Precision flying indoors and the illogical results

[vindibona1]

I've been pretty much stuck inside for health reasons and the one weakness in my flying (among many) is flying close to stuff. So I figured I'd practice in my house, going from room to room, using the monitor, but staying close behind as well so I can respond quickly without lag. Without GPS is is an additional challenge from flying outdoors. But I experienced the strangest observation today...

One of the toughest places to fly in my home is down a long 3' hallway. The second hardest place is our narrow galley kitchen. There is sort of a loop here that goes from the living room, left turn to down the hall, another left into the kitchen, left again into the dining room, back to the living room. No GPS and the Mini 2 generates enough of its own turbulence to create additional challenges. Until today I've always tried to fly in the Cine mode and always bounced off of one wall or another- until a few moments ago. I've been testing stick response and thought it was a given that I should be in Cine mode.

But for fun and out of curiosity I wanted to see how the Mini 2 responded indoors in Sport mode. Sliding it into Sport mode, I did a few basic maneuvers in the living room where it's more open, to see how it behaved and responded. To my chagrin, amazement and amusement, the input/response between the Cine and Sport mode wasn't all that different! HOWEVER, when flying down the hallway, which has always been a problem, the Mini 2, IN SPORT MODE went at roughly the same speed as in Cine BUT WAS MUCH MORE STABLE and handled so much better!!!! It seems that I got a much more rapid and unpredictable response in these tight spaces in Cine mode! Obviously I wouldn't be able to go "hammer down" inside. But as I had to be very light on the sticks in Cine, I thought, "What the heck?".

Bottom line: Bizarre and unexpected. I never would have thought to try the Sport mode for more control when moving slowly in tight spaces.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

I seem to remember Cine is awkward in close quarters too. In Sports mode you have to be very very gentle, it's VERY hard to successfully recover from a panicy twitch of the sticks in Sports mode.

 

[Bodkin's Best Photography]

Regardless of the position of the switch, the drone ALWAYS starts in normal mode. You have to change it once you launch to enable either cine or sport.

 

[Gagey52]

Thanks for sharing the information mate, I’m strictly an outdoor flyer myself. The couple of times I’ve tried were dismal. Hope your health improves
Regards

 

[EyesWideShut]

For indoor flying I usually use P mode (Normal) with my Mini rather than Cine for it's better (faster) yaw response. Depending on the brightness, in darker areas like hallways my Mini sometimes needs the hall lights turned on so the bottom position sensor can hold course/position more accurately. From my livingroom chair I can go BVLOS and fly it down the stairs and into the basement. Was surprised I didn't lose the signal. Just make sure the RTH on signal loss is set to hover. Also I sometimes use Litchi or Maven for FPV indoor flying with my phone in a cheap headset.

 

[vindibona1]

Thanks for sharing the information mate, I’m strictly an outdoor flyer myself. The couple of times I’ve tried were dismal. Hope your health improves
Regards

Make sure your Mini has something on the ground with some sort of pattern it can identify. If it shifts into Atti mode without a position reference it's like trying to drift a car with bald tires on sheet ice.

For indoor flying I usually use P mode (Normal) with my Mini rather than Cine for it's better (faster) yaw response. Depending on the brightness, in darker areas like hallways my Mini sometimes needs the hall lights turned on so the bottom position sensor can hold course/position more accurately. From my livingroom chair I can go BVLOS and fly it down the stairs and into the basement. Was surprised I didn't lose the signal. Just make sure the RTH on signal loss is set to hover. Also I sometimes use Litchi or Maven for FPV indoor flying with my phone in a cheap headset.

Sometimes one has to scratch one's head about some of the choices DJI makes. The one benefit to Cine is that we can modify the pitch and yaw rates in that mode separately from the others. Cine is a benefit in regard to begin able to limit top speed while the sticks are "hammer down". But the Mavic 2's Tripod mode with a limit of 2.5mph is really so much better for smooth action up close or in tight spaces. You don't have to worry about stick twitches or over-response as it's movements are slow enough to account for manipulation errors or lag.

I'm trying to figure out why the Mini 2 isn't so much disturbed by it's own prop wash in tight spaces in the Sport mode while it bounces all over in the Cine mode at the same speed?

 

[Hodge]

You didn't say anything about using prop guards. After one very expensive accident with our window shades {not the drone but the shade itself} I always use prop guards when flying indoors.
This is a video of one of my very early flights indoors, in this flight I was using Dronelink in 'On the Fly' mode
Early indoor flight

 

[vindibona1]

You didn't say anything about using prop guards. After one very expensive accident with our window shades {not the drone but the shade itself} I always use prop guards when flying indoors.
This is a video of one of my very early flights indoors, in this flight I was using Dronelink in 'On the Fly' mode
Early indoor flight

No I didn't. Perhaps I should add to the post...
Prop guards indoors are very important. If your drone kicks into Atti mode you don't know what it's going to crash into. But there are a couple different types of prop guards and I learned that I didn't choose the right set the first time around. I got the first set (see red guards) that only protected the perimeter of the blades. An unintended rapid launch off the floor into the ceiling crashed my Mini 2 to the floor, cracking the hull, and spitting out the lens window that covers the actual camera lens. The ceiling stopped the blades, damaging them, but the motors stopped and there was no possible recovery. Don't waste your money on these. They are essentially bumper pads, but offer little other protection.

I subsequently ordered guards that largely protects the blades from above unless something protrudes down (2nd image). I'd like to think that these can better protect against lacerations too, but not as well as a "cage". The second set (minus leg extensions) weighs only 40 grams (1.4 oz).

For better protection yet get a "cage" (3rd & 4th images). The weight of those runs 80-170 grams. There is a third style which I hadn't seen before that's about 80 grams (last image). Those look pretty good and protect even more from the top, but are almost twice the weight of the second set shown. With a full prop cage you can pretty much go play "bumper cars" indoors.

Obviously there is a trade off of control vs protection as you go up in guard weight.

 

[Chaosrider]

Regardless of the position of the switch, the drone ALWAYS starts in normal mode. You have to change it once you launch to enable either cine or sport.

Really?

I'm pretty sure that when I fire it up with the controller set to Sport Mode, it shows in the DJI Fly app as being in Sport Mode. No further action required on my part.

But, I haven't watched with this question in mind. Now I will.

Thx,

TCS

 

[JOHNVOSS]

Regardless of what it shows it always starts in N, This has been confirmed by DJI numerous times.

 

[SethB]

For better protection yet get a "cage" (3rd & 4th images). The weight of those runs 80-170 grams. There is a third style which I hadn't seen before that's about 80 grams (last image). Those look pretty good and protect even more from the top, but are almost twice the weight of the second set shown. With a full prop cage you can pretty much go play "bumper cars" indoors.

Obviously there is a trade off of control vs protection as you go up in guard weight.




View attachment 143908

@vindibona1 do you have a link for the cage in your third image? Is it for Mini 2? It looks to be lighter than the DJI-supplied cage - maybe!

Note that the last image (dark gray cage) looks like what DJI supplies for the Mini 2.

 

[basyok]

I've been pretty much stuck inside for health reasons and the one weakness in my flying (among many) is flying close to stuff. So I figured I'd practice in my house, going from room to room, using the monitor, but staying close behind as well so I can respond quickly without lag. Without GPS is is an additional challenge from flying outdoors. But I experienced the strangest observation today...

One of the toughest places to fly in my home is down a long 3' hallway. The second hardest place is our narrow galley kitchen. There is sort of a loop here that goes from the living room, left turn to down the hall, another left into the kitchen, left again into the dining room, back to the living room. No GPS and the Mini 2 generates enough of its own turbulence to create additional challenges. Until today I've always tried to fly in the Cine mode and always bounced off of one wall or another- until a few moments ago. I've been testing stick response and thought it was a given that I should be in Cine mode.

But for fun and out of curiosity I wanted to see how the Mini 2 responded indoors in Sport mode. Sliding it into Sport mode, I did a few basic maneuvers in the living room where it's more open, to see how it behaved and responded. To my chagrin, amazement and amusement, the input/response between the Cine and Sport mode wasn't all that different! HOWEVER, when flying down the hallway, which has always been a problem, the Mini 2, IN SPORT MODE went at roughly the same speed as in Cine BUT WAS MUCH MORE STABLE and handled so much better!!!! It seems that I got a much more rapid and unpredictable response in these tight spaces in Cine mode! Obviously I wouldn't be able to go "hammer down" inside. But as I had to be very light on the sticks in Cine, I thought, "What the heck?".

Bottom line: Bizarre and unexpected. I never would have thought to try the Sport mode for more control when moving slowly in tight spaces.

3 foot hallway? That's really narrow.

 

[vindibona1]

3 foot hallway? That's really narrow.

Yes... But not as narrow as flying through a car window .
I think the biggest issue is that the drone's airstream hits the floor and comes up the walls and interferes with it's position stability as it in position mode over a hardwood floor. However, it's not as difficult as when I fly into a bedroom where it can't identify the carpet pattern and goes into atti mode... and I sort of go into panic mode. Prop guards are my friend indoors (usually).

 

[vsasolutions]

First off @vindibona1 nice guitars (hard choice, spend money on guitars or drones). A tip I saw somewhere on flying indoors is to take your sticks off the controller. I use just use my thumbs and its like a track ball. Using the sticks it is much more difficult to control in my opinion due to the leverage. And I like DJI's prop guards. They do really well not getting hung up on anything.

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[vindibona1]

First off @vindibona1 nice guitars (hard choice, spend money on guitars or drones). A tip I saw somewhere on flying indoors is to take your sticks off the controller. I use just use my thumbs and its like a track ball. Using the sticks it is much more difficult to control in my opinion due to the leverage. And I like DJI's prop guards. They do really well not getting hung up on anything.

​

I've gone to shortened sticks to change the leverage/movement component to more of a compromise. The guards I have now are adequate because something would have to stick up or down into them to interfere with the props. I was thinking about reinforcing the opening with fishing line attached with super glue which would provide more protection without adding much weight. The DJI cages are almost 200 grams, almost the weight of the drone itself. Perhaps the weight might help by making the motors run harder pushing the sticks further in past the dead points?

I also have a set of these flat prop guards, but they don't protect the top of the props, though they are a little lighter. I haven't weighed them on a naked Mini 2 but they would only take the weight a few grams above 250g. But once you get through that 250g threshold what does it matter if you're 255g or 270g? My contention is that there should have been something like a "Category 1a" which gave a few grams of leeway for safety equipment such as prop guards. I've said this before, but will repeat myself. The prop guards not only distribute pressure over a larger area when coming in contact with objects or people, but have a shock absorption that the naked drone itself does not have. Metaphorically, would you rather get hit in the chest with a 5 oz baseball or a 22 oz basketball at the same speed? I'll take the basketball because of the wider area of contact and shock absorbing properties.