Interview with Mu Chen from Eachine (5 + Int)

I had the opportunity to interview Mu Chen from Eachine. Eachine is a company that is powering the Tiny Whoop craze, providing incredibly fast brushed motors and electronics to consumers. Most notably, they created a pair of ready to use FPV goggles that are 1/10th of the price of the previously used fatshark goggles that used to be popular. This huge price drop is what made the hobby accessible to so many people. They also are the company that has graciously sponsored my project and provided me with free parts that allowed me to whoop.

Mu currently works in the motor engineering division of Eachine, creating incredibly powerful and lightweight brushed motors. He also has had a hand in the development of products like the QX90 airframe and the EV800 goggles that I have been flying with during my project.

I spoke to Mr. Chen via a Skype voice call, which was no easy feat. He is currently in Hong Kong which is a full 12 hours ahead of us. I had to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to be able to call him at 5:45am our time, the only time he was available. We has a good conversation regarding the future of Tiny Whoop as a competitive, the technical innovations he has worked on, and how I can prepare for the HUGE changes that are coming to the hobby.

According to Mu, tiny whooping events have popped up all over both the US and Asia, with people being able to fly with large groups of like-minded pilots and compete for prizes. He predicts that racing events will continue to spread and bring new people into the hobby. He also said that Eachine will be sponsoring racing events and providing prizes to be sure that tiny whooping, especially on their popular E010 and QX90 platforms.

As for the future of racing technology, Mu Chen says more powerful batteries, like the LiFe batteries I talked about before, are going to become available. These newer batteries will have higher C (Discharge relative to capacity) ratings making punchouts and quick, agile movements more effective. Most importantly, it will INCREASE the maximum angle of bank for quads because they will be able to come out of turns easier than without the extra power. This is going to be huge and prevent plenty of crashes.

To prepare for the future of flying, Mu Chen recommends practicing in a simulator where you can adjust the properties of the battery virtually. He also recommends investing in 2s 7.4v brushed equipment, as that is the direction he sees the hobby moving, away from the standard 1s 3.7 volt packs. Luckily most of the equipment I have can be converted simply by soldering pads together on the trace section of the PDB.

My conversation with Mu Chen taught me a lot about Tiny Whooping and gave me another reason to keep with the hobby, especially due to the radical changes it is soon to undergo.


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