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Projects<br />
All the brains for the<br />
quadcopter are here – the Pi<br />
Zero and the custom PCBs<br />
SHOWCASE<br />
ANDY BAKER<br />
A networking software engineer, Andy<br />
is also the co-founder of the Cotswold<br />
Raspberry Jam.<br />
pistuffing.co.uk<br />
The drone is powered by four<br />
motors that are completely<br />
controlled by the software,<br />
not just turned on or off<br />
A wireless dongle allows<br />
the whole setup to be<br />
controlled remotely from<br />
a computer or phone<br />
Quick<br />
Facts<br />
ZOE THE <strong>ZERO</strong><br />
> Andy claims it’s<br />
taken him three<br />
years so far<br />
> An older<br />
version<br />
appeared in<br />
The MagPi #19<br />
> It couldn’t<br />
actually fly<br />
for the cover<br />
image, though<br />
> Raspbian<br />
Jessie fixed<br />
a number of<br />
programming<br />
errors<br />
> It’s only his<br />
second Pi<br />
project<br />
The first in what will more than likely be a swarm of Pi Zero-powered<br />
drones, Zoe the Zero is the continuation of a long-held dream<br />
W<br />
hen we were planning<br />
issue 40 of The MagPi with<br />
its cover-mounted Pi Zero,<br />
we had a big brainstorm about the<br />
kind of projects we could do for<br />
features, and maybe also as future<br />
covers. One thing that we noted<br />
was that the Pi Zero could be great<br />
for powering quadcopters and<br />
other drones. In just over a month<br />
since the issue hit shelves, Andy<br />
Baker managed to start the trend<br />
and create his own drone.<br />
“I completed my first Pi project<br />
(a wheeled ‘Turtle’ robot) in<br />
December 2012,” Andy tells us. “I<br />
wanted to move on to something<br />
that was a real challenge, and<br />
quadcopters were just starting<br />
to appear commercially. I was<br />
completely ignorant of how they<br />
worked, so I wanted to fill that<br />
gap in my understanding and have<br />
some fun at the same time.”<br />
Andy has spent the last few<br />
years building, testing, and<br />
experimenting to create his very<br />
own quadcopter from scratch: “I<br />
haven’t finished yet, primarily<br />
because I actually wanted to<br />
work it out all by myself, without<br />
borrowing anyone else’s code<br />
or guidance. There was a lot of<br />
experimentation and learning<br />
involved, including a lot of wasted<br />
time taking the wrong direction<br />
and backing up when I hit a<br />
metaphorical brick wall - or, more<br />
precisely, when I couldn’t stop<br />
36 February 2016<br />
raspberrypi.org/magpi
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