{"id":4526,"date":"2018-09-16T12:54:13","date_gmt":"2018-09-16T16:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dronebotworkshop.com\/?p=4526"},"modified":"2020-12-26T12:06:25","modified_gmt":"2020-12-26T17:06:25","slug":"plutox-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dronebotworkshop.com\/plutox-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"A Drone You Can Program – Introducing PlutoX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/span><\/h2>\n

Within just a few short years quadcopters have evolved from specialized craft for wealthy hobbyists into common items for people of all ages. From photographers to real estate agents, from farmers to scientists and as toys for children (and those who are young at heart) quadcopters are everywhere. \u00a0With prices ranging as low as 15 dollars (and up to several thousand) pretty well everyone can afford to try out these cool devices.<\/span><\/p>\n

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For electronics experimenters, aviation hobbyists and those who like to tinker most commercial quadcopters are not suitable for hacking. Their propriety circuit boards and sealed plastic enclosures don\u2019t exactly beg to be modified. Which is a shame as all of the innovations in this field have come from people who aren\u2019t afraid to build and experiment.<\/span><\/p>\n

The<\/span> PlutoX<\/span><\/a> is a quadcopter with a difference. It is designed specifically for those who not only want to fly a quadcopter but who also have an urge to experiment, build and design. The product is actually not even billed as a \u201cquadcopter\u201d, instead it is an \u201cAerial Robotics Kit\u201d that you can configure and program to be whatever you want.<\/span><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t even need to be configured as a quadcopter! Using the PlutoX board and the Cygnus IDE (more on both later) you can turn your PlutoX into a rover, a dirigible or even into a hybrid quadcopter that can also run around on a couple of wheels. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"PlutoX<\/p>\n

The PlutoX is manufactured by <\/span>Drona Aviation<\/span><\/a> in Mumbai. The good folks at Drona were kind enough to supply me with an advanced release of the PlutoX and I have been very impressed with the product and I think it has enormous potential.<\/span><\/p>\n

Writing just one article or producing only one video that completely covers the PlutoX would be impossible, so in this article (and the associate video) I will explain what the PlutoX is and I\u2019ll show you how to get started programming the device. In the near future I\u2019ll work on interfacing custom hardware and writing more sophisticated programs.<\/span><\/p>\n

So let\u2019s get started!<\/span><\/p>\n

PlutoX Components<\/span><\/h2>\n

The PlutoX Aerial Robotics Kit that I received was an advanced release that was sent to me by Drona Aviation as part of their <\/span>crowdfunding campaign<\/span><\/a>. So the equipment that was included in my kit may differ slightly from the final production model.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"PlutoX<\/p>\n

Here is what I received in my PlutoX Kit:<\/span><\/p>\n