DronePet

AdityaBansalDhruvKaushal
UniversityofCalifornia,SanDiego

ABSTRACT

Weallknowhowbigphotographyisfortravelers,butveryfewofusunderstandthediscomfortthesepeople

havetogothroughtocapturethesemoments.Carryingaheavycamera,atripod,andnumerousother

accessoriescanbebothersome.Therefore,wedecidedtocreateareadytoflydrone,thatisfully

autonomous,andiscapableofrecordingvideosoftravelersdoingactivitiessuchashiking,skiingetc.

Wewereabletouseacheapdronetoflyautonomouslyinanonwindyenvironment,thatwaseasytoset

up,andhadfailsafefeaturestoprotectitfromcrashing.WealsodevelopedacustomPIDcontroller,which

wouldcalculatetheerrorbetweenthedronescurrentpositionandthepersontofollow,andthensuggest

thespeedthedroneshouldusetoreducetheerror.Thisway,wewereabletogetitworkingforslow

activitieslikehiking,aswellasfastpacedactivitieslikerunning/jogging.Overall,wewereabletoreducethe

costofsuchanautonomousdronefrom$1500to$300.

INTRODUCTION

Thedronepetprojectthatweworkedonforthisclassmainlyconsistedofadronethatwouldautonomously

track,followandrecordpeoplewhiletheywouldperformoutdooractivities,allowingthemtobefreeofthe

burdensofcarryingacamera,etc.Weencounteredmanydifferentrequirementsandobstaclestofulfillour

goalsfortheproject.Thecheapdronethatweusedfortheprojectrequiredmorecareduetoits

unresponsivenatureduringheavywindsduetoitsinbuiltflightcontrollerandstabilizer.

Inthisarticle,wepresenthowweimplementedthefunctionalityofautonomousnavigationandtracking,how

wewereabletoovercomethechallengeswefacedduringtheimplementationoftheproject,howourtime

wasstructuredduringthequarterthroughthemilestonesthatwehadsetandhowweevolvedour

milestonesaswewentalongtheprojectandgainedmoreexperiencebuildingthenavigationsystem.We
alsotalkaboutourfailedattemptstointegratecertaintechnologiesintoourprojectandhowweendedup

learningfromthemandfinallywetalkaboutwhatkindoffuturedevelopmentthisprojectwouldrequiretobe

commercializedandfinetuned.

Onahighlevel,ourdronefollowsaspecificworkflowsoaccomplishitsjob.Theorderingoftheitemsinthe

workflowshowthestepsrequiredbythedronetobefullyfunctionalinitsobjectiveandbeabletocomplete

thetaskwithaslittleoutsideinterferenceaspossible

Recordvideosortakeimagesdependingonthechosenpreference(Skippedforclass)

Flytothepresetflyingaltitude

Identifythepersontofollow

Navigateandkeepthepresethardcodeddistancefromtheperson

Keeptrackingpersonfortheallocatedtime

Safelylandattheendoftheallocatedtimeorwhenthebatteryislow

Thisworkflowallowedforustobeabletoaccomplishallthetasksthatwehadsetupfortheproject,asyou

willseeinthemilestonessection.Duetotimelimitationsandbeingforcedtousethedronesinbuiltflight

controller,wewereunabletocustomizebehaviorduringdifferentweatherconditions,whichalsomadeitso

thatwedidnothavecompletecontrolofthemovementsofthedroneinwindyenvironment.

TECHNICALMATERIAL
Weusedaparrotardrone2.0,andthetagsthatitcamewithtoimplementourautonomousflightcontroller.

Thiswastheonlypieceofhardwarethatwehadtouse,otherthanthebatteriesandthechargers.

WealsousedROS(RoboticsOperatingSystem)runningonavirtualUbuntumachine,thatbehavedasa

messagingsystembetweenourcodeandthedroneitself.

Toconnecttothedrone,weusedtheparrotdronesinbuiltwifimodule.


ThecalculationsfornavigationforthedronewasdoneinpythonasROSnodes,whichwouldrunona

computerandthensenttothedronethroughwifiusingROStopics.

MILESTONES

Ourobjectivefortheprojectwastofulfilltheserequirementsthatwedeemednecessaryforthesuccessof

theproject

1. Easytosetup

Oneofthebiggestproblemswithofftheshelfsolutionsthatwehadencounteredwasthattheyrequired

trainingandcalibrationafterbeforebeingabletousethem.Thusoneofourmajorgoalswastomakesure

thatourdronecouldbereadytousestraightoutofthebox.

2. Affordability

Wewantedtomakethedroneaffordable,sinceofftheshelfsolutionscostedupwardsof$1,500whichwe

consideredtobetooexpensiveforgeneraladaptationofthistechnology.

3. Recordingrecreationactivities(Skippedforthisclass)

Finally,wewantedittobeabletorecordpeoplesrecreationalactivitiessuchashiking,skiing,etc.This

requiredittohaveatrackingfeature,autonomousnavigation,etc.

Duringtheplanningphaseforthisproject,wehadsetupthefollowingmilestonesfortheproject

1. InterfacingthedronewithROS

WewantedtobeabletocontrolthedroneusingthewellknownroboticscommunicationframeworkROS.

ROSwouldhaveallowedustoeasilyintegrateourprojectuntonumerousotherdronesallowingforgreater

portability.ROSstandsforRoboticsOperatingSystem,andisanintermediarybetweenyourcode/terminal,

andyourrobot,whichinourcaseisthedrone.

