1F: LED

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.

LED stands for “light-emitting diode”. A diode is an electronic device that allows an electronic current to flow in only one direction. LEDs are beginning to replace traditional light bulbs because they are more efficient.

Your CoDrone Mini has 1 RGB LED on the main body. RGB stands for red, green, and blue. Using the three colors, you can create almost every color imaginable! Aside from making your drone look cool, LEDs provide another form of feedback. A solid LED means your drone is connected, while a flashing LED means it’s in pairing mode or the battery is low.

To use any of the LED blocks, go to the purple lights menu.

For a solid LED, meaning it consistently stays the same color without any flashing, use the “set color to _ with a brightness of _” block.

This block has two parameters, or characteristics:

Color –To change the color of the LEDs, click on the color. It will bring up a menu so that you can choose which color you want to change your CoDrone LED to.

Brightness – How bright the LED is, with 0 being off and 100 being maximum brightness. The brightness value will never be negative!

The turn off block does exactly what it says — it turns either the LED off. The reset LED block is a little like a factory reset, but only for the LED. After using this, your LED will go back to solid red.

Pair to CoDrone Mini and practice using the LED to make a rainbow. Make sure each color shows for one second before switching to the next color. For optimal brightness, set it to 100. Use the wait block for one second in between the color blocks so you can see each color before it moves on to the next one. Have the pattern repeat using a loop!

If you want to see LEDs in flight, just drag and drop the LED block into your flight program, or drag and drop the flight command block into your LED program! Try this code to see what happens.

Challenge: Spy Mission

The first system of electrical telecommunication was the telegraph. It was a device that sent pulses of electricity, either long or short, to send messages. Letters were defined by unique combinations of long and short beeps, called Morse Code. Do you recognize this message?

. . . _ _ _ . . .

This message reads SOS! Look up the Morse Code alphabet and learn some letters. Try coming up with a method to send messages using Morse Code with your CoDrone Mini. If you want, pair up to decode each other’s messages. Send long and short flashes to send your messages using different values for the wait block.