3D Robotics is thrilled to introduce the Follow Me feature, the latest adventure in autonomous flight. Follow Me mode allows you to be your own one-man aerial film crew: Capture yourself in action, with all the freedom of spontaneity and zero pre-planning, even when there’s no one around to helm the sticks for you. Just select “Follow” in DroidPlanner, strap on your Android phone or throw your tablet in your backpack, and your drone will follow wherever you go—and keep the camera trained on you the whole time! Place your Android device on another vehicle—say a car, boat, or rover—and Follow Me tracks that for you, too.
Best of all, it’s totally free from 3D Robotics, and it’s available today. You just need the beta of the new DroidPlanner 2.0 (free here) and the latest release candidate (3.2 RC 2) version of Arducopter (free here).*
To get the beta of DroidPlanner, please follow these instructions:
To get the latest release candidate of Arducopter, select "Beta software" from the firmware upload screen of Mission Planner or APM Planner.
Both of these will be coming out of beta in a few weeks (after the Sparkfun AVC), so if you'd rather not be using beta software, just sit tight and it will automatically come to you with the next public update.
Follow Me frees you to be yourself, by yourself. Happy flying!
*Please note that as advised in the warning notice in Mission Planner and APM-Planner 2, Beta versions and release candidates are by definition unstable and should only be used by expert operators and only to help the developers test the code during the pre-release test cycle in direct coordination with the developers. In those versions, bugs are very likely to be present and the operator should be aware of a significantly higher operational risk and choose location and operation modes for flights accordingly, as well as be prepared for the possibility of undesired behavior of the aircraft and even a catastrophic failure.
Comments
Dan: Click on the Beta Firmware link in either Mission Planner or APM Planner it will load the latest release candidate of 3.2
Where is Arducopter 3.2 RC 2 available at?
Awesome job Chris!
Would be a really cool feature to have a "follow me & loiter" between multiple GPS dongles for my airplane & the ability to swap between gps dongle #1, #2, #3 etc.
Ian: Yes, that's coming in the next rev, in a few weeks.
Is it possible to program follow me together with ROI - so the drone circles a moving object, keeping the camera pointed at it? Not worried about avoiding other obstacles - yet.
Do the WP_NAV parameters affect the follow me mode at all? (Other than WPNAV_LOIT_SPEED)
EX: WPNAV_ACCEL, WPNAV_ACCEL_Z, WPNAV_LOIT_JERK, WPNAV_SPEED_UP, WPNAV_SPEED_DN
Whats the fastest object/person/vehicle that has been tested with Follow Me mode?
That's correct, it would depend on failsafe settings. I've disabled GCS FS due to false positives causing repeated RTL at only 20-30 meters. Without triggering a failsafe, copter will remain at the last known Guided WP.
I prefer it to 'loiter' in Guided mode until I reconnect. It would depend on the situation. If I've been followed for 300m, I would rather my copter be close by than at launch site. If I've lost connection, the chances of a reconnect are slim to none when the copter is flying away from me.
@Brandon - Thanks. I'll give it a try later today, I think I really need to get a tablet. Do you know if this Tablet would be good enough? - DX.com Freelander 7"
@dr0n3droid - Wouldn't it depend on your fail-safe settings? I configured mine to RTL on lost of link with GCS (which I believe is Droidplanner in this scenario). I'm not confident, I just want to confirm.
FollowMe is essentially guided mode. When your copter's link is lost, it will still be in Guided mode, waiting for the next WP update.
Is point of Interest coming back any time soon?
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