2. Semiautonomousflights

Duringtheinitialtestingphase,wehadplannedtocheckourdronesresponsivenessbycoding

semiautonomousflightsfirst,suchthatwecouldlearnthelimitationsthedronehadonitsnavigability,

outsideinterferences(likewinds)andalsototestthecontrollerwhichwewroteforthedrone.

3. TagdetectionorOpenCV

Inordertokeeptrackofthepersonthedronehadtofollow,weusedtheinbuilttagdetectioncapabilityof

theParrotARdrone2.0.Thiswasprobablytheeasiestpartoftheprojectaswedidnthavetowriteany

OpenCVcodeorreinventthewheel.WeusedthegivenSDKtowritesomebasicfunctionsthatwould

recognisetheorangebluemarkersshowninthevideos.

4.
PIDController

PIDstandsforproportional,integral,derivative,andisafeedbackloopmechanismthatiscommonlyusedto

correcttheerrorbetweenthecurrentsituation,andtherecommendedsituation.Inourproject,weuseditto

calculatetheerrorbetweenthepositionofthedroneandthepositionofthetag.Thenwesentthis

informationtothenextpart.

5. Autonomousflightnavigation

Oneofourmajormilestoneswasfortheautonomousflightnavigationsystemtobesetup,wherethedrone

wouldfollowthepersondetectedbythetagautonomouslywithoutanyotherinterference.Wehadplanned

tousetheinbuiltflightcontrollerandimplementtheautonomousbehaviorinpythonanduseitusingROS.

6. Bugfixesandfinetuning

Ourlastmilestoneinitiallyhadtimeallocatedforbugfixesandfinetuningtheautonomousnavigation

algorithmswhiledoingrealworldflyingtests.

Revisionsmadeduringthemiddleofthequarter

Forthemostpartwehadsimilarmilestonesinthemiddleofthequarter,expectafewchangestothe

trackingpartofourproject.Thedronethatweused,camewithcertainTagsthatitscameracouldrecognize

whichweusedinsteadofOpenCVsobjectdetectionfortrackingpeople.Additionally,weswitchedOpenCV

toworkmoreonobstacledetectiontoimprovethesafetyandsurvivabilityofthedrone.

Attheendofthequarter,themilestoneswewereunabletoimplementwererelatedtoOpenCV.Wehad

failedtocalculatethecomputingpowerthatOpenCValgorithmstook,whichmadeitsuchthatthe

computationaldelaythatthealgorithmscausewaslongenoughforthedronetobeunabletotrackand

navigateproperly.Oneofthefixeswewereworkingonincludedonlyrunningtheobjectdetectionalgorithm

onceasecondsuchthattherewouldbelesscomputingtodoandthuslessdelay,butitcausederratic

behaviorinournavigation.Alsoitcausedthedronetostoprandomlyduetofalsepositivesandobjects

detectedfarfromthedroneforwhichitshouldnotneedtotakeanyspecialaction.

Anotherproblemweencounteredduringthecourseofthequarterwasthefactthatourdronewouldfollow

themovementcommandsperfectlyduringstillweather,butstrongwindsmadeitunstableandunableto

moveasinstructed.ThisendedupcausingalotofproblemduetothefactthatSanDiegogotreallywindy

duringourtestingphasewhichmadeitsuchthatwewereunabletocollectasmuchflyingdataaswe

wantedto.

OBSTACLES
1. Testingindoors.

Asyoucouldseeinthefinalvideo,theindoorspacesareverysmallandnotidealtotestprojects

likequadcopters.Thewaytheparrotardroneworks,ifiteventouchesanythingontheside,itstarts

tobehaveinaveryerraticmanner.

 2. Smallbattery

Theflyingtimeonthequadcopterwasrathersmall,around78minutes,anditwouldtakeafull2

hourstocharge.Thissloweddownthetestingquiteabit,andwewouldspendalotoftimejust

tryingtotestthedronewithoutactuallyflyingit.

3. Windyenvironment

Thebiggestchallengewefacedwasmakingthedroneworkinwindyenvironment.Assoonasthe

windspeedwent>5mph,thedronewouldnotworking,evenmanually.Whilereadingabout,we

realizedthatthisismoreofaproblemwithquadcoptersthanourflightcontroller.Someofthehigher

enddronesalsostrugglewithmanualflightcontrolinwindyenvironment,letaloneautonomous

functionality.

4. Practicalityissues.

Whilsttagfollowingwasafunprojecttoimplement,itsnotthemostpracticalwaytodevelopan

autonomousdrone,asitneedsidealconditionsliketherightwindspeed,therightlightingforthe

camera,therightenvironmentetc.Tomakeamorerealworldfriendlydrone,weregoingtotry

incorporatingaGPSbasedfollowingmodetoourdrone.

CONCLUSION
Overall,wehadalotfunintheclass,andwereallyenjoyedbuildingourownautonomousquadcopter.With

theexceptionofmakingitworkinwindyenvironment,weareveryhappywiththeresultsofourmilestones.

Wewillcontinuetoenhanceourproject,sointhefuturewecancompetewithhigherenddronesliketheDJI

Phantomorthe3DRSolo.Next,wewanttomakeitGPScompatible,soitcanfollowpeoplearoundwithout

atag.Wehopetofinishthenextmilestonessometimewithinthenext6months,andthentakeourprojectto

market.

VideoLink:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CUk7CVd9Zs
Github:
https://github.com/maddymanu/CSE145