Flybrix Code - What's Under the Hood?

Ahhh. It feels really good to share fresh, new open source flight controller and Google Chrome App Configurator code for Flybrix!

This software is a big part of how we see Flybrix being different than many other robotics, maker or Arduino style kits currently on the market. How? You may be asking...

On one hand, we see a number of kits that come as a box with an array of hardware bits and pieces: wires, boards, connectors, batteries etc. that build... whatever. The idea is that using the raw materials, people then go out and find the code they're looking for to execute their projects. Don't get us wrong. We love these types of kits. However, we also realize they appeal to a certain type of maker, or tinkerer. Not everyone is ready or capable of jumping in head on to this type of experience.

On the other hand, there are loads of kits on the market that can barely call themselves kits without getting a snicker or two. Those products can be fun, but they get old because they lack in depth of experience.

With this range in mind, we decided to try and hit that sweet spot where our kit is easy to use for beginners yet span to experts alike. The newbie experience is fun and engaging for anyone, yet it has enough complexity to accommodate experts and enthusiasts. By opening up the code, anyone can start at their current experience level and take it as far as their imagination and ability can go. It would be so cool to see beginners becoming intermediates then advanced users without "outgrowing" Flybrix.

So, back to the code. It's an early release of the software we've been working on for the last few weeks. Admittedly, it's rough around the edges, but that will change quickly. We took our favorite ideas from multiwii and cleanflight and ended up rewriting nearly every line of code. After a lot of back and forth over whether angular might be a better fit, we wrote our configuration utility in javascript/jquery. Our concern was that it would probably get messy to wrap all of our flot charts and graphs in directives.

As we continue to work on the software, we're on the mission to create an awesome maker experience in aerial robotics. Our goal is to deliver a polished experience within a few versions of the software.

Today the code is about all the data that can be input, adjusted and visualized from the flight control board when motors are adjusted, new airframe configurations are tried, and flight performance is tweaked. We can't wait to see what people can do with the options and their imaginations to make this product an engaging, fun experience as it matures.

We invite you to introduce yourself and get involved on our user forum