Blue Water Ops

[Jubalr]

Ok.. this was my worry. That it would just land in the water. So I guess now then accidents happen so this is really only a very slim chance that it just crashed.

I wonder if it WAS the Drone's fault and it crashed into the ocean (it would sink to the bottom of course) would the warranty still be valid (if you can't send them anything back)?

Ryan G

Same as they would for a 'fly away'. They still have the logs in the controller that you would send them.

 

[Rich]

My point of a Dynamic Home, would be that as your boat floated or moved (under power) the Solo would get an updated home point, so that if something went bad and it had to execute an automatic RTH, it would likely be closer to you than if your boat was in a much different position than at the launch point.

Also, having the bird hover about 20 ft up and 20 ft out from the launch point may allow you to recover it and fly manually to the boat. Instead of it trying to land in water, which is what would occur if an automated RTH happened now.

Of course if the battery dies before you land it, you lost it in the drink (which is the same as what would happen anyway).

This Dynamic Home mode would need to be in an advanced mode somewhere. But I can see that it would be very useful for many other uses, and not only for use over water.

 

[RyanG]

Gotcha.. That feature would be pretty amazing. I mean they have the FOLLOW feature and it's based off the controller right, so why not have something like this to follow the controller and it land within 5ft of the controller.

I would actually like this type of feature for if I am mountain biking and want to follow me above the trees. Once I am done I would be in a different spot and I would love it to LAND near where I am.

Great idea. I think this could be possible, but what do I know.

Ryan G

 

[Rich]

Here's the text I sent to 3DR to request this feature:

I'd like to suggest an enhancement for Solo which will help in many situations, but especially when flying from a boat or other situations where the operator may need to change the home point for an automated failsafe RTH.

I named this "Dynamic HOME Point" or "Dynamic Home": Basically it uses some similar technology as the 'follow me' mode, in that the Home position is dynamically updated throughout the flight as a position 20 ft out and 20 ft up from the operator's position. Then when the Solo need to perform a RTH (either failsafe or if the operator presses the Home button), the Solo would return to the last received Home position, but it will then hover 20 ft out and 20 ft up from the operator, waiting for the operator to manually land (or to press a button to continue to automatically land). If the battery reaches a critical low power state, then it could stop hovering and land automatically, as a last ditch effort to save it from falling and damaging itself (if it was over water, it would sink anyway)

This would increase the chances of recovering the Solo and solve the issue if flying from a boat, and the boat was drifting, or moving.

It could also be used in other situations such as when someone is moving and perhaps using follow me mode and would prefer the Solo to wait patiently nearby the operator if a distance was traveled during follow me mode.

Of course, this 'Dynamic Home Point' should be protected and only be allowed to be enabled if some "Advanced features" were enabled.

I hope you will consider implementing this feature. Please let me know if you would like to discuss it further.

Their email support team told me I could use this URL to submit enhancement requests here: http://3drobotics.com/made-solo-inquiry/

 

[Operator74656]

So I have been practicing 2-person and 1-person handheld recoveries. Since i am waiting on the gimbal it seems like the perfect time to do this. I can easily catch solo by either grabbing 2 legs or grabbing underneath the center of the body. realistically, you should do it in fly:manual mode with 2 people. I have caught it several times by myself in fly (gps) mode but it is risky. make sure you have a good 10-12 satellite lock and pray that there is no gps degrade when you have it in a hover. once you are in position with it hovering over you 1 foot - reach up grab it with one hand and kill the throttle with the other. it has shut off each time appropriately for me.
as for the questions about solo falling into the sea - you really should go out to a field and start practicing in fly:manual mode. it is not hard and this will show you how solo behaves without gps assistance. nothing crazy happens, it doesnt fly away, shoot lasers, or drop into the sea. it just slowly drifts based on the winds. altitude lock is barometric so there isnt a change from fly mode.
i like to land using fly:manual because it is more fun and is good practice if/when you have to use it do to a gps fail