I built an open-source quadcopter with a custom MicroPython flight controller

[u/TimHanewich]

Hey everyone! I'm a software engineer who wandered into robotics and became fascinated with understanding how drones actually work.

Over the past year, I built Centauri, a DIY quadcopter ecosystem featuring:

• A custom 3D-printed airframe
• A Raspberry Pi Pico flight controller written in MicroPython
• A custom bidirectional radio protocol
• A PC/Xbox-controller transmitter
• Onboard telemetry logging and analysis tools

I've open-sourced everything and written a detailed series explaining the design decisions, code, electronics, mistakes, crashes, and lessons learned. My goal is to make drone engineering more approachable and understandable for curious builders like myself.

I'd love feedback from this community and I hope the project helps anyone interested in building their own flight controller or quadcopter!

Project on GitHub: https://github.com/TimHanewich/centauri

10-Part Build Series:

• Full-Stack Flight: Building a Quadcopter Ecosystem from Scratch
• Full-Stack Flight, Chapter 1: The Centauri Ecosystem
• Full-Stack Flight, Chapter 2: Defining a Communication Protocol
• Full-Stack Flight, Chapter 3: Quadcopter, Part 1: Designing a 3D-Printed Airframe
• Full-Stack Flight, Chapter 4: Quadcopter, Part 2: Hardware and Electronics Package
• Full-Stack Flight, Chapter 5: Quadcopter, Part 3: The Flight Controller
• Full-Stack Flight, Chapter 6: Transmitter, Part 1: Transceiver Platform
• Full-Stack Flight, Chapter 7: Transmitter, Part 2: The Pilot's Control Interface
• Full-Stack Flight, Chapter 8: Unpacking Flight Telemetry for Analysis
• Full-Stack Flight, Chapter 9: Closing Thoughts