Basic questions..
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Hi, I'm Gene. I teach math and aviation. I am trying to find some reliable, inexpensive easy to use drones that also are programmable. CoDrone seems to fit that description but I am having problems with reliability and usability. Suggestions welcomed.
So far I have managed to fly the drone using the Codrone-pro controller. It seems to struggle to pair at times but it eventually does. Then I tried Arduino programming. I have loaded a very basic program from the tutorials and lessons but after saying it has loaded I get no further. In fact the controller now beeps constantly. Nothing I have tried make this go away. The documentation doesn't;t really say anywhere how you actually run a program. The closest thing I found was to press the reset button behind the three DIP switches. I think if I could get the glitches out maybe these drones would be usable...
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good morning @elpoole
when using the arduino method of coding there are 2 things that need to happen- keep the procontroller "on" (either via USB or batteries)
- you have to flip the #1 dip switch. I don't have the drone on me (left it at home as I'm using it at work) iirc, it is UP for programming/uploading, and DOWN for "running" which means everytime the drone is reset/new batteries, it will execute the code you have uploaded.
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@elpoole, When uploading code, make sure to have DIP switch #1 in the upload/on position
If you hear the beeping, this is an indicator that the remote is trying to pair with a drone. Here is the lesson that has a video to show you how to do this process. Can you try uploading the default remote control code as a test and let me know if this works? If you get any errors along the way please send along screenshots or pictures. Thanks!
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@robolink_leila
Thanks for the replies. I was able to get my first program to run after posting the question. It seems the problem is the buisness about turning off the power when changing from loading to running. I thought maybe my battery pack was weak. Then when I leave the USB plugged in does the power switch on/off do anything? So now it tries the program which is supposed to take off but ot doesn't gain much height. I have added pre commands and I'll try some more soon. There is a lot of good information on the programming language, examples etc. What is missing is the quirky info on how to load and execute programs - particularily execute programs.Here's something else that is not addressed.. After loading a program is it stored indefinitely? What resets it? Suppose I want to go back to just running the drone using the controller? How do I toggle between using the controller in manual mpde and rnning a program?
Is the default contrller program the one that is in examples in the IDE called Flight Controller?
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@elpoole The remote can be powered from either the battery pack or the Micro USB. I recommend using the battery pack for power when you are flying manually, but for testing any autonomous code it's better to leave the switch off and power solely with the MicroUSB since you be reuploading code regularly. If the MicroUSB is plugged in the switch doesn't affect the power. If your drone isn't flying too high you might need to charge your CoDrone battery.
To answer your second question, any code that you upload will be stored the next time you turn on the drone. Any time you want to change the code you will need to upload. If you would like the default remote control again, you need to upload the Flight Controller code again from Examples
Let me know if you have any more questions!
