Our Maker Faire project for 2012 was "The Viper" -- a motion controlled flight simulator inspired by the ship of the same name from the SyFy Channel's TV Series Battlestar Galactica.
For Maker Faire 2013 we're upgrading The Viper to include multi-player missions, real-time combat, and adopting the Diaspora freeware Battlestar Galactica game, along with a variety of hardward enhancements.
We also recently made our Design Documents from 2012 public. Download them here.
Here's a video of a complete flying mission.  Update May 21, 2012: We did it. We took a fully operational Viper for exhibition at Maker Faire this past weekend. See the progress page for more details, photos, and the last of the weekly video updates. Thanks to our corporate and Kickstarter backers, and to the Maker Faire crew. We couldn't have done it without all of you! Update May 11, 2012: This evening at around 9:30 we got all the major bugs fixed, so we had the first extended flight with correct movement of the motion platform! It bodes well for being ready for Maker Faire in a little over a week. Phew! Update April 29, 2012: A film crew from Discovery Channel Canada was here today in an attempt to capture on camera the first full systems test of the simulator. The first several tests failed (as in NOTHING happened), but after a few hours of debugging, replacing a few improperly sized resistors, The Viper flew for the first time! Watch the story. Update April 18, 2012: Our Kickstarter campaign is now closed. Thanks to the more than 380 backers that contributed more than $11,000 to the project. We are extremely grateful for your support. We look forward to meeting you at Maker Faire. Update April 9, 2012: First (limited) test of the motion platform under manual control We have a motion platform! See video update. Update April 4, 2012: We are thrilled with all of the attention the project has gotten recently. Everything from Gizmodo, Mashable, and the Make magazine blog, to Cnet, Yahoo News and the Huffington Post. You can google "battlestar galactica flight simulator" for the latest news. The basic idea is to mount the fuselage of a small plane (a Piper PA-28) on a motion control platform that is capable of 360 degree rotation around both the pitch and roll axes. The video above presents the basic design we're shooting for. This design allows for considerably more motion around the pitch axis than commercial entertainment systems, such as those found at the Smithsionian Air and Space museum. The cockpit interior will be Viper themed. See the Concept Art Page for a glimpse of the styling we're after. Latest Videos More videos on the Progress page. |
