Arduino Quadcopter : The ULTIMATE guide to building your own DIY drone! [Updated 2019]

Building an arduino quadcopter is no doubt, challenging. 

That being said, arduino is arguably the best tool for rapid prototyping with one of the best communities and learning material out there.

With enough learning, persistence and patience, building an arduino quadcopter is within anyone's reach.

This guidebook is an intelligently arranged collection of resources designed to take you step by step from absolute beginner with no clue about the workings of a multirotor or arduino programming to building your very own arduino quadcopter.

Read on! 



Recommended prerequisite and how you should use this guide

The following are the prerequisite skills you will need if you want to build an arduino quadcopter absolutely from scratch without copy and pasting someone else’s code.

  • C/C++
  • Arduino and arduino programming libraries
  • Basic power electronics

We’ve included how to get these skills in Chapter 4. It is important to make sure you at least have a basic understanding of them to build your own arduino quadcopter.

Ideally, you should go from Chapter 1 all the way to Chapter 6 (Chapter 7 is a bonus!). That being said, we’ve also included some pre-made arduino builds (with pre-made code) that you can follow step by step to build your own arduino quadcopter in Chapter 6.

Though you can technically follow the builds and copy paste the code, bear in mind that if you truly want to understand what you are doing, make your own tweaks and actually be able to fix errors if you encounter any, start from Chapter 4 before going to Chapter 6.

Remember that with this guide, you are not merely assembling a quadcopter with a pre-made flight controller. You are building your own DIY arduino flight controller!


Chapter 1 : Understanding the arduino quadcopter - Multirotor fundamentals

If you are absolutely new to multirotors or need some brushing up, the following resources will help you get started with how multirotors work and the principles behind them



Chapter 2 : Arduino Quadcopter - What are the hardware and parts required to build your arduino quadcopter?

In this chapter, you will learn what parts would make up your quadcopter and how to pick the right parts to build quality multirotors that can fly really well. 


a.) Choosing the right frame/body for your arduino quadcopter

Ready-made frames:

  • Best quadcopter kits : Use the frames, motors and propellers minus the flight controller for ready-made quadcopter frame, motors. ESCs and prop setup for your arduino quadcopter.

Build your own frames:

  • Frame made out of duct tape:

    YouTube video
  • Frame made out of plastic box:

    YouTube video

b.) Choosing the right motors, propellers and ESCs for your arduino quadcopter



d.) Arduino : Your flight controller

Most of your work will be done on an Arduino Uno board. However, if you are new to arduino, here are some recommended readings:

e.) Transmitter and receiver


Chapter 3: Learn how to solder

Soldering skill is essential to build any device from scratch, your arduino quadcopter included. The resources in this chapter will help you master exactly the skills you will need.



Chapter 4 : Learn arduino programming with C and power electronics 

In order to truly understand what you are doing, you must master arduino programming with C and basic power electronics before you go about following a pre-made arduino quadcopter build in Chapter 6. Use the following resources!



Chapter 5: Learn how to program the arduino as your flight controller

This chapter is where you truly start to learn how to program your own multirotor!



Chapter 6: : Learn how to build your arduino quadcopter from ready made projects

You don't have to always reinvent the wheel from absolute scratch. The following resources are great to follow step-by step and learn how to build your own arduino quadcopter before venturing onto your own custom builds  



Chapter 7 : How to build advanced autonomous aerial robots

So far, you have learned how to build a basic arduino quadcopter with stabilzation features. In this chapter, you'll take things one notch further. You will learn to build autonomous aerial systems!



Conclusion

Ideally, you should be going from Chapter 1 to Chapter 6 in a sequence. However, if you are already familiar with the concepts in certain chapters, feel free to skip them.

Most beginners would love a "quick" solution to building their own arduino quadcopter. To reiterate what we already said earlier, you can do a quick build by following the pre-made plans that we have listed in Chapter 6.

While you do not have to attain mastery, we recommend you at least be familiar with SOME of the basics of arduino programming and power electronics in Chapter 4 ​to gain maximum learning and understanding out of building an arduino quadcopter.

Moreover, being familiar with the basics will enable you to make your own tweaks and get yourself "unstuck" should you stumble upon any​ roadblocks and errors along the way.