LEGO makers know that the LEGO bricks are a gold mine of free ideas and innovative projects. With a simple set of bricks anyone can reach millions of forms and, as you can guess, with additional components you can do concrete things.
This DIY quadcopter build completely from LEGO bricks has a particular story, and is able to get a clear vision of how simple and safe is to fly with a LEGO made structure.
The designer, a software developer called Ed Scott, working from about two years in “stealth mode” on the prototype. Its aim is to build a custom and strong LEGO brick structure. The entire drone is strong enough to carry a GoPro camera and to manage a large number of landings.
Flying high with the first LEGO Bricks Drone
All the bricks used to build the structure of the drone are official LEGO brand and are purchased directly from LEGO factory. Besides the LEGO bricks, the structure is completed with several 3D printed parts that has to be glued by the LEGO bricks. The printed parts were necessary to have custom motor mounts to keep safe the electrical motors and to absorb the vibrations, or to mount the GoPro camera.
Equipped with a GoPro camera, the LEGO drone can record the surroundings and transmit live images to the ground on a smartphone or a tablet. For its autonomous navigation, the quadcopter has attached the open-source GPS system ArduPilot Mega 2.5.
3D Printed GoPro mount added
It all started in 2012
It’s no wonder that someone has been thinking to use the LEGO bricks and build a flying quadcopter. Together with his kids, the designer Ed Scott flies for the first time with the LEGO drone in December 2012. The frame was entirely built from LEGO bricks and glue, while all the electronics are from its own box. In 2013, the drone was improved with a 3DR APM flight controller capable of autonomous flight. This was the first LEGO brick autonomous drone.
An overview of the LEGO Brick Drone
The next step in the LEGO drone project is to have the opportunity to release the homemade kit for anyone. How? With your help on Kickstarter. If it becomes reality, the Brick drone can become the first commercially available LEGO drone.
Did you think that this drone can give everyone the chance to learn about programming and how the autonomous robot drone works?
