Backpack Drone for Finding Routes and Trails

Hey Community,

My approaches can be long and sometimes complicated. In new areas I always end up walking around with my gear all day rather then climbing. Even with a guide book and GPS I still find myself saying, "If I could just see over these trees...." or "Maybe we'll have a better look just over that next hill..."

Well my brother and I got sick of driving home disappointed so we built a simple device to help out. Call it a drone if you want, I call it insurance against walking all day with my trad gear on my back. We're currently still testing, but it's pretty simple, just runs autonomously for a few seconds and looks over an obstruction or back down at the user.

Check out the project here:
www.backcountrydrones.com

isn't it illegal to fly drones in national parks?

here's a free business idea for you:

i think what people really want is a drone that can set up topropes for you (i.e. you could attach the rope and a biner to the drone, then fly it up to the anchors)

How does it do in the wind? I've got on of those cheap double-rotor helicopters and it just flies away in the wind.

While I can think of a few instances where something like this might have helped me get un-lost on approach I think this is something I'd never end up using if I bought it. I have a GPS unit that would probably be much more useful than a drone and I never use that either. Maybe I just like getting lost.

Well, I noticed a couple of things:

1. This post appears to be an ad/plug for the "crowd-funding"

2. Looks like a cool device!

How much do you anticipate it weighing?

How will the user access the photos or video? On a cell phone? Looks like you intend to have a cell phone app to control its flight.

You could even take it to the gym to help find the start of the routes there too. Trying to take even the smallest of challenges out of climbing leaves you back inside again.

What an awesome idea!
One suggestion - perhaps you could equip it with a spray/paint gun, that way it could be used to mark routes outside, or in a gym. If it were big enough to carry a Cliffhanger type of nail gun, the idea would really take off!

It's cool that you built a drone - pretty impressive really. But I'm trying to imagine where I would use this. What's the camera angle?

Approaches are usually complex for a couple reasons:

1. Alpine terrain where it's hard to read what's up ahead, but the view is clear. If the drone is a couple of hundred feet up and takes a picture of a square a few hundred feet around me, how is that going to help the approach farther away? And what about viewing elevations on this overhead picture? It's like finding your way in the dark with a dim flashlight and one eye open.

2. Densely forested terrain, where you can't see far. An overhead drone would either hit a tree or you wouldn't be able to see anything through the tree-cover.

The only way I could see this being useful is in densely spired terrain, like the Black Hills. Or maybe if you're near the edge of a gorge and can't find it. Still, a compass and some decent sense of direction will solve either of these...

I would buy a toprope drone.

If I was struggling to find climbing areas so bad that I needed to invent a drone to help me I would probably just find something else to do, but that's just me.

Its definitely impressive, I think you will find more traction with the military or law enforcement or perhaps rescue organizations. I haven't seen a form factor that is this robust in other small drones available today. How do you control x,y translation? Internal CG change?

Nate,

Looks like you and your brother have put quite a bit of work into your project. Good luck bringing it to a growing market.
Meanwhile, are you familiar with this little fellow? Nixie wristband drone

Very cool, I fear the price tag may put it out of reach for most of us. I suspect that an up and down drone like this falls outside what they are looking to keep out of the National Parks. What this amounts to is a balloon. I know the controlled ones are covered, but an autonomous unit like this might get a different reception. I would also note, seems this is used for navigation when one is lost. Like off the trail or on a faint trail. Both places where authorities are rarely encountered.

Got a good laugh out of the kids that showed up to some sold out football game and thought it was wise to fly a drone over the stadium to see all the action. As you might figure, authorities didn't think too much of such a scam.

I think the drone design is new. I haven't seen it before and it is obviously unique and kind of amazing actually. I would think outside of climbing community. See who else can use something like this.

Thanks for the feed back guys, it's helpful info.

Just to answer a few questions that came up.

Tyson,
Regarding how it does in the wind. We use a small GPS on the vehicle so it knows where it is and to stay overhead. It actively fights to stay in one place. I'm sure there is a limit to the wind speed it will work in but we havn't found it yet.

Frank,
As far as control, it operates on its own. There are a few missions you can preselect and then it does the rest. You do need the phone to review the images though. On the way back down it pickups your bluetooth signal and sends the images to you. Also, it projects bearing and range information onto the images to make referencing easier. Right now we weigh just over 1 lb which is about 1/2 a letter of water.

Big Red,
I hear you. We found out that the downward view isn't as useful as one that is slightly angled so you have a better sense of elevation. One thing I haven’t had the opportunity to test out is to have it fly to a wall and see if it is already packed with other climbers. Seems like a good application, but honestly, I'm not sure where I stand on that ethically.

Nate,
It uses a Swashplate to feather the aft rotor blades. We tried the CG change but we had trouble getting a fast enough response.

Thanks again guys,
Nate

Might be good for checking on ice conditions!

I can see a lot of use for this. Sure, I have a GPS, and I have a map and compass which I'm skilled at using. But in a lot of areas topos (paper or GPS) are very far indeed from current with respect to trails. A "periscope" like this could quickly clarify things.

Rick Witting wrote:Might be good for checking on ice conditions!

Big fan of NH. Did my first multipitch ice route following a buddy of mine up Frankenstein Cliff's Standard Route years ago. We were so green that when I anchored in at the ice cave I untied from the rope and got yelled at by some guy guiding up clients....Haha! "Never untie from the rope!!!!" We had gone up Thin Air and Bombardment to Black Lung to Upper Refuse the previous fall in the same dumb fashion. Those early days were so awesome (perhaps reckless) everything felt like we were on El Cap (not that I would know). Top out shaking and frightened....but the experience would be all we could think about for weeks after.

Cabelas now sells drone shot