Has anyone tried to retrieve a drone with your drone?

[CaptJim]

A friend of mine had his little drone land (crash) on the top of a neighbor's roof. I tried to retreve it with my Mavic Pro Platinum. I tied some fishline to the bottom rear support bracket of my drone and ran it forward underneath to in front of the two front arms close to the body and over the front of the body taping it there. From the middle of the drone underbelly I dropped a line about a meter (3 ft) downfrom the afore mentioned lines to a sturdy wire that had been made into a hook. It flew well except that the line was too thin and the down draft from the rotors caused it to swing quite a bit. On the second try to capture his drone the monofiliment lne got caught in one roter and down she went, but it's ok except for having to replace a blade set. Next time, if there is a next time I'm going to put some weight just above the hook to keep it more stable when flying. Does anyone know of a setup that would work better? Perhaps an addition that would better secure the line on the drone?

 

[Mossiback]

You could probably find examples on YouTube. Most end badly. Either the line or hook gets caught or tangled, the weight is unbalanced or too great, or the rescue drone hits the same obstacle and then needs rescue itself. If you want to try, you need a weighted line to not repeat your entanglement and I suggest a release device, could be simple as a clothespin, that will allow your escape if the hook gets caught on the obstacle.

There is a device called the Mantis Claw, but by the time you got one the drone in need of rescue will probably suffer too much weather damage to be useful.

 

[Possums]

A friend of mine had his little drone land (crash) on the top of a neighbor's roof. I tried to retreve it with my Mavic Pro Platinum. I tied some fishline to the bottom rear support bracket of my drone and ran it forward underneath to in front of the two front arms close to the body and over the front of the body taping it there. From the middle of the drone underbelly I dropped a line about a meter (3 ft) downfrom the afore mentioned lines to a sturdy wire that had been made into a hook. It flew well except that the line was too thin and the down draft from the rotors caused it to swing quite a bit. On the second try to capture his drone the monofiliment lne got caught in one roter and down she went, but it's ok except for having to replace a blade set. Next time, if there is a next time I'm going to put some weight just above the hook to keep it more stable when flying. Does anyone know of a setup that would work better? Perhaps an addition that would better secure the line on the drone?

Here's an attempt (dropbox) Dropbox - Mavics to the rescue.mp4

 

[CaptJim]

Thank you both for your replies and guidance. I appreciate it.

 

[MichiganMavic]

I just ordered a cheap Mantis claw setup from EBay. Definitely not expecting much for $10.... , but it might be better than nothing

 

[Grantt]

I saw this video a while ago. Possible, but high risk.

 

[mel.m]

I saw this video a while ago. Possible, but high risk.

Maybe a ladder?

 

[ehenderson410]

I’ve got a mantis claw mini....I used it on my mavic to rescue my inductrix off of a roof

 

[Sheppie]

Here's an attempt (dropbox) Dropbox - Mavics to the rescue.mp4

I think that a ladder would have been a much better option.

 

[CaptJim]

As it turned out my friend did use the ladder of the house it landed on and retrieved his drone by hand. I was just trying to see if my Mavic Pro would be able to retrieve it instead. It was fun trying even though it crashed my drone (no harm done except to a couple of blades). I think the combination of The Claw and a quick release system would be a better idea. Thank you all for your comments. This group is FANTASTIC.