Kiderwind

[marc]

We initially planned it from the 22nd to the 27th of September but as it is quite hard to find human resources we propose to postpone it during the Lote4 hackathon.

For the past couple of months we’ve been working with Francesco Musico at unMonastery to assist in the project development of KIDERWIND, an open-source project which aims to harness the wind at high altitude in order to generate power. As part of a new strand of sustainable energy technologies, it is part of the Airborne Wind Energy (or High Altitude Wind Power) which harnesses the kinetic energy of high winds.

We’re now ready to begin developing the first iteration of the project so we’re launching a Hackathon in Matera to do just that, the objective of this hackathon is to develop a prototype of the KIDERWIND project.

We’re looking for Arduino / Drone software experts who would be interested in visiting Matera and working with us for a week on an open source project aimed at making a significant contribution to the global appropriate technology movement, and ensuring that sustainable energy technologies remain open and accessible to all.

In order to better understand KIDERWIND please read the documentation and watch this video.

If you or someone you know is interested in joining us to work on KIDERWIND comment below or email: matera@unmonastery.org - please don’t hesitate to share this call for collaboration within your network.

Date: 2014-10-20 07:00:00 - 2014-10-22 16:00:00, Europe/Brussels Time.

[leo]

Date confusion

There are two events with the same name and overlapping date ranges. The more developed page seems to have had its dates amended (again) to now run from 2014-10-20 until 2014-10-26. These seem to me to be good dates.

I’m unsure which dates the hackathon will run on. Surely not just one day, as indicated above?

I suggest that we deprecate this page and coordinate the hackathon on the other page. Is there anyone who would prefer to do it differently, and if so, why?

[leo]

I can’t sign up for this event

Many other events have an “Attend” button, but I’m not seeing one for this event. Any idea why? And how to fix it?

[marc]

Event

Hi Leo,

Yes it is from the 20th to the 26th of October.

If you look at : /t/kiderwind/581 you don’t have the “attend button”?

[alberto]

Actually

Actually, @Leo and @Marc, we had a discussion with @Rémy in the hackathon team and decided that a week-long hackathon was unsustainable. We are now doing it as follows:

• 21-22: hackathon
• 23 logistics day. People who want to keep hacking can do so, but at the same time we'll be setting up the venue. 
• 23 around 17.00: LOTE4 main event starts
• 24-26 LOTE4 main event. 

That said, if you want a room to keep on hacking, let us know and we will see if we can accommodate you. As for the 20th, Marc’s got the key to the unMonastery, so you can definitely start one day earlier – but it will be “Harmonious” (supplied kitchen, space populated by unMonasterians etc.) only starting the 21st.

[leo]

I’m in favour of starting no later than the 20th

It takes time to get productive in a new project and to settle into working with a team.

I’m happy to cook for myself (I’m sure we can share it as a group) for the first couple of days. @Marc, are you happy for me and @cassm to arrive on Sunday 19th? We can’t expect to get much done on the day we travel.

[marc]

Content of Hackathon

Leo,

So just to make sure there is no misunderstanding, here is the state of Kiderwind:

• We started to build the ground station and the kite for the prototype.

We don’t have bought the Ardupilot as we first want to make sure it will fit. So the idea during this hackathon was essentially to study the Ardupilot software to see if we can adapt it to our needs.

Does it sound good for you?

[leo]

Perhaps we can go further

Thank you for being clear about the current status.

As a reasonable minimum, I think your target is OK. I’d be glad to do that. But if we can achieve more, then that would be even better, right? 

I’d love to see the kite fly under autonomous control by the end of the 23rd. I haven’t reviewed the technical details of the project yet, so I don’t know how feasible that is. It seems like a productive optimisation to move as much of the code survey as possible into the pre-hack preparation phase - we can do it remotely - and then come together to build hardware and cut code. IMHO, being together will be the biggest advantage when we’re actually making something.

How does that sound to you?

If we get far enough with the code survey soon enough, and the result is positive, then we could order an ardupilot and be able to use it during the hackathon.

Is the question about whether the hardware will physically fit, or whether the software is suitable to be modified to control kiderwind?

