After a month full of drama, fun, and lots of learning, I am pleased to announce our latest course: “Make an Open Source Drone: More Fun.”
Making this course was particularly challenging for me. I set out to explore new territory, using hardware and software that I had not used in the past.
One of the most significant challenges was testing the drone in realistic conditions; this involved taking the drone out to the field and flying it. Each outing contained the risk of losing or damaging the drone. With self-imposed deadlines looming, this risk was something that I wanted to minimize. As you probably know, I was unable to eliminate it entirely. An accident caused me a week of delay and the need to spent a lot of time trying to understand what went wrong.
Now that the course is published, I feel that the accident was more of a gift. I learned as much in the days after the crash as I did in the duration of the course project.
Another challenge was the logistics for the outdoors recordings. My workbench recordings are well organized. I have multiple cameras in fixed positions, and I can just start recording and forget about them. But recording the flight of a drone outdoor is a very different operation. Luckily, I have Michelle to be the camerawoman, and Leo and Ari trained to run away from a drone that I pilot. This course would not be possible without them.
I also want to acknowledge:
- Aristofani, who provided consultation from the beginning.
- The amazing people on the TE Makers Club who helped me understand the causes of the accident. You are amazing!
Now with the course completed, I can take a couple of days to fly the drone, stress-free.
Purchase Make an Open Source Drone: More Fun for US$25 (a 50% discount on its normal price) using coupon code W6Q5WGDB, or click here. This offer expires on June 15, 2018.
By the way, this is my favorite photo of this course: