1B: Flight Directions

Air vehicles move a little differently than land vehicles. While land vehicles can move forward, backward, and sometimes side-to-side, air vehicles can do all of that and move up and down. To keep track of how a CoDrone Mini moves in a three-dimensional space, you can use the terms below:

Roll controls the CoDrone Mini’s horizontal, or side to side, movement. Positive roll will make the CoDrone Mini move to the right, and negative roll will make the drone move to the left.

drone.set_roll(power) # power represents power out of 100%                         
                      # power can be between -100 and 100

Pitch is the CoDrone Mini’s forward and backward tilt. Positive pitch will make the CoDrone Mini tilt and move forward, and negative pitch will make the CoDrone Mini tilt and move backwards.

drone.set_pitch(power) # power represents power out of 100%                          

                       # power can be between -100 and 100

Yaw is the CoDrone Mini’s left and right rotation. Positive yaw will make the CoDrone Mini turn to the right, and negative yaw will make the CoDrone Mini turn to the left.

drone.set_yaw(power) # power represents power out of 100%                        

                     # power can be between -100 and 100

Throttle controls the CoDrone Mini’s vertical, or up and down, movement. Positive throttle will make the CoDrone Mini fly higher, and negative throttle will make the CoDrone Mini fly lower.

drone.set_throttle(power) # power represents power out of 100%                             

                          # power can be between -100 and 100

Be careful with yaw and roll! Yaw will make your CoDrone Mini turn left or right, while roll will move your CoDrone Mini left or right.

One of the best ways to learn new words is to see them in action, so instead of you just memorizing all of the flight movements, you’re going to do an obstacle course! Have a friend sit down on a chair and then blindfold them (or just have them keep their eyes closed). Next, guide them through an obstacle course to have them sit down on another chair at the end using only flight movement words. Make sure that anything dangerous is out of their way first!

• Positive throttle: stand up
• Negative throttle: sit down
• Positive pitch: move forward
• Negative pitch: move backward
• Positive yaw: turn right
• Negative yaw: turn left
• Positive roll: move right
• Negative roll: turn left

For example, if you wanted to tell your friend to move forward, you could say, “Positive pitch 2 steps.” That would let your friend know that you want them to move forward by 2 steps. Once your friend successfully completes the obstacle course, switch roles so they can give you directions!

Your first challenge: have your CoDrone Mini take off, go forward, then turn left, and land. First, you need to import the CoDrone Mini library and pair your drone:

import CoDrone_mini

drone = CoDrone_mini.CoDrone()

drone.pair()

Next, you can add the takeoff and pitch!

drone.takeoff()       # takeoff for 2 seconds

drone.set_pitch(30)    # Set positive pitch to 30% power

drone.move(2)         # forward for 2 seconds

Wondering why you need two lines of code for one movement?  drone.set_pitch() will prepare the CoDrone Mini to move in a certain direction and speed, while  drone.move() will actually move the CoDrone Mini in the air for the amount of seconds in the parentheses. Your code will not run with the move() command.

Next, add your yaw and landing:

drone.set_pitch(0)    # Resets pitch to 0 before yaw
drone.set_yaw(-50)    # Set negative yaw to 30% power 
drone.move(2)         # turn left for 2 seconds 
drone.land()          # lands the CoDrone
drone.close()         # disconnects CoDrone

Wondering why the pitch is reset to 0? Anytime you set a flight movement, it will use those values for the rest of your program unless you reset it back to 0. Not doing so will have the drone move forward and turn to the left at the same time. Since the challenge was to go forward and then turn left, resetting the pitch to 0 will help the CoDrone Mini perform those two movements separately.

In the last step, each flight direction was used separately. You probably saw your CoDrone Mini go straight up, fly straight forward, turn to the left, and then land. However, you can also have your CoDrone Mini fly in multiple directions at once. Which two commands would you combine to perform the following flight pattern (as seen from a bird’s eye view)?

If you guessed positive pitch and negative roll, you are correct! If you want the drone to fly equally forward and sideways, use the same number value for both the roll and pitch. Here is an example solution. Try adjusting one or two numbers to see how the flight changes.

import CoDrone_mini
drone = CoDrone_mini.CoDrone()
drone.pair()
 
drone.takeoff()       # takeoff for 2 seconds
drone.set_pitch(30)    # Set positive pitch to 30% power
drone.set_roll(-30)    # Set negative roll to 30% power   
drone.move(2)         # forward and left for 2 seconds
drone.land()          # lands the CoDrone

If you find it difficult to remember all of the flight directions, try  drone.go()  instead! This is what the function looks like:

drone.go(direction, duration, power)

This is what each part means:

• Direction: where the drone will fly. You can use FORWARD, BACKWARD, LEFT, RIGHT, UP, and DOWN, but make sure you type in all caps like you see here. You will also need to type Direction before it.
• Duration: how long the movement will happen in seconds. You can leave it as blank, zero, or any positive number. If duration is zero, it runs indefinitely. If duration has no number, it automatically sets to 1. If you put any positive number, duration is equal to that value.
• Power: the speed of the drone. It can be any number between 0-100, with 0 being no power and 100 being full power. If power has no number, it will default to 50.

Here are some examples:

drone.go(Direction.UP, 3, 75) # go up for 3 seconds at 75% power

drone.go(Direction.FORWARD)   # go forward for 1 second at 50% power

drone.go(Direction.LEFT, 6)   # go left for 6 seconds at 50% power

If you want to use  drone.go() in your programs, you’ll need to include this line at the top, right underneath  import CoDrone_mini :

from CoDrone_mini import Direction

After that, you’re good to go! Try using  drone.go() to make some patterns!

Program your CoDrone Mini to fly in a square using the CoDrone Mini directions you recently learned. You can use  drone.set() and  drone.move() or  drone.go() . Remember, if you use the set pitch and roll commands you will need to reset some values to zero to prevent your drone from flying diagonally!

Take a look at the diagram and think about what your code will look like.

Example 1:

import CoDrone_mini

drone = CoDrone_mini.CoDrone()

drone.pair()


drone.takeoff()           # takeoff for 2 seconds
drone.hover(3)            # hover for 3 seconds


drone.set_pitch(30)       # set positive pitch at 30% power
drone.move(2)             # forward for 2 seconds


drone.set_pitch(0)        # reset pitch
drone.set_roll(-30)       # set negative roll at 30% power
drone.move(2)             # left for 2 seconds


drone.set_roll(0)         # reset roll
drone.set_pitch(-30)      # set negative pitch at 30% power
drone.move(2)             # backward for 2 seconds


drone.set_pitch(0)        # reset pitch
drone.set_roll(30)        # set positive roll at 30% power
drone.move(2)             # right for 2 seconds

drone.land()              # lands the CoDrone

Example 2:

import CoDrone_mini

from CoDrone_mini import Direction

drone = CoDrone_mini.CoDrone()

drone.pair()


drone.takeoff()                   # takeoff for 2 seconds
drone.hover(3)                    # hover for 3 seconds 


drone.go(Direction.FORWARD, 2, 30)          # moves the drone forward for 2 seconds at 30% power
drone.go(Direction.LEFT, 2, -30)            # moves the drone left for 2 seconds at 30% power
drone.go(Direction.BACKWARD, 2, -30)        # moves the drone backward for 2 seconds at 30% power
drone.go(Direction.RIGHT, 2, 30)            # moves the drone right for 2 seconds at 30% power

drone.land()                      # lands the CoDrone

Have two tables or chairs 2 feet apart. The goal is to have the CoDrone Mini take off from one chair, land on the other, turn around, fly back, and then land at the starting point. It should look like this:

A -> B then B -> A

Rules:

• The CoDrone Mini should always fly forward between chairs.
• If you succeed, move the tables or chairs an additional 2 feet apart. Continue adding 2 feet for every success until you reach the ends of the room.

Hint: You can use drone.land() in the middle of the code and take off again.