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No "Follow Me" mode... bummer!

floyd

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I'm sure many folks are saying, "I'd buy one if only it had..." I've read many legitimate comments related to what the Mini is missing as far as features or specifications are concerned (more sensors, OcuSync, 4K video, RAW files, more video exposure control, etc.) While the flight modes the Mini has are nice, why no "Follow Me" mode? Is it just me, or is "Follow Me" one of the main reasons novice (even professional) drone owners want a drone? Sure, there aren't the sensors to prevent crashes should the Mini follow me into a grove of trees, but that argument could be used with the flight modes that are already offered on the Mini.

Any chance DJI will add "Follow Me' in subsequent firmware updates? I'd be fine with them taking out "Helix" and adding "Follow Me." What do you guys and gals think? Add "Follow Me" or you're good with the flight modes currently included?
 
you just answered your own question with the statement no sensors to prevent a crash something that is very useful in follow me mode the three flight modes that you mentioned are more the just for fun type and are a novelty
 
you just answered your own question with the statement no sensors to prevent a crash something that is very useful in follow me mode the three flight modes that you mentioned are more the just for fun type and are a novelty
I would argue all flight modes on drones are novelty and just for fun. Sensors are beneficial to any flight mode, including the flight modes already incorporated in the Mini. So if DJI felt pilots could live without sensors on those flight modes why not incorporate "Follow Me" and nix "Orbit" or "Helix" since they're essentially the same thing?

That argument aside, has DJI ever been known to add flight modes to any of their drones in subsequent firmware updates?
 
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I'm sure many folks are saying, "I'd buy one if only it had..." I've read many legitimate comments related to what the Mini is missing as far as features or specifications are concerned (more sensors, OcuSync, 4K video, RAW files, more video exposure control, etc.) While the flight modes the Mini has are nice, why no "Follow Me" mode? Is it just me, or is "Follow Me" one of the main reasons novice (even professional) drone owners want a drone? Sure, there aren't the sensors to prevent crashes should the Mini follow me into a grove of trees, but that argument could be used with the flight modes that are already offered on the Mini.

Any chance DJI will add "Follow Me' in subsequent firmware updates? I'd be fine with them taking out "Helix" and adding "Follow Me." What do you guys and gals think? Add "Follow Me" or you're good with the flight modes currently included?

The consensus seems to be that DJI has had to omit certain features to keep the Mavic Mini's weight under 250g but marketing is also a crucial factor. They need to ensure that sales of the Mavic Air are not adversely impacted and I would think that leaving out "Active Track" is indeed a result of a marketing decision.

In terms of future developments the whole thing is a moving target. How long will the 250g thing remain any sort of advantage? The FAA has already indicated that it is taking a "wait and see" approach and is not ruling out a change to its "weight" related regulations in the future. Airspace regulators in other jurisdictions are no doubt following suit to one degree or another.

A scenario in which the Mavic Mini evolves into something boasting more advanced features along with associated additional weight, and the Mavic Air being discontinued, is not as far fetched as it sounds right now. Furthermore DJI is always watching the competition (e.g. Skydio) like a hawk and factoring that dimension into the mix.
 
The reason there is no follow mode is because there is know obstacle avoidance, to many would let it follow and then crash .
On a side note when it circles you it is following you so all technology is there .
When it circles you can you set it to do multiple circles , if so set it to circle you ten times and walk
 
The reason there is no follow mode is because there is know obstacle avoidance, to many would let it follow and then crash .

I think its more a marketing thing. They want to sell their bigger drones.
SPARK had obstacle avoidance only to the front, but I could let her follow me from the side. So while SPARK was following me and looking at me, the SPARK flew to the side where there is also no obstacle avoidance.
SPARK could even do a follow you while flying backwards. There is also no obstacle avoidance on the back side of the SPARK.

An as the quick-modes on the MM prove, it is capable of tracking people.

So to me its a marketing decision, nothing else.
 
On a side note when it circles you it is following you so all technology is there .
When it circles you can you set it to do multiple circles , if so set it to circle you ten times and walk
Ahh... good idea! I didn't know the Mini would follow as it circles.
 
Definitely a marketing plan. If you give the mavic mini too many features then it's going to become a much better deal for the price than the mavic air, which then of course would kill the mavic air and they wouldn't be able to sell any of them. They have to keep it where you'll still want to pay the extra to get the air if you want those particular features.
 
