Good Morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472, and today, I am reviewing my first full week with my fancy new drone. Let’s get started.
My rough learning curve went about like so:
Uncontrolled hover-bounce at ground level (Perfect for tangling the propellers)
Race car around the house
Learning trim to balance the controls
Uncontrolled elevation introduction (Perfect stage for crashing into objects and causing damage to the drone)
Uncontrolled Yaw (left/right) introduction (Perfect for disorienting you if you aren’t careful)
Teaching sister what I knew, only to feel showed up
Early use of the flip functions
Understanding of the trim controls
Hover refinement
Race drone around the house
Finer movements
Getting the second battery was a really good idea. Sure I didn’t have a second charger, but it made for a longer flight session when I just had to swap the battery out and they were both charged.
Early on, when I was still getting used to the controls, I tried dodging the drone and catching it… OUCH! The throttle wasn’t down in time. I still have the remains of a tiny blood blister on my right ring finger.
Flying the drone across the ground actually reminded me of a favorite Star Wars podracing game I used to love. Technology marches on, I guess, unless I can get it running in Wine on Linux some day.
Crashing and bending a blade does not mean a drone is unflyable. You just need to adjust the trim and keep learning on the damaged gear. My two front propellers each have nicks and a back one has a bend in the plastic.
It’s a good and fortunate thing both my batteries were discharged at one point. One of them turned up after being missing and it had a fresh puncture in it. I am thankful to God none of the animals got hurt and our house didn’t burn down, but I am still a bit emotionally charged at losing a battery. At least the event triggered me to go get a binder for some drawings I made up as part of a role play.
Nothing groundbreaking has happened since then, I continue to get better, maybe I can try out the level 2 maneuverability settings, but I haven’t given that much thought yet. I have enough control to usually land on someone’s FLAT hand if the drone is flying propellers up, but I still goof the drone into something every so often. I’ve tried interacting with the animals with it, mainly by blowing some air their way, but I don’t feel that is wise after my dog tried to catch it mid-flight. I tried to dodge, but he was faster and I had to cut the throttle.
Final Question: Ever have a side project crash one of your problems and move you to fix it? If so, what was it?