Day 2: Getting Hands-On with Tello Drones
We started the day off with a small icebreaker where we could write 3 things about ourselves on a piece of paper and throw it in a circle and guess other people based on what they wrote. We soon got back into the gist of using drones and learned about the Curve Command which uses coordinates. This specific command was really tough for the entire class due to the fact that finding the exact coordinates needed was very difficult. After getting the hang of the curve command we were given the mission of creating a full circle using the curve.
We took a break and transitioned to the most important part of coding, Comments. The main reason for commenting is to make your code more readable and understandable for both yourself and others. Adding comments can help you and and your other programmers debug or edit the code more easily in the future. We re-did some of our older programs like the square but this time we added specific and detailed comments about what each part of the program did. The instructors would come around and read the comments to make sure we were writing them correctly.
After thoroughly practicing comments, we moved on the variables. In programming, a variable represents a memory location that holds data. This memory location is associated with a unique name, allowing the stored data to be accessed and modified as needed throughout the program. We did a couple of programs with variables and then learned about If/Else statements or a conditional statement. A conditional statement is used to perform different actions based on different conditions. The If statement executes a block of code if a specified condition is true. The else statement executes if a specified condition is false.
Using these newly learned concepts we did some new challenges where we could create a vertical circle and a delivery mission. These missions were very difficult for us because we were still learning and experimenting with the drones. We had a lunch break and then went on a very special field trip. This trip involved going to the county sheriffs office.
At the county sheriffs office, they explained how drones are used for police work and the different types of drones that they use like the DJI phantom and the DJI Matrice 300 RTK that costed over $15,000!! They told us that drones aren't only used as a hobby but to look for missing people and even help firefighters. After that they showed us videos of them using drones to fight crime. The videos included using a drone to look for a missing person that was lost in the woods. They even flew a drone for us! The visit to the sheriffs office was definitely very interesting and very exciting. It was amazing to see to many drones and the different types of uses for them. We returned to the campus and then said our goodbyes. That was the end of the day!
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