Flying the Avata with head tracking on

[Dangerly]

It's super cool in theory: You can control what the camera is seeing by moving your head with Integra goggles head tracking on, and you can independently fly the drone in a different direction than you're looking using the Motion Controller 2. In practice I'm finding this pretty hard to master. I've practiced by flying up over trees focused on the trees, and then as I go above the trees I turn my head to look back at the trees while the drone continues to ascend. I'm finding it hard to keep my head steady, and also flying in a direction I can't see through the goggles doesn't feel safe.

Here's a practice video I took (goggles view) showing one of my tree practice sessions. I'd love to hear the experience of others who fly the Avata with head tracking on using the Motion Controller 2. Do you have any videos you could share showing off what you've done that highlights how you use head tracking?

 

[GFields]

No way I can do that. I have tried FPV and I get sick just flying regularly. I'm sure flying one way and looking in another direction would cause me issues lol. Good luck in mastering this techique

 

[mavic3usa]

Just like with the motion controller, it's gonna take some time and practice to get "head tracking" down. However, I've been able to only get it right with small head movements, looking here or there. Probably never going to be able to get it down perfectly mainly because the drone isn't built for it....have you found out the drone is wiggling and squirming and hesitating the more angle you start to look away? The drone needs a turret. Not a big fan of heading tracking on the FPV but try it on the Mini/Mavic (with sensors) and it feels alot smoother (and there's an indicator).

My biggest issue with the FPV is you eventually get lost and cannot get the travel back into alignment and you feel as if you are drifting. Then you have to stop and restart/realign...and it feels so much better. Check this out:

 

[3rdof5]

Flying FPV is definitely a different experience and takes a little getting used to but I find the MC2 and head tracking to be quite easy to fly. I'm not sure what some of you mean by getting out of alignment, I'm typically looking ahead of my flight path to where I want to go and steering the cursor (the direction of the aircraft) with the stick so as to keep it fairly center of the screen.
If you keep in mind that you are basically flying in "adaptive course lock" mode it becomes quite intuitive.

 

[Dangerly]

I'm not sure what some of you mean by getting out of alignment, I'm typically looking ahead of my flight path to where I want to go and steering the cursor (the direction of the aircraft) with the stick so as to keep it fairly center of the screen.

With head tracking enabled, you can look left while flying forward. Or in the little practice video I uploaded, you can see I'm flying up while looking down. In both cases, you can't see what's in "front" of the drone, by which I mean you can't see in the direction it's flying because the goggles are looking a different direction.

As far as things getting out of alignment, I've see that too but only when head tracking is enabled. What happens is that it becomes hard to get the little aiming circle in the center of the display to line up with the direction you're flying, especially if you want to look straight ahead. When that happens, the fix is to pause the drone mid-flight as that seems to align everything.

 

[3rdof5]

With head tracking enabled, you can look left while flying forward. Or in the little practice video I uploaded, you can see I'm flying up while looking down. In both cases, you can't see what's in "front" of the drone, by which I mean you can't see in the direction it's flying because the goggles are looking a different direction.

As far as things getting out of alignment, I've see that too but only when head tracking is enabled. What happens is that it becomes hard to get the little aiming circle in the center of the display to line up with the direction you're flying, especially if you want to look straight ahead. When that happens, the fix is to pause the drone mid-flight as that seems to align everything.

I'm fully aware of how head tracking works and yes you can look in any direction and fly in a different direction, but I'm normally looking in my direction of flight, hence if I'm flying upward, I'm looking upward and so on, and I'm flying more for the fun of the flight than for photography when I'm using my Goggles and stick, so I'm generallly quite focused on where I'm going, straight ahead.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Head tracking on the Avata will produce very different flight dynamics than on a Mavic 3 or Mini 3 because of the 3-axis gimbal. The Avata has to yaw to follow your head movements side to side changing the cross-section profile flying into the wind, while the other drones can just turn the camera gimbal.

