Autonomous Flight Indoors

[McCormick]

Anyone had any success using something like droneblocks or another app to program an indoor flight with the mavic pro?

 

[BD0G]

Indoor flight is risky at best. Prop Guards and wide open warehouse space would be a good idea if you must fly indoors.

Be prepared for the Mavic to switch into ATTI mode and then possibly back into P Mode if it gets a hint of any GPS satellite reception.

 

[Former Member]

To me, "autonomous" and "indoors" are mutually exclusive.

 

[McCormick]

It would be flying in an arena but with large groups of people present, this may not be my best bet. I'm trying to figure out a way to have a group of kids program a drone using code and then be able to stream their video while their drone executes their mission. I've been trying to use the Tello but I can't get video feed and the code program to run at the same time. I know with droneblocks on the Mavicpro it will show the live feed. Basically trying to get the kids to code the drone to fly a grid pattern and look for candy that's hidden on the ground, demonstrating how drones can be used to find items.

 

[Jackcutrone]

Kids programming an autonomous flight in an area with lots of people present sounds like a recipe for disaster as much as I appreciate the thought behind it.

 

[dan.utinske]

If you're in the US be very cautious about flying over the crowd.. it's a very hefty fine if you're no able to keep sufficient clearance..

 

[McCormick]

True... looks like I might need to punt with my lesson idea. Just trying to come up with an interactive real-world approach to teaching kids about drones vs just watching someone fly them.

 

[Jackcutrone]

True... looks like I might need to punt with my lesson idea. Just trying to come up with an interactive real-world approach to teaching kids about drones vs just watching someone fly them.

My RC club puts up a display every year at an air show at a local airport. The most popular thing with the kids are a couple of simulators we set up. I’ve never used DJIs simulator but that might be s thought.

 

[Meta4]

It would be flying in an arena but with large groups of people present, this may not be my best bet. I'm trying to figure out a way to have a group of kids program a drone using code and then be able to stream their video while their drone executes their mission. I've been trying to use the Tello but I can't get video feed and the code program to run at the same time. I know with droneblocks on the Mavicpro it will show the live feed. Basically trying to get the kids to code the drone to fly a grid pattern and look for candy that's hidden on the ground, demonstrating how drones can be used to find items.

No-one has spelt it out to you.
For autonomous flight you would need good GPS reception, something that's typically not going to be found indoors.

 

[dan.utinske]

True... looks like I might need to punt with my lesson idea. Just trying to come up with an interactive real-world approach to teaching kids about drones vs just watching someone fly them.

If you have a Spark it would probably be better because you can use only your hands to control it which keeps it close to you without overflying anyone. If you put it in Tripod mode it works even better indoors - slows things down really slow. Kids would be marveled at how you control it using only your hands, kind of Star Wars stuff!!

 

[dan.utinske]

No-one has spelt it out to you.
For autonomous flight you would need good GPS reception, something that's typically not going to be found indoors.

Use the Spark - Essential Tips for Flying Spark Indoors - DJI Guides

 

[Meta4]

Use the Spark - Essential Tips for Flying Spark Indoors - DJI Guides

He wasn't asking about flying indoors.
He was asking about autonomous flight indoors.
The piece you referred to has nothing about that.

 

[McCormick]

I might be able to borrow a classroom set of google expedition vr goggles. Would there be a way to record an outdoor flight and then save it for viewing through that?

I was told I needed to come up with an interactive lesson to show middle school kids how drones are used in forestry to detect invasive species. I only have 20-25 min for the lesson and have to do it 5 times in a row and it's gotta be inside the arena.

My initial thought was to make a fake forest out of pvc and let the kids code a tello using droneblocks or tello edu app to fly a grid over said fake forest. I was going to hide candy or something small in the "forest" to represent the invasive species. The biggest downfall with that idea is there's no access to the camera for the kids to be able to see video of it flying/detecting the invasives. I tried droneblocks with the mavic outdoors to practice and gained control of the camera but had reliability issues. Like y'all, I wouldn't really want the liability of it unless there was a way to minimize the risks.

The drones I currently have are Phantom 3 4k, Mavic Pro and Tello.