0.5: Getting to Know Your Smart Controller (JROTC ed.)

You are about to take your first flight with CoDrone EDU (JROTC ed.)! Before you do, there are a few important notes to ensure a safe flight.

• CoDrone EDU (JROTC ed.) is meant to be an indoor drone only. If flown outdoors, you may lose it!
• Make sure you have enough space to fly comfortably.
• Beware of ceiling fans and breakable items. You wouldn’t want to knock anything over.
• If at home, keep pets out of the room, so the drone does not become a chew toy.
• If you are somewhere with high ceilings or ledges that are difficult to reach, have something ready that can help you bring it down.
• When picking up the drone, protect your fingers by holding the drone from the guards at all times.
• If you have long hair, you may want to tie it up.

Now that you’ve read the procedures, read on to get started!

Take a moment to look at all the buttons on your controller. You will be learning how to use the controls to take your first flight with CoDrone EDU (JROTC ed.).

Before you fly, it’s important to remember a few notes about controller care. Take care of your controller since you need it for piloting and programming!

• Fold the antenna and controller arms in when not in use
• Disconnect any cables when storing the controller.
• When disconnecting the cable, grip the cable as close as you can to the port and firmly pull it straight out.
• Carry your controller in your hand (not by the cable!)
• There are movable parts (antenna and arm handles). Avoid moving those back and forth excessively.

Follow along with the video tutorial below to become an expert on your CoDrone EDU (JROTC ed.) controller. Make sure you have enough room! Then, keep reading below to review what you learned.

Note: On the JROTC edition, there are a few changes:

• Instead of a Micro USB port, the JROTC edition uses a USB-C port (cable included in the box)
• The default status screens that are shown by default are different from the standard edition. You can easily use the Settings > Display menu to SHOW/HIDE the ones you want to see.
• When powering through the cable, the JROTC edition controller will not automatically power on. Always press the power button to turn the controller on and off.
• The JROTC edition controller does not use AA batteries. It uses the same battery as the drone.
• In the Setting menu, the FHSS and INFORMATION options are removed.
• Finally, screen drawing capabilities are not yet available with CoDrone EDU (JROTC ed.)

To get the best connection between the drone and your controller, fold out the antenna on top of your controller. Point the antenna directly at the drone while it is in flight. Make sure that the line of sight between your controller’s antenna and the drone is not obstructed. This could cause connection issues between the drone and the controller.

Practice a takeoff and landing. To takeoff, press and hold L1 for at least 3 seconds. You can let go when the drone leaves the ground. To land, press and hold L1 again. Observe how the drone hovers in the air. Is it stable?

Activity: Take off and hover for 3 seconds before landing. Do not move any of the joysticks while hovering.

Using L1 to take off can take a few seconds. If you need to take off more quickly, you can use this alternate method. To start the motors, push both joysticks downward, angling them toward the middle. Then, push up on the left joystick to take off.

Sometimes while flying you may find that something has gone wrong with your drone, like one of the motors has stopped working, or your drone has flown in a way you did not anticipate. In order to stop the drone in an emergency situation, the CoDrone EDU (JROTC ed.) has a command that will stop the drone’s motors immediately without landing.

If you must use the emergency stop, try to catch the drone whenever possible.

Activity: Press L1 to takeoff. Wait 4 seconds. Hold L1 while simultaneously pulling down the left joystick to shut the motors off immediately. What is different between emergency stopping and landing?

Right and Left

Push the right joystick right and left to move the drone side-to-side. This movement controls the roll of the drone.

Up and Down

Push the left joystick up and down to move the drone up and down. This movement controls the throttle of the drone.

Turn Left and Right

Push the left joystick right and left to turn the drone left and right. This movement controls the yaw of the drone.

Note: The values of yaw will be positive when you turn left, and negative when you turn right. You will learn more about this when you learn about programming flight movements.

CoDrone EDU (JROTC ed.) has three speed settings: S1, S2, and S3. Changing the speed setting will increase the maximum speed of your drone. The current speed setting is indicated on the top left of your controller screen. Try out all the speeds. Make sure you have enough room around you and never fly toward people, pets, or other objects.

To flip the drone, the drone battery has to be at least 50%.

1. Press and hold R1 until you hear a sound from your controller.
2. When you hear the sound, use the right joystick to select a direction (forward, backward, left, or right flip)

Press R1 to cycle between the LED colors for the drone and controller. This is also a great way to check which drone the controller is connected to without needing to fly. Set your drone and controller to your favorite color.

Use the “S” button to switch the status screen. The different screens show sensor data as well as crash data and firmware versions. Keep pressing “S” to return to the main screen, with the arrow displaying the heading.

The CoDrone EDU (JROTC ed.) has a “Return Home” feature that allows the drone to fly back to its takeoff position on its own! This can be helpful if you want an easy way to get your drone back to its starting position without flying it yourself.

Find an area for your drone to take off from. Make sure that this takeoff zone has plenty of space around it. We will be using the “return home” feature, and we don’t want to accidentally crash into anything!

Let’s practice returning home!

1. Press and hold L1 to take off.
2. Fly forward using the right stick. Try to get at least 6 feet away from your takeoff zone.
3. Press and hold the “H” button on your remote until you hear a noise.
4. Once you hear the remote beeping, let go of the “H” button. Your drone will now return to its takeoff zone
5. Press and hold L1 to land, or hold down on the left stick and manually land.

Challenge 1

Use your joysticks to fly CoDrone EDU (JROTC ed.) in the shape of the letters in the alphabet! Let’s start with an easy one. “D” for drone!

1. Press and hold L1 to take off.
2. Using the right stick, make your CoDrone EDU fly in a “D” shape.
3.  Press and hold L1 to land.

Next, try the whole alphabet! Or spell each letter in your name.

Challenge 2

What happens when you fly CoDrone EDU (JROTC ed.) forward while throttling up and down? You get a wave!

1. Press and hold L1 to takeoff.
2. Fly forward by pressing up on the right joystick.
3. While flying forward, move your left joystick up and down.
4. Press and hold L1 to land.

Here are some more examples of flight challenges. Try out some of these challenging shapes.