Drone Lab
Step 1: Charge the drones!
Unbox & Power Up! 🔋 a) Carefully unbox your drone and controller. b) Insert two AAA batteries into the back of the controller. c) Use the USB-C cord to charge the drone battery. The drones come with 2 batteries, be sure to charge both!
Check out the video below:
APEX Drone Pilot Program: Take to the Skies! 🚁
Your Mission: To quickly set up and then manually fly your APEX drone, focusing on flight challenges and understanding its capabilities.
Learning Goals:
- You’ll learn to safely operate your APEX drone.
- You’ll practice key flight maneuvers like hovering, turning (yaw), and directional flight.
- You’ll explore features like Headless Mode and different speeds.
- You’ll connect your drone flying experience to real-world STEM applications and potential careers.
Materials You’ll Need:
- APEX Drone and its controller
- Two (2) AAA batteries for the controller
- Your Smartphone (iOS or Android)
- A safe, open space to fly
- User Guide: EchoDrone User Guide
- Drone App:
- iOS: “TSpeed-7” – https://apps.apple.com/in/app/tspeed-7/id1575505851
- Android: Drone App – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apex.at149&hl=en_SG&pli=1
Ready to fly?
Make sure your drone battery is fully charged and slide it onto the drone body. Place the drone on a flat, level surface.
Drone Obstacle Challenge: Design & Flight Prep!
Your Goal Today:
- Collaboratively design a safe and fun drone obstacle course using classroom items.
- Practice precise drone maneuvers that will help you conquer your course.
Materials You’ll Need:
- Your APEX Drone & Controller (charged and paired)
- Classroom furniture/items (chairs, tables, cones, books, tape – anything safe to use as an obstacle or marker)
- Paper and pencils/markers (for sketching your course)
- An open area for initial practice drills
Part 1: Brainstorm & Design Your Drone Playground!
1. Safety Zone Chat
2. Course Design Challenge
Get creative! As a team or class, let’s think about what makes a great drone obstacle course:
- What to Use: How can we use hula hoops (vertically, horizontally?), chairs (fly under, over, around?), tables, or even tape lines on the floor?
- Skill Test: Think about including sections that test:
- Flying through hoops (precision!)
- Flying under tables (altitude control!)
- Making sharp turns around chair legs (yaw and roll mastery!)
- Landing on a target (gentle touch!)
- Start Simple, Add Wow: Maybe your course has an “easy path” and a “challenge path.”
- Flow is Key: Make sure there’s a clear start, finish, and path to follow.
3. Sketch Your Flight Path!
- On paper, draw a map of your proposed obstacle course.
- Label the obstacles and show the intended flight path(s).
- Discuss: Is it safe? Is it challenging? Is it fun? Make adjustments as a team.
Part 2: Sharpen Your Piloting Skills! (Practice in an Open Area)
Before setting up the full course, let’s practice some key moves in a clear space. These will be essential for navigating your awesome designs!
1. Control Check-In:
- Which joystick controls your altitude (up/down)? (Left stick, up/down)
- Which controls yaw (rotating left/right)? (Left stick, left/right)
- Which controls pitch (forward/backward)? (Right stick, up/down)
- Which controls roll (sliding left/right)? (Right stick, left/right) Remember: Small, gentle stick movements are key for precision!
2. Practice Drills:
- Hoop Pass Warm-up:
- Have someone safely hold a hula hoop vertically. Practice slowly flying your drone through the hoop. Focus on steady altitude and precise forward movement. Try it from different angles if you can!
- If possible, lay a hula hoop flat on the ground and practice taking off, hovering above it, and then landing gently inside or beside it.
- Altitude Hold & Weave:
- Practice flying to the height of a tabletop and holding it steady. Then, fly to the height of a chair seat and hold.
- Set up 2-3 “markers” (like books or cones) a few feet apart in a line. Practice weaving the drone around them in a slalom pattern, using smooth roll and yaw controls.
- Precision Rotations (Yaw Practice):
- In an open spot, practice making your drone do slow, controlled 90-degree and 180-degree turns using only the yaw control (left stick, left/right), trying to keep it in the same spot.
