Blogs

Follow-Me Mode Test: Success!

Posted by Brennan Zelener on August 18, 2014 at 7:00pm

Hey guys, I just did my first test with Follow-Me mode on my quad. It worked really well.  Huge thanks to the 3DR team and DroidPlanner developers.  Rock and roll.


Frame: Lumenier QAV400G
Motors: Tiger 1100kv
ESCs: Lumenier SimonK 30A
Props: APC 8x4.5
Battery: Lumenier 4200mAh
Production Camera: GoPro Hero 3 Black
Flight Controller: 3DRobotics APM 2.6 - ArduCopter 3.2 RC3
Flight Computer: Samsung Galaxy S3 - DroidPlanner beta

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Comments

  • nickthecook August 19, 2014 at 10:23am

    @Pedals2Paddles @MarkM

    Don't worry - it's called Follow Me, not Flay Me.

  • MarkM August 19, 2014 at 9:32am

    @Pedals2Paddles

    I don't know, some people just have no sense of adventure :D

  • Pedals2Paddles August 19, 2014 at 8:14am

    I'm still not sure I like the idea of having my back turned to a device that is following me around armed with 6 high speed spinning knives.

  • nickthecook August 19, 2014 at 8:07am

    @Tom Thanks for the link, I've seen the older videos. Only one of those videos is less than a year old and has anything to do with Follow Me on APM:Copter, and it's the official video released by 3DR on the subject.

    The feature has been "totally reworked in 3.2" [see comment from Chris here: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844%3ABlogPost%3A1692...], so most of those don't actually help.

  • Brennan Zelener August 19, 2014 at 7:53am

    Hey All, thanks for the insight!

    @Nick - I'll have to check once I'm at the office.  Will let you know shortly.

    @Christiaan - I did do an autotune when I originally got the QAV400, but I haven't tuned it with the gimbal onboard.  Time to tune again!

    @Jonathan - Thanks!

    @Tom - Thanks for the feedback.  My intent was for this video to be non-technical.  For the DIYDrones community I figured the footage from the copter would give some insight on how the follow-me mode algorithm is coming along, and how good the GoPro footage can look for real applications.  It's going to take some tuning to make follow-me footage viable for production - just want to share my experience.

    I've been attending meetups lately, and it's wild how many people are using NAZA and have no idea of the stability and featureset that APM/Pixhawk offer.  I want to show those people what ArduCopter can do.  I think non-technical demos are a good way to do that.

     

  • Developer
    Tom Pittenger August 19, 2014 at 7:51am

    @nickthecook, I can help you with that:
    https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=follow+me+mode

    follow me mode - YouTube
    Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
  • nickthecook August 19, 2014 at 7:39am
    @Tom I disagree. As someone who is eagerly awaiting 3.2 final and trying to think ahead for uses to which to put the new feature, the more video of it in action the better.

    I was especially interested in seeing the lag between changes in his direction and the copter's reaction. This will be a limitation on the feature's use with respect to mountain biking.
  • Developer
    Tom Pittenger August 19, 2014 at 7:35am

    I agree @eduardo, this is a video of "Hey guys, watch me press this button on this app that everyone has!"

  • Jonathan Hair August 19, 2014 at 4:57am
    Looks great! I am waiting for the release copy of 3.2 before i try, hopefully soon!
  • Christiaan van Vollenstee August 18, 2014 at 11:58pm

    Thanks for the video, it is very cool. Did you do the auto tune before doing this?

This reply was deleted.