2A: Flight Events

Make sure that your CoDrone Mini is paired before starting the lesson! If you forgot how to do this, make sure to review how to pair to Blockly here.

Out of all of the menus in Blockly, the one you will be using the most is flight commands. This is where you will find blocks to have your CoDrone Mini fly in different directions and, probably most important, take off and land! To find the take off and land blocks, click on the dark blue flight commands menu. The take off and land blocks should be at the top!

Any code that has your CoDrone Mini in the air will start with the take off block. This will make your drone launch from the ground and fly vertically in the air. Your CoDrone Mini should then hover for about three seconds before moving on to the next block in your code.

Let’s make your CoDrone Mini take off now! Drag the take off block from the flight commands menu to your workspace.

If you want your CoDrone Mini to hover for more than three seconds, there is a way to do that! Find the hover for _ seconds block in the flight commands menu and connect it to the bottom of the take off block. Next, type in the number of seconds you would like your CoDrone Mini to hover for.

The land block brings your CoDrone Mini to the ground gently. When you’re finished with everything else in your code, attach the land block to the bottom of your program.

There might be times when your CoDrone Mini is about to crash into something and you need to have it land before it does serious damage. If you want your CoDrone Mini to land before crashing, you can always use the stop button in your workspace. You can also program a kill switch by dragging a rounded when _ key press block from the gray keyboard inputs menu into the workspace. This should be the block that doesn’t have a connector on the side! Pick the key you would like to use to stop your drone from the block’s drop-down menu, but as a warning, using the backspace key can sometimes delete blocks of code! We recommend using the spacebar key since it’s the easiest to find.

Next, go to the flight commands menu, find the land block, and drag it into the when _ key press block.

Note: this will be a separate program but will be in the same workspace!

Your workspace should look something like this:

Drones don’t always fly in a perfectly straight line, especially if there’s an air current, the battery is running low, or the drone has crashed one too many times. If you notice your drone drifting, you can use the trim function in the bottom lefthand corner of your workspace. Use your original take off and landing code, but change the seconds for hovering to a higher number. 5 is a good place to start.

Next, use the plus and minus icons to change your drone’s trim. For example, if your CoDrone Mini is drifting to the right, use the minus icon under roll to straighten it out. If you need to reset the trim, you can just set everything back to zero.

Challenge: CoDrone Mini pushups

Try to make your CoDrone Mini take off and land 5 times in a row with one code! Currently your CoDrone Mini can do one pushup with the code you have.

Rules:

1. The CoDrone Mini must completely leave the ground on takeoff.
2. The CoDrone Mini must be completely back on the ground on landing.
3. Don’t forget an emergency stop!

See who can do the most CoDrone Mini pushups in 10 seconds OR who can use the least amount of blocks in their code!