So as we all know, it is impossible for man to soar through the heavens as a bird does. Any attempt will lead one to be struck down from the skies for their hubris. It can’t be done, Boeing is proof of this. So what if I wanted to do the next best thing?
I’ve heard the words “Learn to hack, learn to drone” echoed around these parts a few times. I’ve tried learning programming again and again, but it seems I’m just not that Type of trans woman. Instead I got really into CAD and 3d printing and remote control vehicles, so the “learn to drone” part really appeals to me. Problem is, I don’t know where to start. Do I just buy a $300 DJI drone before they get banned? Do I learn how simulators work and practice a bunch first? Do fpv and bigger camera drones share a skillset? How do I not fuck up when I’m living in a big city? If I already have a transmitter, is that a cost I can save or do drones generally come with their own?
I’m also interested in reading about the ways people use drones for revolutionary purposes, for lack of a better term. I know local orgs have a need for good protest footage, but flying a drone downtown is probably super duper illegal and the new Remote ID rules would make me copbait if I were to say, sit in the bed of a leading truck and follow a march from above. Drones are super cool, but less so if a cop just shoots it down with his scifi radio gun and then tracks me down and arrests me.
By the way, has anyone ever built a drone? I already have a 3d printer and a transmitter I use for robot combat. And I’m pretty familiar with drone parts - motors made to spin propellers can also spin blades, and tiny receivers and batteries made for weight-limited flying vehicles are great for weight-limited fighting vehicles. I just don’t understand flight controllers or cameras or propellers or how to pick parts or anything. It would also (with dubious legality) avoid the Remote ID issue and my homebrew drones wouldn’t be banned for being Chinese spies.
So hey sickos, how do I learn to drone?
Buy a tiny whoop to get started. You can fly them without FPV to train your brain for the spatial control thing if it’s not already natural to you from other R/C stuff, then you can add FPV stuff to it. They’re cheap, parts are cheap and there’s a wide variety, and you can fly it indoors as well as outdoors.
I played with a tiny whoop for a while, got it running fpv and it was fun but it drove my cat crazy so I ended up giving it to my friend’s kids.
A BabyApe looks pretty neat - cheap enough, well-reviewed, comes with a PNP version so I can use my own tx/rx so I just need to figure out how it all plugs together. When I build a bot I just get a 4-channel receiver (I found one a super lightweight one that works with my tx) and plug each motor’s ESC into an appropriate channel. I have a feeling flight controllers make that different.
Can I fpv without buying goggles, using my phone or something? That’s the newest thing for me I think - combat bots usually don’t have cameras.
God I need to do so much research.
Another bonus of the tinywhoop/cinewhoop/etc sized quads is there’s usually a club in cities for racing them. I’ve never done it but it looks like fun, I only ever set up obstacles and courses indoors. Oh I also chased flying beetles for fun, there was no chance I’d ever catch them.
Yeah there’s definitely phone apps like the DJI stuff for that. The aliexpress/Alibaba stuff works pretty well if you’re diligent about reading reviews on forums and reddit. My goggles were cheapo aliexpress ones and so was everything else. With tiny whoop sized quads you’re just gonna be plugging the motors into the combination flight controller / esc, they’re pretty streamlined and simple.