Solex Follow Me

[blahdc]

I can't seem to get the Follow Me mode in Solex to work. I am using a Trek 2 Android tablet. GPS app on the tablet shows satellites being acquired. Is this working for others? I also noticed that the Solo seems to jitter in the air when I try this mode. Not sure if that is related or not. I did calibrate the camera prior to trying the follow me mode.

 

[just_bruce]

First are you attempting to use Optical Follow or GPS Follow? Second, are you using Look At Me mode? That will cause it to hover in place and yaw to track your position. Also, if you are nearly directly below the bird some of the jitteries and such can occur as the algorithm tries to parse how to follow something which is basically colocated.

 

[blahdc]

First are you attempting to use Optical Follow or GPS Follow? Second, are you using Look At Me mode? That will cause it to hover in place and yaw to track your position. Also, if you are nearly directly below the bird some of the jitteries and such can occur as the algorithm tries to parse how to follow something which is basically colocated.

I tried both. When using the optical follow I would draw a box around myself and then it would show a little green marker. Once I started walking away it had a lot of trouble with object recognition and the green marker would wander off in all kinds of different directions. It doesn't seem as good as DJI's object recognition but I am guessing that this was programmed by 3DR when the solo came out? During this time the drone would just hover in the same position. I also tried GPS Follow and it would hover in the same spot as well. "Look at me" was on both times but I did toggle that on and off during the GPS follow option. It was definitively not yawing for either of these options. I was also using leash mode during the tests. I was initially 20-30 feet horizontally away from the solo and had tried walking 200+ ft away from it.

 

[JBAlaska]

I have not tried optical follow me yet but I have used the Solex "Target" app a few times and it works great. I really have not had the need to use any follow modes in the Camera work I do with my Solo's, but I'm sure someone here will be of more help. Good luck!

 

[Michael Lione]

I have played with and had similar luck with the optical follow me. Never tried GPS mode. I can add that the optical version is unique to Solex. The developer admits it is a work in progress and very unstable. He has threatened to pull it out of the app. There are several How To YouTube vids that explain the process.

 

[Kelly Schrock]

I have played with and had similar luck with the optical follow me. Never tried GPS mode. I can add that the optical version is unique to Solex. The developer admits it is a work in progress and very unstable. He has threatened to pull it out of the app. There are several How To YouTube vids that explain the process.

Haha, yes, Follow/Optical is a work in progress. The problem with it is that the only object-tracking algorithm I've found that works fast enough on an Android device using a video stream over WiFi from a GoPro is also unable to report when it has lost tracking on the object. So when you see it bouncing all around like that, it means it has lost it. I suppose I could look for random radical moves in the object's reported location and assume that it has failed at that point. I actually put a note in my todo list this week to "fish or cut bait" on Follow/Optical. It may become "Follow/Manual" at some point, where you track an object by pointing at it on the screen. That does work, but of course isn't as cool as having it just "see" the target and follow it.

 

[blahdc]

I put a few more hours on the Solo this weekend and tried the follow me a bit more. The Trek 2 does appear to be working on my end with Solex. I think I was originally expecting it to be more responsive to movement in close range but it must have limitations with GPS. After reading the 3DR manual a bit more I think this mode would be good for following slow moving vehicles. Doesn't appear to be ideal for following objexts close to the Solo. I am curious what others have used this mode for. I definitely recommend keeping your finger near the fly or pause button if you or it while in this mode. If I do an orbit and pause it while using my solo it seems to get a little sideways on me, maybe due to GPS and trying to get back into position? I was close to trees (not a good idea) but plan to try this mode out a bit more.