[OT] suggestions for a programmable drone on a budget?

[Adam D. Ruppe via Digitalmars-d]

On Wednesday, 19 November 2014 at 20:26:01 UTC, Dmitry Olshansky 
wrote:
> Yeah, be prepared to find good big chamber for it. 3 meters 
> tall at least. No ropes or other stuff dangling around! Also 
> catching the thing may prove real hard, so soft floors would be 
> awesome.

Hmm, yeah, perhaps we can put mats down on the gym floor too. The 
alternative for a wide open space would be going outside, and 
then even a small wind can mess up these light aircraft so I want 
to keep it inside.

> You could start with some existing flight controller + chassis. 
> The combo is usually notoriously hard to tune, especially for 
> the first time. A good starting option would be to buy a ready 
> to use kit and play with it.
>
> *snip*

Thanks, this is a huge help!

> As for budget the recipe goes - you either spend some more 
> money or some more time. Overall it's not too costly if you 
> don't go fancy with sensors, cameras and other cool extras.

Indeed. It is looking a lot better than I thought it would 
though, I expected to be in for several hundred US dollars just 
to get started! These much lower prices are a relief.