Here is another example of it running the waypoints without the controller. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx-Qz7eXAyk Maybe you should take 5 min and look at the DIY Drones http://diydrones.com/ and see how many people are making Drones that actually fly themselves, not just simple RC controlled planes, these things fly themselves, take off and land themselves based on preprogrammed waypoints. Call it a drone, autopilot flying machines or whatever. These also log full telemetry about the flight too that can be played back on google earth, there not your fathers RC planes anymore. Hope that helps your understanding of an RC plane and todays modern drone for the consumer.

If you notice in the shorter version on the video that only shows the Ardupilot flight the lego is flying autonomously When I pan back the choper is a dot, there is no way a human can fly that unless using FPV, we were not using FPV although it is equipped with one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HbKz9hl6CQ

We also have a NAZA controller but it does not do waypoints, it does a RTH full autonomously and with accuracy within ac couple feet. This LEGO one has automated flight, we automated it about half way through the video using the Ardupilot and GPS and it does do waypoints It did 3 waypoints on its own, if you see the last part of the video it was way to far for me to fly maybe a landing but thats it. In the USA the main rules are dont fly over places or around people and keep line of site. Granted I could have used the FPV but then there is no reason to buy the board. Here is the GPS/Board config http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlnmT2TFGr4

Yes, the top and bottom part was hard to find, we had to get them on ebay

There is a plane with a mindstorm controller, its pretty cool

Hey Johann, Sure, Ill try to do a flight tomorrow after work, it still has the same flight plan in it. If not it won't bee until the weekend but it should be tomorrow after work assuming there are no games going on I should get it after work. Take a look at the Arducoptor boards, they are pretty cool, thats the one they also have autopilots for cars helicoprots etc. Here is one of our other drones, this one is capable of fully automated RTH, or return to home, but not waypoints http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0PVfMl6c5I And no we don't want to hurt anyone, being a developer I feel that the future will bring more automation like in cars and farming and planes. I only did this with my kids to get them a head start in life. They learned a lot from design to development and helped every step of the way.

Hi everyone, I am the dad in the video, I want to clear a couple things. !) It’s just an RC plane (Jonathan) Yes, in the beginning it 100% WAS but its not now, well more of a UAV than simple RC because of the FPV. Then about mid way we added the Arducoptor controller. Uploaded waypoints and it flew 100% on its own using a Mediatech GPS through 3 waypoints and back home so yes it’s a true drone now. It also can land on its own but right now it’s such a hard landing it broke the legs that’s why you see the blue tape in the back of one of the legs. It does take off on its own, but you must throw the throttle up a little to start it for safety. Once the stick is thrown even a little it takes up on its own, I asked my son to go a little over half way in case that something went wrong and I had to take manual control. A little over half way would guarantee that it’s still ascending and not crashing to earth. It is fully autonomous. 2) Its not 100% LEGOs. Well no, it not at all, and if you read the description on the YouTube you see I stated 100% LEGO Frame, that’s all. Mainly wanted to build a cheap strong frame with my kids. And I did and it was fun. 3) I used a CAD....um no, its LDD, LEGO Digital Designer, I guess its a kiddie CAD made by LEGO but its not AutoCad and actually the kids use it more than me. My son’s involvement was 100% build and about 100% helping with design of frame. Also oldest helped configure waypoints and flight plan. This is the autopilot system I used http://store.diydrones.com/APM_2_5_Assembled_p/br-apmpwrkt.htm [diydrones.com] You can get LDD here http://ldd.lego.com/ [lego.com] Hope this helps the confusion.

The reason why we used the Lego Digital Designer (LDD) was used was to teach my kids how to use a CAD. Remember this is a Kiddie Cad and these are 7-11 year olds. I am actually an AutoCad registered developer and I wanted to teach my kids some things. The LDD also lets us order the exact right amount of bricks and colors, it also creates an excel spread sheet. The kids learned a lot even what excel can do on a basic level/ People please look at this from a kids learning perspective not an adult, this project was never meant for a 35 year old. It was to teach my kids a new technology and an introduction from start to finish in robotics and flight. Again, it is 100% autonomous.

Hi everyone, I am the dad in the video, I want to clear a couple things. !) It’s just an RC plane (Jonathan) Yes, in the beginning it 100% WAS but its not now, well more of a UAV than simple RC because of the FPV. Then about mid way we added the Arducoptor controller. Uploaded waypoints and it flew 100% on its own using a Mediatech GPS through 3 waypoints and back home so yes it’s a true drone now. It also can land on its own but right now it’s such a hard landing it broke the legs that’s why you see the blue tape in the back of one of the legs. It does take off on its own, but you must throw the throttle up a little to start it for safety. Once the stick is thrown even a little it takes up on its own, I asked my son to go a little over half way in case that something went wrong and I had to take manual control. A little over half way would guarantee that it’s still ascending and not crashing to earth. It is fully autonomous. 2) Its not 100% LEGOs. Well no, it not at all, and if you read the description on the YouTube you see I stated 100% LEGO Frame, that’s all. Mainly wanted to build a cheap strong frame with my kids. And I did and it was fun. 3) I used a CAD....um no, its LDD, LEGO Digital Designer, I guess its a kiddie CAD made by LEGO but its not AutoCad and actually the kids use it more than me. My son’s involvement was 100% build and about 100% helping with design of frame. Also oldest helped configure waypoints and flight plan. This is the autopilot system I used http://store.diydrones.com/APM_2_5_Assembled_p/br-apmpwrkt.htm You can get LDD here http://ldd.lego.com/ Hope this helps the confusion.