1. Autonomous Logbooking
2. Piloting Logbooking
3. Communication/ Teamwork
4. About the Drone
5. Drone Image
Worked on getting used to the drones and coding. We adapted to the coding style on Robolink and familiarized ourselves with yaw, pitch, throttle, and other aerodynamic elements to move our drone.
Attempting to get better with the coding system, we attempted to successfully finish the figure eight. It proved challenging to change something in a manner that wouldn't affect the rest of the code, but we got the hang of it at some point.
The figure 8 movement was quite unstable, so we decided to trifle with the measurmements. What we had by the end of the meeting was not perfect, but most definitely better.
We perfected the first half of the code by working little imperfections that had previously thrown it really off. The end of the the year was admantly slower when it came to progressing due to the fact that we had acquired a large amount of progression and even the slightest changes affected the whole course.
Beginning the second half of the code, we noticed lots of small imperfections that, bit by bit, had ruined the path in the long run. These little mistakes were fixed during this session. Oddly enough, we observed the drone repeatdly bumping into obstcles even after we made only minor changes. This may have been the reason why we struggled to make it past.
While testing the run, we noticed that our drone had troubles with going up and down, so we tried many things to pinpoint the bottleneck. We first tried to pilot it, but the problem wasn't there. Then we checked the code and didn't see any problems. In the end, it turned out to be caused by an update that we didn't notice. We practiced the team excercise with another team, made some changes to the path our drone takes on figure 8, and connected the drone to Blockly. This took time and troubleshooting because the drone was updated to the latest version, but Blockly wasn't. Eventually, through synchronized teamwork, we solved the problem.
Held back with drone complications, it took us a while to get back on track and continue coding. Our vehicle kept sinking and wouldn't connect properly.
Upon opening the computer, the code seemed to have disappeared. After a while of messing around, we were able to access it as the python version. We tinkered with measurments for precision.
Today, we conducted a test of our drone for the autonomous course in the aerial drone competition, concentrating on the first half of the flight. Our code was extensive and accurate, meticulously designed to adhere to the course, but even minor measurement inaccuracies led to problems. We also endeavored to ensure the color sensors operated correctly, but they needed additional fine-tuning. Although we encountered some challenges, we advanced in improving our flight path and addressing sensor integration issues.
Today, we conducted tests on our drone for the autonomous course of the aerial drone competition, centering on finishing the first half and fine-tuning its movement through the figure-eight pattern. Though our code was lengthy and accurate, crafted to direct the drone seamlessly, it still caused the drone to veer off track due to even minor mistakes. We dedicated time to modifying the flight path and fine-tuning the color sensors in an effort to ensure they detected the right markers. Although we faced some difficulties, we observed advancement as the drone started to adhere to the designated route with greater precision. Additionally, our comprehension of how to adjust navigation and sensor responsiveness improved.
Zaynab perfected the code to prevent it from being risky or hitting obstacles. We realized that the battery level would impact the flight of the drone and the way it maneuvered through the air.
Since we had to multitask and switch between two competitions, we worked on the drone in between this time period. We improved our drone's code and made it move in a more swift manner. We noticed that during coding, we didn't change anything but our drone would start to malfunction. We ended up realizing it was because of the drift the drone had which also affected our piloting,not anything wrong with our code for the yaw, pitch, throttle. To fix this we made some minor changes in our code until the "feet" came in (they were on backorder).
Today, we practiced going through the keyholes. However, our code didn't allow our drone to leave the ground and actually takeoff. In the end, we problem solved by practicing with other drones because some of them either weren't taking off, weren't moving forward because only pitch was working, and another one, upon landing, went up in the air way too high.
Today, we tried testing our code though our drone and controller had to update for the newest version.During the unexpected process of updating, the connection kept dropping between our drone and laptop. We waited patiently for it to update which took much longe rthan expected. This ensures that we will have a better and smoother flight during the competition.
None of our drones are working. We are putting in fully charged batteries, however our drones are still not applying the code we coded in Robolink, meaning it is not a problem with the drone batteries. We also did not change the code whatsoever, but our drone still isn't
For the manual flying, we planned out how we would want to maneuver our drone, where everyone would stand, and how much time we should use for each section. We went through a practice run which did not make the time, but it gave us an idea of how to improve.
Today, we all timed our abilities to control the drone to knock the bean bags off the stands. To do this, one team member would set a running timer while another would fly the drone and knock the bean bags off to a specific side(green or blue). The 3rd team member would give the goal color as green or blue and the current pilot would attempted to knock the bean bag to that specific side.
Today, instead of the teamwork course, we opted to do the piloting skills course. Srinika and Ermina were not present today ,therefore, Anaya filled in. We timed ourselves for 60 seconds and surprisingly Ayleen timed with 39 and 52 seconds while Anaya had a good 42 seconds. We realized that we would likely have enough time to get some more points with maybe doing some more figure eights.
We decreased our flight time by manuvering the drone in a more efficient manner. The pilots made sure that the drone had a good stop and plenty of extra time even after the course is completed.
We were able to swiftly complete the bean bag section of the the Teamwork Mission within around a minute. Although we utilized most of the time, we will be able to divide it within the team that we will be working with at the competition. We practiced doing the visual observer section to the landing part in an attempt to get our time to a maximum of 40 seconds in that area. Unfortunately, we slightly struggled blindly flying the drone and having communication between the pilot and the visual observer. We tried to fix this problem by having the pilot see the drone in action during the blind fly so that the pilot can have a visual map. Tomorrow, we plan on attempting to work on the blind section of the course to successfully complete it.
