What is GizmoCopter?

The Problem

ERPS is developing reusable rocket technology, including designs that take off and land vertically under control of an on-board computer. We often use the technical term VTVL, for vertical takeoff, vertical landing. But to test experimental high-power rocket engines safely, we need specialized facilities and have to drive for two hours from the South Bay Area to a private rocket engine test site in the mountains just off of California's Central Valley. In order to test some of our electronics needed for flight, the ERPS Flight Control Team wanted a way to test more often than the long drives would allow.

The Solution

In order to test electronics like gyroscopes, accelerometers and the computer software needed to coordinate them in VTVL and hover flight, GizmoCopter is a design for a 4-rotor model helicopter to carry our electronics aloft for a couple minutes per flight.

The use of a model helicopter platform means we can test it in a park or field near where participants live, rather than driving for hours to a test site.

The intent of this project is to make extra flight test opportunities so that our software, in addition to simulator testing, will have been in real flight conditions even before ERPS's first VTVL rocket tests.

See also the GizmoCopter Project Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ).

To volunteer to work on GizmoCopter, please join ERPS first. (Subscribe to the mail list and/or start attending ERPS meetings.) There is currently no membership fee to join but we want to know who our volunteers are.