Parallax and Hoverfly: Relationship and Future Plans!
Ken Gracey
Posts: 7,392
Hey there,
Our customers have asked repeatedly about our next step with Hoverfly Technologies, so I'm here to tell you about it!
Hoverfly Technologies is an important customer of Parallax. In fact, as they've moved into the higher end market they are poised for much greater success. When we work with Parallax Semiconductor customers like Hoverfly our primary concern is their success (not ours). We offer Field Application Engineering services, for example, and we pass the code to the customer. Recently, there was some mention on the forums about us cooperatively creating a very open multirotor board. That's not going to happen - the low-cost, open-source market is truly flooded with alternatives and there is no reason for us to add to that mixture. And most importantly, we want to respect the market our customer, Hoverfly. Few Parallax Semiconductor customers are as open as Hoverfly, so we have many marketing benefits of sharing their name and application without having our own, cooperatively-developed open-source multirotor control board.
This is what you can expect from us in the near future:
I'd like to challenge the perspective that lack of open firmware is a drawback to this application. The Hoverfly model is one of reliability, reputation, and ultimately product longevity. Competing in terms of cost is a dangerous path for many open-source suppliers, especially for something as complex and liability-oriented as a multirotor. Dealing with a company that has the revenue to provide professional support is important, especially when we are all responsible for complying with the FAA regulations for spotters, height, and visual recognition.
I'd also like to offer up that a Hoverfly platform is still fully expandable. The addition of First-Person View, paintball guns, egg droppers, camera control, or whatever else we wish to do with our craft remains our option. We've even flown using XBee and the Quantum Robotics Controller, using a Propeller with XBee in place of the R/C receiver. Experimenting with all of these technologies without opening firmware has certain benefits to consider, especially since each of these quadcopter additions represent their own mini research and development project. It's been two years and I'm still experimenting without modifying firmware. The Hoverfly customers have their hands full flying multirotors - nevermind messing with firmware.
I am super excited about having this clarified and look forward to showing more people the benefits of this system!
Sincerely,
Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
Our customers have asked repeatedly about our next step with Hoverfly Technologies, so I'm here to tell you about it!
Hoverfly Technologies is an important customer of Parallax. In fact, as they've moved into the higher end market they are poised for much greater success. When we work with Parallax Semiconductor customers like Hoverfly our primary concern is their success (not ours). We offer Field Application Engineering services, for example, and we pass the code to the customer. Recently, there was some mention on the forums about us cooperatively creating a very open multirotor board. That's not going to happen - the low-cost, open-source market is truly flooded with alternatives and there is no reason for us to add to that mixture. And most importantly, we want to respect the market our customer, Hoverfly. Few Parallax Semiconductor customers are as open as Hoverfly, so we have many marketing benefits of sharing their name and application without having our own, cooperatively-developed open-source multirotor control board.
This is what you can expect from us in the near future:
- Hoverfly is a successful showcase of the Parallax Propeller. Parallax will present Hoverfly as the successful customer application it has become, through our case studies, ELEV-8 hardware, and demonstrations of our multicore processor in their control system. We will use the Hoverfly brand everywhere, as their success is ours. And we recognize it as a very high quality and reliable product, necessary to fly multirotors sometimes exceeding thousands of dollars of cost with camera equipment.
- Hoverfly Pro, GPS and Open Boards will be available through Parallax. We will stock the key Hoverfly products and continue to make our own airframes.
- Parallax will continue production of the ELEV-8. This platform has proven popular due to low vibration, ease of repair, a sleek look, fair cost, etc.
- Parallax will introduce production of the ELEV-8 Super. You might be aware of the larger quadcopters we've been developing in the same style. The ELEV-8 Super won the 2013 Multirotor Challenge with a 15.2-lb payload. You will see this as a kit from Parallax. These large quadcopters have many significant advantages (stability, lifting capacity, visibility from afar, etc.).
- Our niche: we keep you in the air and provide support! Parallax excels in customer support. We understand the Hovercore system and how to put it into multirotors. Our staff flies the hardware and we can send you any part, quickly. Our airframes are totally open (physical access and files). We will show you that we provide the best support, service, and quality product.
I'd like to challenge the perspective that lack of open firmware is a drawback to this application. The Hoverfly model is one of reliability, reputation, and ultimately product longevity. Competing in terms of cost is a dangerous path for many open-source suppliers, especially for something as complex and liability-oriented as a multirotor. Dealing with a company that has the revenue to provide professional support is important, especially when we are all responsible for complying with the FAA regulations for spotters, height, and visual recognition.
I'd also like to offer up that a Hoverfly platform is still fully expandable. The addition of First-Person View, paintball guns, egg droppers, camera control, or whatever else we wish to do with our craft remains our option. We've even flown using XBee and the Quantum Robotics Controller, using a Propeller with XBee in place of the R/C receiver. Experimenting with all of these technologies without opening firmware has certain benefits to consider, especially since each of these quadcopter additions represent their own mini research and development project. It's been two years and I'm still experimenting without modifying firmware. The Hoverfly customers have their hands full flying multirotors - nevermind messing with firmware.
I am super excited about having this clarified and look forward to showing more people the benefits of this system!
Sincerely,
Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
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