0.3: Getting to know your drone

Any pilot should know their aircraft like the back of their hand before flying it. This lesson will go over proper setup to be in proper condition for flying.
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This lesson uses:

CoDrone EDU

  • introduction
  • motors
  • propellers
  • sensors

Grade level:

6 - +12

Approx. time required:

10 - 15 mins
Step 1

Introduction

Pick up your drone and make as many observations as you can (without taking apart the drone).

  • What sensors can you identify? How do you think they work?
  • How do you think it’s put together?
  • What do you notice about the motors and propellers?
  • How does the drone communicate to the controller?
  • Where does the battery go?
  • What buttons do you see?
Step 2

Top view

Now look at the top side of your drone. Were your observations correct?

Action button

This button is programmable and can be used to start an action. On the current firmware this button can reset the gyroscope and accelerometer.

Front range sensor

This sensor is an infrared sensor that uses time and the speed of light to calculate distance to the nearest object within a range of 1.5 meters. You will learn more about this sensor in the sensor programming lessons.

Frame

Observe that the frame includes the guards and comes all in one piece. The frame protects the drone from damage. It also protects you and others if there’s a crash.

LED light

The multicolor LED can be programmed in both Blockly and Python. It can also indicate the drone state. For example, a red blinking LED means the drone has disconnected or is running low on battery.

Step 3

Bottom view

Flip your drone upside down to see the bottom. Can you point out all the sensors?

Bottom range sensor

Like the front range sensor, the bottom range sensor uses infrared light to calculate distance to the nearest object within 1.5 meters.

Front and rear color sensors

The bottom color sensors read the amount of red, green, and blue light reflected back from the surface underneath. In the lesson on the color sensor, you will learn how to calibrate the sensor to detect any color you want! This sensor is deactivated during flight.

Pairing button

Use this button if the drone needs to be paired to a new controller. Your drone and controller already come paired out of the box, but in an upcoming lesson you will learn the pairing process in case you ever need to swap controllers.

Optical flow sensor

The optical flow sensor helps the drone estimate it’s position relative to where it took off. This sensor is similar to the one on the bottom of your computer mouse! It senses pattern changes on the surface to calculate how far it has traveled.

Battery slot

Note that the battery slot has a small notch in the frame on the bottom side of the drone.

Micro USB port

The Micro USB port is not for charging the battery. Do not connect the Micro USB when there is a battery inserted in the drone. The only time a Micro USB cable should be connected to the drone is during a firmware update.

 

Step 4

Where is the front of my drone?

When piloting a drone, it is important to know which direction is “forward”. In other aircraft like planes the front is very obvious. Quadcopters are very symmetrical so there are a few visual cues you can use to determine which way your drone is going to fly forward.

Front range sensor

The best way to know which way the drone is facing is by the front range sensor. This infrared distance sensor has a small infrared transmitter and receiver. Look for this sensor and you will be looking at the front of the drone!

Propeller colors

Out of the box, CoDrone EDU has red propellers on the two front motors. This is the easiest way to know which way your drone is facing. However, if you replace or swap propellers with different colors, you may not be able to rely on the color of the propellers to indicate the front of the drone. You will learn more about propeller replacement in a later lesson.

Navigation LEDs

Have you ever noticed that planes have a green LED on the right wing and a red LED on the left wing? These are aviation standards that quickly identify the direction of a moving aircraft, especially at night. While drones do not follow these aviation standards, most drones have some form of navigation lights.

When CoDrone EDU takes off, two LEDs on the bottom of the drone will turn on. These are not programmable. The front LED is always green and the back LED is always red.

Step 5

Propeller placement

Take a look at your drone propellers. Propellers spin and push the air down, creating a lift force for takeoff. What do you notice about the shapes? There are actually two types of propellers.

The front two motors spin inward toward the body of the drone and the back two motors spin outward, away from the body of the drone. The propeller directions must match the diagram for the drone to take off. Remember that in this case, the color of the propellers does not matter.

💡If you have trouble remembering which propeller is which, think F for fast forward (clockwise) and R for reverse (counterclockwise).

Step 6

Motor placement

The motor differences may not be as obvious. Flip the drone upside down and pay attention to the color of the wires. There are 2 types of motors.

If you could see through the drone from the top, the motor placement goes like this. The motor directions match the propeller directions.

Step 7

Review

In this lesson you made observations and discoveries about the drone.  You should have:

  1. Identified all of the sensors onboard
  2. Learned how to find the front of the drone three different ways
  3. Observed propeller and motor placement

In the next lesson, you will learn how to power, pair, and charge your drone to prepare for flight.

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