[marc]

I would love it but…

You’re right @Leo I understand your enthusiasm but:

• Although the Hardware part has begun I'm not sure it will be totally ready. I will ask @francesco210173.
• For the Ardupilot we have to remove all the unnecessary parts and then implement the algorithm - and I can tell you it can take time.
• To order an Ardupilot and get it here in Italy it can take several weeks...

I’m very sorry not to have a more exciting challenge but I prefer to be pragmatic and objective.

Frankly speaking I would be very happy if the 23rd we would have done all what I mentioned above…

Don’t hesitate to let me know what you think…

[leo]

Correct: no button

That’s right. I saw no “attend” button on the page itself, and now I see no “cancel” button, unlike on /t/kiderwind/581-hackathon-25th-30th-of-august-2014-in-matera-italy-0. The buttons are also missing for me for this event on /t/harmonious-hackathon/587.

I guess it’s a website bug. Not a problem for me, since I found another route to attend (https://edgeryders.eu/hackathon), but probably worth recording. What’s the procedure for reporting website bugs?

[alberto]

How to report bugs

As for the reason, see this comment. The procedure to report bugs is: navigate to the Dev group home page and click on “Create a task”. Edgeryders runs an issue tracking module that takes care of these things. Thanks!

[leo]

Done it

I found an attend link via the hackathons page.

[alberto]

Yes

The Attend button disappeared because apparently someone panelized this page. Bad move – no need for it. I can probably restore it, but it will take a while.

[baptiste_labat]

Venue

Hi all,

I am still interesting by this hackaton, but I do not want to travel if it does not worth it (Flights 250€+ train 100€ + buses), . But I think the critical mass is going to be reached this time.

I am as well a bit confused because there are differents threads about the subject, and I only recently found this one (and previous comments from the previous planned session have disappeared).

I have started looking more in details about the APM, and I am still hesitating about buying hardware parts (http://www.drotek.fr/shop/fr/home/494-controleur-de-vol-dropix.html) for my own project (https://github.com/baptistelabat/robokite).

As far as I am concerned, I think being able to radiocommand the glider would be already a nice first step which could validate the hardware. Then we can add the pixhawk hardware (or derivatives) just to get some sensor and actuator feedback logs.

Another (parallel) approach would be to see if we can adapt the software in the loop simulation from a plane to a glider (we need either to modify JSBsim or to integrate an other simulator as freeKiteSim).

Is there more information shared about the current hardware?

++

Baptiste

[marc]

Hi Baptiste,

Sorry for the confusion we made… But as the Kiderwind hackathon takes place along with other events, the original event was moved to a common one.

Anyway by mid October we should have a ground station and the glyder / kite ready. But we won’t have the Ardupilot because we want to validate first it fits to our needs before buying it. So the hackathon will focus on this part essentially. Effectively to do “only” I understand that this may be a little bit expensive for you, but of course you are welcome. @Leo will join us to work on this part. You’re idea of using a flight simulator is excellent.

In any case we will publish the results here.

[baptiste_labat]

Arrival

I will arrive on the 19th as well. Do I have to do anything else for the registration? Is there like a guide to read before coming?

Looking forward meeting other hackers!

++

Baptiste

[marc]

Hi Baptiste,

How long do you plan to stay?

Where will you sleep?

For the guide do you mean for Lote4 or for Kiderwind?

See you!

[baptiste_labat]

I have no return yet… I am planning to stay as long as possible, but was not planning so far to take part in Lote4.

I naively thought there were some accomodations (like dormitory) in the unMonastery. For the guide, I was thinking about this kind of things…

Browsing the lote4 pages, I understand that there is no, maybe because many people are coming.

I saw that Natalia Skoczylas is proposing to help to book some beds https://edgeryders.eu/en/comment/14371#comment-14371

But maybe it is best if I we are all in the same place?

[marc]

I’m looking if it would be possible for you to stay at the unMonastery before Lote4. I’ll keep you updated!

[marc]

Hackathon planning on the 20th

Hi all,

As four days won’t be too much for our work I’d like to start quite early the 20th so that we can organize the week.

I propose to have a meeting the 20th at 8.00 AM at the unMonastery in Matera.

@leo @baptiste-labat @francesco210173, what do you think?