Arduino quadcopter projects:

http://www.instructables.com/howto/arduino+quadcopter/

Do you have any previous experience with programming or electronics? If not, I'd recommend starting with a ground-based robot instead. Building your own quadcopter will be a pretty difficult place to start (if you mess up with a quadcopter, it will crash and potentially break; whereas small robot "cars" don't really go fast enough to damage themselves if something goes wrong).

I need information about you and are willing to learn.