OpenIoT & ELC Europe 2016

Drones are very enticing: they allow to see own programs interact with the physical world.
Beginners usually get attracted by this, but the task can be daunting.

Many tutorials are available, however they either require significant investment in equipment, tools and time, or they lead to building something that is little more than a toy.

This tutorial wants to strike a balance, showing how to design a platform for experimentation, where one can gradually build new functionality and upgrade existing components, yet having some immediate reward from the endeavour.

Key steps explained: defining requirements, sketching an architecture, choosing HW and SW components, debugging and validating the work done.

The experience should be challenging but not frustrating, spiking interest in side topics (ex: motors, electronics, radios) and could be used in a training course on robotics.