Solo Controller hacking - did anyone do anything of this ?

[VCD]

If the controller does an RTL , especially when due to low battery - it will mess with the gimbal pitch range, as well as it's scale (RC6) and even stop forwarding some Artoo button presses.

Did anyone do any modifications / found or looked for this code ?

or better : have the Controller source code ?

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Yes. It's a rather convoluted process as I'm sure you've noticed. And it creates way too many points of failure. For the Green Cube and ArduCopter master project, we've actually completely removed the existing RTH process in favor native ArduCopter RTL Mode. It is reliable, simple, and removes so many points of failure.

If you want to do that on yours, you can. Go here (SoloScripts/IMX at master · ArduPilot/SoloScripts · GitHub). Grab buttonManager.py, shotManager.py, and rcManager.py. Go to each file, select raw, and save as. Copy them into the /usr/bin/ directory on the Solo (not the controller, the solo) overwriting the existing files. Reboot the solo and they'll be compiled. Anything that used to trigger the custom "Return To Home" smart shot will now just switch modes to ArduCopter RTL. It will run directly on the Pixhawk. No other points of failure. No controls will be locked out. Mode buttons and gimbal still function.

 

[pater]

Is it possible to override Solo RTL to ArduCopter RTL as well in stock Solo cube ?

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

Yes, what I just described is for exactly that.

 

[mrreddog]

Ive always thought RTL & RTH were basically the same thing, I assumed people were just calling them different names just as a personal preference.
can someone school me on this?

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

When 3DR was making the solo, they decided to re-invent the wheel for a lot of things. Thing that ArduCopter already does, they wanted to do themselves to build upon and make little customizations. They created a "smart shot" called Return to Home (RTH). It is scripted in python and operates the copter in guided mode just like all the other smart shots. It rises up, flies over home, and lands. In their rush to release, combined with the ESC slew rate mess, combined with giving up completely and firing everyone, it was left not in a very good state. Nothing fancy was ever added to it, they never finished the custom land mode, and it had some nasty bugs in it. As many have noticed, it also locks out some controls.

It works ok on a stock solo. The bugs a kinda masked but they're present if you look hard. Use ArduCopter master without the slew rate limiting and it gets really ugly. An in any case, it is a huge point of failure. These smart shots are vulnerable to failure and hiccups. Using something buggy and unnecessary like that as a failsafe is not a good idea. ArduCopter's native RTL mode works better to begin with, is rock solid stable, has no bugs, and nothing to go wrong.

 

[VCD]

@Pedals2Paddles Thanks, I just (apparently by mistake) thought I saw the controller change paddle output, not the iMX6 onboard solo, and posted that right before going on vacation.
I'll do a proper diff and see what I've missed, when I get back August 8th, as I did play with at least button & shotmanager when integrating RX100 camera.