Next Up:
Once your course design is approved and you’ve honed your skills, it’s time to set up your classroom obstacle course and get ready for the first flight attempts! Good luck, pilots!
Want more support? Check out the video below.
Aerial Artists: Drone Choreography 🎶
Your challenge is to transform a drone into a dancer. Using a song of your choice, you will design, practice, and record a choreographed flight routine. You can choose to be a pilot and fly it manually or a programmer and code its every move.
The Challenge: Step-by-Step
Find Your Beat: In your group, choose a school-appropriate song or a 30-60 second clip. Think about the rhythm and energy you want your drone to match.
Design the Dance: On paper, storyboard your drone’s routine. Plan its key moves. Will it spin during the chorus? Hover during a quiet part? Rise and fall with the beat?
Choose Your Method: Manual Flight Pilot or Programmer?
Manual Flight Pilot 🕹️: Practice manually flying the drone to your music. This path tests your hand-eye coordination and ability to fly smoothly and creatively in real-time.
Programmer 💻: Use a block-coding app to program the drone’s flight path. This path tests your logical thinking and allows for perfectly repeatable, precise movements.
Practice & Perfect: This is the most important step! Test your routine. If you’re coding, you’ll need to debug your program. If you’re piloting, you’ll need to practice your moves. Don’t be afraid to try, fail, and adjust.
Record Your Performance: Once you’re ready, have a teammate record a video of your drone’s final performance with the music playing.
Showcase Your Art: Share your final video with the class. Be prepared to talk about your creative process, your role (pilot or programmer), and one challenge you solved.
STEM Career Connections
What you’re doing today connects directly to amazing careers:
Robotics & Aerospace Engineering: Designing and controlling unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for everything from package delivery to space exploration.
Software Development: Writing the code that powers drones, video games, and the apps you use every day.
Entertainment & Special Effects: Creating the incredible drone light shows you see at concerts and major events.
Physics & Mathematics: Using principles like thrust, velocity, and trajectory to predict and control flight.
🚁 Mission: The Sweet Delivery Drone Challenge
Field of Study: Aerospace Engineering & Supply Chain Logistics
Goal: Engineer a payload carrier and pilot your drone to deliver cargo (candy) to the drop zone.
🛠️ Materials Needed
The Tech: Mini Drones (fully charged).
The Cargo: “Fun Size” candy bars.
Engineering Supplies: Small paper cups, paper clips, pipe cleaners, masking tape, scissors.
The Course: Blue painter’s tape (to mark Start and Drop Zones).
🧠 Phase 1: Design & Build (Inquiry Mode)
Your Challenge: The drone needs to carry a piece of candy, but it doesn’t have a cargo hold. You must build one.
Questions to explore while building:
Balance: If you tape a cup to the top, does it throw off the center of gravity?
Aerodynamics: If you hang the cargo below with string, how much does it swing when you turn?
Weight: How much tape is too much tape before the drone can’t lift off?
Instructions:
Select your materials and design a carrier. It can sit on top or hang below.
Secure the carrier to the drone (do not cover the propellers or sensors!).
Load the candy and test the fit.
Pro Tip: A “Low Floor” design is a cup taped to the top. A “High Ceiling” design creates a mechanism that uses the drone’s momentum to swing and release the candy without landing!
🧪 Phase 2: Test & Iterate
Don’t race yet! Go to the test flight area.
Hover Test: Can your drone lift off and hold a steady hover with the candy?
Movement Test: Fly forward. Does the extra weight make the drone drift?
Modify: If it crashes or drifts heavily, trim the weight or move the attachment point.
🏁 Phase 3: The Supply Run (The Race)
Format: Relay Race or Time Trial.
The Rules:
Launch: Pilot and Loader stand at the Start Line. Load the candy.
Fly: Pilot flies the drone to the Drop Zone (Blue Tape Line) across the room.
Deliver: Land firmly in the zone (or hover-drop) to offload the candy.
Return: Fly back to the start to reload.
Win: The team to deliver 3 pieces of candy first wins!
Constraint: If the candy falls out mid-flight, you must land, retrieve it, and re-launch from the start line.