Combined with the shorter moment arm of the props, the changing drag from yaw rotation, and the lack of camera stabilization head tracking is gonna look choppier.

 

[mavic3usa]

I'm fully aware of how head tracking works and yes you can look in any direction and fly in a different direction, but I'm normally looking in my direction of flight, hence if I'm flying upward, I'm looking upward and so on, and I'm flying more for the fun of the flight than for photography when I'm using my Goggles and stick, so I'm generallly quite focused on where I'm going, straight ahead.

.....I've see that too but only when head tracking is enabled. What happens is that it becomes hard to get the little aiming circle in the center of the display to line up with the direction you're flying, especially if you want to look straight ahead. When that happens, the fix is to pause the drone mid-flight as that seems to align everything.

@3rdof5 are you saying you never see this, as mentioned by Dangerly?

 

[3rdof5]

@3rdof5 are you saying you never see this, as mentioned by Dangerly?

No I have never had this issue.

 

[Torque]

I use the gridlines and center point when using head tracking. The center point works as the indicator to show the direction I'm looking, while the circle shows my direction of flight. If I get "lost" - which is frequently, lol, aligning the center point and circle on top of each other quickly gets me back on course.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Okay, rise from the dead, zombie thread!

Now that I have the Integra goggles and a Mini 4P in addition to the Avata, and some head-tracking experience, I'll update my opinion.

Not really a good feature for the Avata, primarily due to it's FPV genre and the type of flying done with typical FPV. Especially a ducted whoop like the Avata. Too fast, too much action, split-second reactions, etc. You just gotta be looking where you're going to fly effectively and safely.

Camera drones are a completely different proposition. At altitude well above everything, lazily flying around with little risk, the head-tracking is pretty cool, allowing for a lot easier visual exploration while flying along.

One thing I didn't expect was how exciting this was for my wife, while I flew well within controllable VLOS (which means 1000ft max distance for me). It's a great way to take someone out for an immersive flight experience... far more fun and interesting than being locked in to just looking where I'm pointing the drone. I flew with direct sight of the M4P, she was a passenger. Pretty slick!

 

[MARK (LI)]

And here I am still working up the courage to take my Avata out of the box still

 

[Torque]

And here I am still working up the courage to take my Avata out of the box still

Just do it! It is such a fun drone to fly! You will love it from your first flight.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Just do it! It is such a fun drone to fly! You will love it from your first flight.

Ditto!!! It's pretty tough and will survive a lot of abuse and crashing. It's easy to take apart, clean (think grass-cutting flight, 1-2 feet off the ground, 60mph across a field in manual... quite thrilling at 30mph in S with the MC2 as well!) and put back together. A lot can be fixed DIY if broken, parts available from DJI.

In short, the Avata is the bird to take risks with! It will survive lots of crashes you would totally freak out about with your camera drones.

Get out there with it today. Start easy... Fly it like one of your camera drones in N at first. Get used to how it feels. Do some stuff you'd never try with your Mini 4P (I think you have one), like slowly fly through a 2ft×2ft opening. Do it again and again faster and faster.

Have some FUN, Mark!!

 

[MARK (LI)]

Thank you for the encouragement ...I do appreciate it...and yes I do have a M4P...and look forward to some better weather at which time I will feel more confident with less wind and precipitation to try the Avata controls and goggle on it

 

[Dangerly]

Okay, rise from the dead, zombie thread!


One thing I didn't expect was how exciting this was for my wife, while I flew well within controllable VLOS (which means 1000ft max distance for me). It's a great way to take someone out for an immersive flight experience... far more fun and interesting than being locked in to just looking where I'm pointing the drone. I flew with direct sight of the M4P, she was a passenger. Pretty slick!

Something I do quite often for friends is fly the Avata up maybe 200 feet, well within VLOS, and then hand the Integra goggles to folks with head tracking turned on. I just keep the Avata parked in place while they look around. I've gone through a few batteries just doing this for folks. It's a pretty cool experience for someone who's never experienced head tracking goggles like VR etc. before.