We continued to work on the Teamwork mission as we believed that it was the mission that needed the most work. We were able to in fact prctice with another team which definitely made us feel more confident about this mission. We concluded that our best pro was the bean bags and our con on this mission is moving the wiffle balls blind, which we discovered was generally caused by drifting. We found several strategies to attempt to improve this flaw. For example, visualizing what we were doing in order for the pilot to see how bad the drifting was. Once we firmly established the issue, we devised a plan so that when the visual observer tells the pilot to go to the right, the pilot moves the drone slightly to the right and lets the drifting do most of the work. This in fact helped because even without the drift, going slow makes everything more precise.
Today, instead of focusing only on working on the Teamwork mission ourselves, we try to run the timer with another team to attempt under 90 seconds. This gave us an idea of how the real competition would be and allowed us to improve our skills of communication with the team that will be working with us. We rotated roles between getting the balls in the designated area and moving the beanbags off of the stands. This allowed us to be prepared for the other team incase they are more experienced in a different area, so we could accomodate and work with them.
Today, we only worked on pilot skills and blind fly. On blind fly, we were able to move the wiffleballs, but drifting is still and apparent problem. Since the competition is tomorrow, there's not much we could do other than continuously trim it. Other than that, we have definitely improved. For pilot skills, the pilot(Ayleen) flew through the course while timed several times. Her best time was 48 seconds, with extra figure eights and her worse (within 60 seconds) was 59.8 seconds. Unfortunately, drifting is again a problem! It was planned by Ermina and Ayleen for Ayleen to run through the course then go back and do 2 more figure eights, so three. Drifting made this harder, but fortunately not impossible. We planned to if in a worse case scenario, Ayleen will not aim for 3 figure eights and will focus on landing to try and gain more points from small cube landing. Other than these couple of problems, we feel ready for the competion tomorrow.
Today, only I, Ayleen, worked on piloting. I decided to refine my pilot skills mission as im the pilot for it and during the competition I struggled a little, likely due to stress. Surprisingly, I managed to complete four figure eights and the other required parts of the mission, plus landing on the small cube. This all added up to over 200 points, with a couple seconds remaining! I found a new strategy: do the figure eights before the rest of the course. Before, I would do a figure 8, complete the course, then do more figure eights, but this was an ineffective method due to the fact that flying the drone back to the arches took a few seconds. I made good progress today.
Throughout this time we had to work on another competetion so we split the days we worked for drones and for the other competition. When practicing the blind flying section we realized that Ayleen was more fit for communicating. We started to work our skills to perfection to get the maximum amount of points as possible. Over time, we ran into problems with the drone moving from drift during our blind fly course. We had to adapt to the situation since the new parts were on hold, so we tried to work around it by holding the stick in a certain area so it does not move forward or backwards. In the end our time to complete the course when having to do the balls
Throughout practice, we tried to go through the keyholes. We encountered some problems, however, such as our drones that weren't abiding by our code for pitch and were flying way to high upon running our code for takeoff and those that were not taking off at all. However, we persisted through these challenges by finally finding a drone that works, so we realized that it wasn't a problem with our code.
We praticed landing on the bullseye pad, also being within the time, to ensure we score the most amount of points possible. We also practiced precision, speed, and accuracy through our efforts of trying to perfect our techniques.
Our drone broke today! We had set up our teamwork mission and once we started flying the drone, it started malfunctioning. We checked our motors first, since we've encountered this problem before. Ermina then discovered that our drones actual frame broke. Just a few days before the competition! We asked Mr. Peugnet to repair our drone and then we proceeded to grab a new one. The new one we grabbed needed updating. We updated it and it finished, so I suppose problem is somewhat solved!
We realized that Ayleen was better for the blind fly because we saw eachother fly the drone and we came to the conclusion that some people were better for the roles than others. Srinika is the visual observer for the blind fly because she seemed better fit for the role than Ayleen. Communication is also the bulk of the effort that got us to advance to the higher-level competition, Nationals. We are used to communicating with eachother about what is best for our team that will get us the maximum amount of points. This comes from working well as a team. This is what led us to success in the previous competition and will continue to do so in the future.
To split the remaining time we had to work on this, we divided the tasks among us. Ermina, Ayleen, and Srinika were working on the Teamwork mission where Ermina flew through the course, and Srinika and Ayleen alternated who would be the visual observer and time us. For the coding part Zaynab and Anaya worked on it. They modified the code and made minor changed to the final code. By splitting the work, it allowed us to complete more in the remaining time.
The drone that we were given had many flaws in it. One of the main issues we had was the motor placement. Our front red motors lost their "feet" which resulted in the drone having a drift to it when it reached a certain altitude. This really affected the code and resulted in it having issue, so we had to adapt and modify our code so it wouldn't drift away. It also messed up our piloting where the drone had issues staying in its spot when we were trying to commmunicate for the Blind Flying. To try and resolve this issue we used an electric tape which held the motors in their place. It improved the drift a little bit, but it helped us a lot. We had made a mistake in the beginning where we did not realize that when the battery was low. We had made a mistake in the beginning where we did not realize that when the battery was low.
Although there were many defects, we learned many things about it too. We figured out that electric tape held the propellers down for stability. We also learned that the lower the speed (S1,S2,S3), the easier it is to control the drone.
This is a photo of the drone model we worked with.