Introduction: Color Following AR Parrot Drone
Hi! Do you have an AR Parrot Drone? Fun, aren't they? How would you like your drone to follow your red shirt, or unique glyph photo. Or maybe remote control your drone with a joystick, wii remote or voice recognition. Even better, how cool would it be to have your drone remote controlled from another location over the internet? Yeah, thought so!
All of those scenarios are possible, but in this tutorial i'm going to cover the Color following ability.
Below is a video that covers the next few steps.
All of those scenarios are possible, but in this tutorial i'm going to cover the Color following ability.
Below is a video that covers the next few steps.
Step 1: Download EZ-Builder
The software we will use to control the AR Drone is EZ-Builder.
To download and install EZ-Builder:
To download and install EZ-Builder:
- Visit http://www.ez-robot.com/EZ-Builder
- Scroll to the Download section
- Select Download from the EZ-Builder Robot Control Software
- Follow through with the installation procedure
Step 2: Connect Over WiFi
You will require a WiFi connection to the AR Parrot Drone from your computer.
- Power the AR Drone by connecting the battery
- Wait until the lights signal the device is ready
- On your WiFi enabled PC, connect to the Drone by selecting the wireless network. In the included photo, the wireless network of my drone is called EZ-Robot
Step 3: Configure EZ-Builder
Now it's time to load EZ-Builder and create a project to control your AR Parrot Drone.
Now let's add the Movement Panel for the AR Drone
It's camera time! Let's add a Control to see the camera visual of the AR Drone
- Locate EZ-Builder from the Start Menu
- Select and run EZ-Builder
Now let's add the Movement Panel for the AR Drone
- Select Add Control from the top menu
- Locate AR Drone from the list of categories
- Select Movement Panel from the sub menu
It's camera time! Let's add a Control to see the camera visual of the AR Drone
- Select Add Control from the top menu
- Select Camera from the list of categories
- Select Camera Device from the sub menu
Step 4: EZ-Builder Calling AR Drone
Hello AR Drone, can you hear me?
Let's connect the EZ-Builder to the Drone so we can now control it and see the image...
Now you should see the video image from the AR Drone's camera! Sweeeeeeeeet.
Let's connect the EZ-Builder to the Drone so we can now control it and see the image...
- Ensure you are still connected to the AR Drone via WiFi.
- On the AR Drone Movement Panel, press the Connect button.
- Once the button has been renamed to Disconnect, press the Camera On button.
- In the Camera control, select AR_Drone from the Video Device drop down
Now you should see the video image from the AR Drone's camera! Sweeeeeeeeet.
Step 5: Learn the Controls
Before we get the AR Drone chasing your colored object, let's first make sure you can fly the Drone with the computer's keyboard. The EZ-Builder software will use the flight data from the Drone to aid in stabilization... The software can only help so much! Make sure you're in a Flight Friendly zone :)
To take off..
Forward will cause your Drone to fly forward. Left and Right will turn left or right, respectively. The Q and W keys will strafe left and right.
Landing...
To take off..
- Press the Flat Trim button once the AR Drone is on a flat surface.
- Press Take-Off to have the drone begin flying
- Move your cursor into the black box beneith the control windows and click.
- Now that you have focus moved into the black box, you have control with the arrow keys of your computer's keyboard.
Forward will cause your Drone to fly forward. Left and Right will turn left or right, respectively. The Q and W keys will strafe left and right.
Landing...
- Press the Land button to land the Drone.
Step 6: Configure Color Tracking
Once you are familiar with flying the Drone with the keyboard, now let's enable color tracking!
Back in the main Camera Control, we now have to enable Color tracking.
Now you may press the Take-Off button from the AR Drone control and your drone will automatically turn to follow the specified color.
Some important notes:
You may now play around with other Controls found in EZ-Builder to control your AR Drone...
Consider mounting the EZ-B Controller on the shell of your AR Parrot Drone for fully autonomous exploration! Attach HC-SR04 distance sensors to the front, rear and sides of the indoor Drone shell. Now your Drone can self navigate down hallways and avoid obsticles!
- Connect to the EZ-B Robot Controller
- Press Config in the Camera control
- Select Movement Tracking checkbox
- De-select Allow Forward Movement checkbox
- Select Allow Left/Right Movement checkbox
- Press Save
Back in the main Camera Control, we now have to enable Color tracking.
- Select Color from the tracking type checkbox list
- Select the Color settings tab
- Tune the Color Brightness value until only the colored object is detected
Now you may press the Take-Off button from the AR Drone control and your drone will automatically turn to follow the specified color.
Some important notes:
- Operate the drone in a flight safe area!
- Cover or hide any colored objects in the area that match the tracking color
- Bright environments are important for proper detection. Fine tune the Color Brightness for your lighting condition
- To detect the colored object from a greater distance, tune the Min Object Size value
You may now play around with other Controls found in EZ-Builder to control your AR Drone...
- Speech Recognition
- HTTP Server
- Wii Remote
- Joystick
- Custom Scripting
Consider mounting the EZ-B Controller on the shell of your AR Parrot Drone for fully autonomous exploration! Attach HC-SR04 distance sensors to the front, rear and sides of the indoor Drone shell. Now your Drone can self navigate down hallways and avoid obsticles!