Choosing the right UAV Part II: The Kodo

Many, if not most, of today’s modern consumer and prosumer UAV products offer many automated features such as automatic return to home as well as many other “fly for you” features.  While these features make flying the UAV easier for the novice, they are of no use in the event that the UAV loses it’s automated nav systems (GPS etc).

In that scenario, you are going to have to fly the UAV.  To do so requires skill.  It requires practice.  It is NOT easy.  But anyone willing to put in the time will acquire them.  The ability to control your UAV is key to using one legally and successfully.

You should be able to do the following:

• Hover within a 3’ radius with consistent altitude.
• Hop back and forth between 2 locations on the ground.  Forward and backwards.
• Understand your spatial relationship to the drone (more on this in a bit).
• Be able to fly the drone with the controls reversed.

Once you have these skills, you will be ready to take on most emergencies where the operator must take control and fly the UAV.

So, to that end, I purchased a Dromida Kodo.  It was $60 for the Kodo and I purchased 3 additional batteries for it.  I chose the Kodo because:

• It's cheap.
• 3-axis.  It will not hover on its own like 6 axis making it harder to fly.
• Replaceable battery (did not want one with just 1 battery, unremovable).
• SUPER tough.
• Comes with EVERYTHING you need.

As an added bonus it has a little camera and comes with a 2GB Micro SD as well as a little USB card reader for it.  The video quality is standard definition and is really just for amusement purposes only.  You will not shoot anything useful with this thing, heh.

I have attempted to treat the Kodo just as if it was a full, professional UAV. And, just like a professional UAV, it uses Lithium Polymer batteries.  Do yourself a favor and read up on these batteries.  They are, most likely, unlike any rechargeable battery that you have used before.

Some of them require deep cycling and none of them can be discharged completely.  So make sure you understand these!

These small quads all use the LiPo style battery and they all seem to use the same connector as well.  The connector can be very difficult to pull apart so I ended up using a set of small needle nose pliers on the battery side of the connection to get the connectors separated.

I do a full pre-flight check with it just as you would with any aircraft.   For the Kodo, my checklist is this:

• Check the weather.  Use common sense as to whether or not you should attempt flying.
• Check the drone physically to ensure that there is no damage and the airframe is ready to fly.
• Make sure all batteries are charged.  Inspect them for swelling and properly dispose of if so.
• Make sure the transmitter has charged batteries and is functional and the throttle is at 0.

Make sure that when you power up your quad that you have it on a level surface to calibrate the gyros.  This is true for both 3 and 6 axis quads.

Once in my hot little hands, I charged up the batteries and tried to fly the thing in the house.  It was clearly evident after the first flight (if you can call getting it off of the ground and slamming into a wall a flight) that outside was the better choice.

These things are difficult to fly.  The Kodo has a beginner mode that it defaults to.  It’s hard.  I had a good 30 minutes of flight time with the Kodo before I was able to somewhat keep it from crashing for more than 30 seconds.

When I first started flying it, it was very discouraging.  But I knew it was a physical skill that is acquired through practice just as learning a musical instrument takes practice.

When you practice outside (I use the parking lot of a local park - small quads do not do well on grass.), be mindful of other people.  Whenever I was practicing I always chose a spot that isolated so as to minimize running into other people. And I mean that in the literal sense...

Whenever someone comes into your proximity and your practice quad, land it.  Crash land it.  Whatever.  Get it on the ground until the other person is gone.  If they stay, move to a new area.

While the Kodo is small, it can still cause injury and must be treated with respect.

I can offer the following tips now that I have been able to fly the thing (I consider flying for a full charge of the battery without touching the ground until I land in a controlled manner, flying):

Practice outside where there is minimal wind and LOTS of space.  If you are flying inside, there is the ceiling and walls and what have you that you must deal with. In the beginning, your focus needs to be just on flying the quad.

Once you are ready to apply throttle, do so VERY slowly and watch what way the quad wants to drift.  Trim out the drift and repeat until you are happy that the quad, generally, wants to rise up without too much drift.

Make SMALL adjustments.  It’s human nature to overcompensate when we react to the quad moving in a direction that we do not want.

RELAX.  Seriously.  Take a deep breath.  Let your arms relax as you fly.

Keep the quad at least 10 in front of you.  If it is too close, you risk flying it into yourself.  If it gets too close to you, your focus will be on avoiding the quad instead of flying it.

If you feel yourself getting frustrated and or angry, stop flying.  It takes patience to learn it.  Give yourself that patience.  I had at least 30 minutes of flight time before I was able to get out of the constant fly/crash cycle.

Make sure you understand the orientation of the quad in relation to yourself on the ground.  If the quad is facing you, the controls will be reversed.  Keeping the quad within your line of sight is crucial.  If you cannot see it, you cannot know what direction it faces...

If you want to do a pirouette with the yaw control, do NOT move your directional stick.  The quad will, most likely, not be facing away from you when you use the directional stick and the quad will move in an unexpected direction.

To maintain altitude, you must be constantly adjusting the throttle.  You will be constantly adjusting direction and throttle just to keep a constant hover.  If you look at folks flying a small quad like this on youtube you will see them "bounce" it off of the ground.

That happens because they dropped the throttle too quickly, realized the quad was dropping and attempted to add throttle but by that time they (and you and I) are too late and the quad hits the ground and then flies back up.

The quad needs a little time to fully react to the commands it receives and you will get a feel for this as you practice.

And, finally, put your phone number or something on your quad so that in the event you lose it, you might get it back.  If it's your pro UAV, you might consider a reward for it's return as well.

In part 3, we will wrap up the practice UAV adventures and talk about the selection of the final UAV(s) that we will ultimately use in the business and talk a bit about liability.