Hi folks, I am not sure if I am posting in the right place or not, and my apologies if I am doing it wrong here.
I have a use case that I would love your guidance on. I am a professional programmer (which might help) who goes horseback riding regularly, mostly through relatively open areas. I want a drone that can carry GoPro to capture footage of my rides.
However, because I will be riding, I will not be able to actively control it. I want it to perform actions in-flight based on my ground speed (which it could potentially read from my iPhone 6 or from my Android), i.e. once I launch it should fly, steer, and maneuver autonomously, without receiving any input directly from me, instead it should be able to receive my position, speed and heading from one of my phones in my pocket (iOS and Android) and adjust the flight path accordingly. It should also be able to continually adjust its position relative to me based on the 'rules' I pre-define. For example, after takeoff with the camera turned on, the drone ought to stay ahead of me, say 30 feet in front and 20 feet off the ground. Then if I start going faster than 10 mph the drone should come to my side about 30° (10 o'clock) and be able to record that. If I continue at this speed for more than a minute it should do a semi circle around me, pausing behind me to hover for 15 seconds, and come to the 2 o'clock point for a minute. If I keep going it should... etc etc. Basically based on my speed, it should perform actions I pre-define.
I don't care if I have to program the drone in code or through a UI, I just want to be able to define lots and lots of rules. Basically I am trying to shoot seabiscuit through a drone. :)
Ideally it would protect itself from running into trees and walls., maintain a couple of feet of distance from any objects while trying to follow my rules as closely as possible. Any ideas where to begin? Thanks!
Ideally would call it a day under $500.
Replies
Very helpful. Thanks!
That's exactly what the FollowMe mode in Iris+ and other APM-based copters already does. It's a standard feature with the Android app (DroidPlanner). Right now the pre-programmed paths include "Orbit", "Lead", "Leash" and right and left following, but other paths are coming soon.
Edit: Didn't notice orbit, looking now.
Thanks Chris, I did notice this but didn't shortlist it because I am assuming it only shoots from a single angle per human intervention (either behind or ahead etc.) regardless of the subject's ground activity. Might make a relatively boring video if its just either my front, or back or side the whole time. I am trying to give the drone positional instructions for the shooting angle through my speed. If I am fast, do x, then y, then z etc. A compromise might be if the drone could fixate on me and move around me in a star pattern, capturing multiple angles, but I would still like to dictate its height (I don't want it too high off the ground, horse height is good for most shots, and behind shots would be ideal if you add another 5 feet). A compromise on this might be a simple circular pattern around me, but I would like to dictate the radius and altitude. A compromise on even that could be I only dictate the radius and the altitude is fixed.