The CoaX Micro-helicopter: A Flying Platform for Education and Research

CoaX is a micro-helicopter designed for the research and education markets by Skybotix AG in Switzerland. It is a unique robotic coaxial helicopter equipped with state of the art sensors and processors: an integrated Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), a pressure sensor, a down-looking sonar, three side looking range sensors and a color camera. To communicate with a ground station, the robot has a Bluetooth (or XBee) module and an optional WiFi module. Additionally, the CoaX supports the Overo series of tiny computers from Gumstix and is ready to fly out of the box with a set of attitude and altitude control functions. One can also control the system through an open-source API to give high-level commands for taking-off, landing or any other type of motion. In addition to presenting the CoaX, this paper reports on three experiments conducted to demonstrate the system’s motto: “simple to fly, simple to program, simple to extend”.