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There's plenty the air would have that MM can't. Possibly no active track due to no OA. Even on M1, AT uses OA and marketed as such.
 
The consensus seems to be that DJI has had to omit certain features to keep the Mavic Mini's weight under 250g but marketing is also a crucial factor. They need to ensure that sales of the Mavic Air are not adversely impacted and I would think that leaving out "Active Track" is indeed a result of a marketing decision.

In terms of future developments the whole thing is a moving target. How long will the 250g thing remain any sort of advantage? The FAA has already indicated that it is taking a "wait and see" approach and is not ruling out a change to its "weight" related regulations in the future. Airspace regulators in other jurisdictions are no doubt following suit to one degree or another.

A scenario in which the Mavic Mini evolves into something boasting more advanced features along with associated additional weight, and the Mavic Air being discontinued, is not as far fetched as it sounds right now. Furthermore DJI is always watching the competition (e.g. Skydio) like a hawk and factoring that dimension into the mix.
Here in the UK come July 2020 MM owners will have to register their drones due to it having a camera (data capture device), it’s a European directive that is going to be adopted as I understand it.
 
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The reason there is no follow mode is because there is know obstacle avoidance, to many would let it follow and then crash .
On a side note when it circles you it is following you so all technology is there .
When it circles you can you set it to do multiple circles , if so set it to circle you ten times and walk
Hi, how do you set multiple circles? I tried this while on a mountain bike (slow speed) today and it lost me and hovered
 
Here in the UK come July 2020 MM owners will have to register their drones due to it having a camera (data capture device), it’s a European directive that is going to be adopted as I understand it.

So there you have it. Already the benefits, dubious as they may be in most jurisdictions, of owning a sub-250-gram drone are being nullified. The FAA is taking a "wait and see" stance and has not ruled out changing the regulations pertaining to maximum drone take-off weight.

DJI's future direction will involve the Mini taking on more features/capabilities (and of course additional weight) and the Air being discontinued.
 
I would argue all flight modes on drones are novelty and just for fun. Sensors are beneficial to any flight mode, including the flight modes already incorporated in the Mini. So if DJI felt pilots could live without sensors on those flight modes why not incorporate "Follow Me" and nix "Orbit" or "Helix" since they're essentially the same thing?

That argument aside, has DJI ever been known to add flight modes to any of their drones in subsequent firmware updates?
The answer is in the hardware. The Ambarella H22 is a powerful image processor SOC however it doesn’t have the computer vision capabilities of the Movidius SOC that is the enabler of these features in other DJI products. It could be done using software on the display advice (built into the flybapp) however if we look at those implementations (litchi provided it on the phantom 3) it didn’t work very well.
 
The answer is in the hardware. The Ambarella H22 is a powerful image processor SOC however it doesn’t have the computer vision capabilities of the Movidius SOC that is the enabler of these features in other DJI products. It could be done using software on the display advice (built into the flybapp) however if we look at those implementations (litchi provided it on the phantom 3) it didn’t work very well.
So why the other included Flight modes are capable to track you?
 
Try walking around and see how it goes keeping you in frame. You can get to a certain point without dedicated computer vision hardware.

I have found that, at least on the Mavic Pro, Active Track is the only mode that will reliably follow the intended subject. All of the others such as Helix etc will not successfully follow a moving target most of the time.
 
I have found that, at least on the Mavic Pro, Active Track is the only mode that will reliably follow the intended subject. All of the others such as Helix etc will not successfully follow a moving target most of the time.
That might be so. The Mavic Pro employs the movidius Myriad SOC so it should be significantly better than the mini at any computer vision reliant task.
 
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So there you have it. Already the benefits, dubious as they may be in most jurisdictions, of owning a sub-250-gram drone are being nullified. The FAA is taking a "wait and see" stance and has not ruled out changing the regulations pertaining to maximum drone take-off weight.

Quite likely.
If other manufacturers start making high selling sub 250g drones, GOVCOs will just drop the limit to sub 200g . . . like dropping perfectly good 60km/hr speed limits to 50km/hr.

Is there a rule of thumb on how close you need to be to a tracked subject for best results?

It's as much about size of object, and contrast to the ground really.
A good trackable target.
 
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It's funny. We used Active Track on someone with my M2 during our workshop. It lost track of him when he went behind a building. He insisted he saw the M2 the whole time. So we showed the video showing it wasn't possible he saw it the whole time.
 

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