Drone Blocks

Drone Blocks

This week, my partner and I had the opportunity to work online testing and practice with Drone Blocks - in preparation for flying actual drones in the near future.

My partner Madi and I had to login to the DroneBlocks website to learn about how the drones work and also how to apply coding. The lessons demonstrated basic programming concepts and walked us through code examples. Another video we had to watch covered how our codes affect the drone. Here we learned specific vocabulary such as take-off, yaw, land, etc.

Vocab To Remember:

Yaw: Rotation about the X,Y, and Z axis (have the drone turn)

Blocks: Lexical structure of code source which is grouped together

Codes: A set of instructions that tells a computer what to do

Loop: A program structure that repeats a sequence of instructions until a specific instruction is met

Hover: Remain in place while in the air

Variables: A value that can change depending on conditions or information passed to the program

In the beginning of our selected program, we noticed it was more informational than it was supposed to be hands on. We were still able to follow along and understand what each section was looking and asking for, as if we had an actual drone in front of us. This Program was very informal and helped us have close to a better understanding of Drone Blocks. It was an exciting experiment!

We broke each lesson down one-by-one and pulled the basic given information to share with you!

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Our Program was Tello & Art Presents: Dance

In this program there was a formal Introduction followed by 6 Lessons

Lesson 1: Inspiration

Since having already completed the Introduction to Tello Drone Programming we were familiar with DroneBlocks and the capabilities of basic command blocks. This was the programmed code given on Lesson 1 and these were the steps as follows:

1. Power on Tello and place on a flat, open-area surface (indoors)
2. Double tap your home button and go to Settings > Wifi
3. Tap on the Tello, which will create a hotspot that will look similar to: Tello-XXXXXX
4. Double tap your home button and return to DroneBlocks
5. Click "Connect To Tello"
6. Now that you are ready to execute your mission click the hamburger icon (the blue icon with three lines.)
7. Click "Launch Mission."

Lesson 2: Synchronization

For this lesson you have to practice synchronizing the drones using the timing or rhythm of music. Synchronization is the movement or activity of two or more things happening at the same exact time. In technology, it is often synced, or "merge" information across our multiple devices.

In this lesson the understanding of key vocabulary will assist with student understanding. Beats per minute (BPM), is a measurement of beats in song. Tempo, a concept of speed in music. Tempo can be a slow, adagio beat or it can be a fast, presto beat. Metronomes are used in music to keep a steady beat.

The steps to the process are as follows:

1. Make sure you review your code blocks and understand the intended behavior of your mission
2. Power on Tello and place on an open, flat, indoor area. 
3. Double tap your home button and go to Settings > Wifi
4. Tap on Tello, which will create a hotspot that will look similar to: Tello-XXXXXX
5. Double tap your home button and return to DroneBlocks
6. Click "Connect To Tello"
7. Now that you're ready to execute your mission click the "hamburger" icon. (the blue icon with three lines)
8. Click "Launch Mission"
9. Watch the magic happen!

Lesson 3: Programming to Music 

The focus of this Lesson is to sync commands to the selected music (music selected of your choice.)

This can sound simple, but keeping the timing of commands can be more difficult than it is easy. Practice using variations of the hover and speed blocks to balance movement with music.

This step can be found highly challenging so it was recommended that you take more than the recommended time given and to also practice, practice, practice - practice makes perfect!

Lesson 4: Choreography

In this lesson Math and engineering concepts collide with creativity and art! Now we prepare to dance! When choreographing the design and code for this dance, determine how complex you would like it to be. Often, choreography that is well-planned and synchronizes with the music flows and provides a better visual performance than intricate, syncopated design that attempts to move to every beat, but prevents opportunity for errors.

Before beginning to code, consider the following: 

1. measure and map out the area in which you will be flying,
2. life of the battery and ability to hold a full charge,
3. And time for mistakes or retakes. 

Examples of Specific ideas to have students incorporate into their choreography are:

    1. Use between 12 and 20 blocks of code.

    2. Stay within a 60 inch square boundary.

    3. Use either a loop or variable block.

    4. Land in the same place as takeoff.

Lesson 5: Collaborative Dance 

This section is more of a two person job. Partners come together and collaborate to get both of their Drone in Sync that way they have the same music, codes, and programs. 

Here is an example of choreographed missions that begin with identical movements, reverse their movements, and then re-join together at the end!

Lesson 6: Recital and Competition

At this section, Drones should be completed and ready for presentation - either solo or partnered/groups! You can throw in a little competition and have students within the same grade level compete their drones with one another. You can also have a simple recital and invite other classes, admin, or families to come and watch the drones. 

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The standards that fit this activity:

5.1.c - Leverage CT and CS experts, resources, and professional learning networks to continuously improve practice integrating CT across content areas.

5.2.b - Construct and implement culturally relevant learning activities that address a diverse range of ethical, social, and cultural perspectives on computing and highlight computing achievements from diverse role models and teams.

   

This activity is an outstanding way to implement early understanding of CS and CT skills. This selected activity is also culturally relevant - Art of Dance. Younger generations are growing up with multiple and more advanced forms of technology. Many students know what a drone is through different forms of social platforms. This contributes to students' confidence in their experiences with CS.

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My Partner and I enjoyed learning about integrating the art of dance with technology, engineering, science, and math! We took tons of notes and can't wait to get our hands on a real drone that way we can use these notes as guidance when we start to create our own codes, programming, and music!

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TELLO DRONE PRACTICE ON SEPT. 19

On September 19, 2023 My Partner Madi and I had the opportunity to practice with flying an actual Tello-Drone - Tello-JellyFish. Our Code is as follows in the photo below. We programmed our Tello-Drone to fly in a square (box) 5 times and then the Tell-Drone did a forward front-flip then did a backflip, then we programmed it to finish by landing.

Our practice with the Tello-Drone was exciting and lots of fun! We were able to do hands-on with the drones and it helped with understanding tech and working more with the drone/robot.

My Partner and I feel much more prepared now that we were able to gain experience in working with the Drone and also being able to navigate our way around with the Tello and DroneBlocks APPs.

We also included our video of the Tello-Drone mastering its programmed code during class on Sept. 19