What is Black Sky Robotics?

The plan is to send a robot to near-space, attached to a helium balloon. Others have done this before, and have taken cameras up there, done science experiments, etc., and then typically the folks doing this have to retrieve the balloon capsule when it lands - wherever it is. Fairly low tech, and it works fine.

• However, I wanted to go one better. BlackSkyRobotics.com ("BSR") is really mission control for the balloon and capsule, and the capsule is more like a junior satellite, with an android phone as "brain" and an IOIO or similar as the robot to control a secondary GPS unit (the one on my Android phone dies above 60,000 feet) and other sensors. Once this is properly set up, BSR will be able to:
• • Measure lots of stuff - interior, exterior temperature, pressure, battery level etc.
  • Track the balloon's progress live on a Google map
  • Send logging data wirelessly - viewable almost live on BSR
  • Take photos and videos at predetermined intervals or altitudes, shrink them and FTP them wirelessly
  • Do a few things - there are servos up there for releasing things
  • Be controllable by Google Cloud Messaging - think of this as a remote control for when the phone has a data connection
• Finally, not only will the BSR site be able to show progress on a map, it will automatically arrange a photo gallery when the photos are FTPed in, and it has a "mission control" like stats panel to show it anything's too cold, out of batteries, there are FTP failures etc...

Yes, this is a junior satellite, but then it's going to be fun. More updates later as I build this.