Follow Me Observations 03 (Hits & Misses)

[Krusty Geeza]

Finally managed to get to editing this from a couple of days ago.

Still trying to fully understand the differences & capabilities of the 3 Follow Me modes offered with the Parrot Anafi through the Freeflight 6 app & in conjunction with a barometer & GPS being in your mobile device.

• Locked mode worked perfectly, it sat still in one place & remained focused upon me as I went off further away.
• Track mode worked perfectly too, it followed me & allowed me control of yaw (left & right movement) & altitude (up & down).
• Dynamic mode gives me nothing but grief every time! It's erratic at best & randomly decides to fly faster than you have the settings in Film mode (which should make all movements slow & smooth).

It's in testing out the Dynamic mode to see what it actually does apart from flying all over the place erratically (I'm certain there must be a pattern to it, but I can't see it yet) that has made my Anafi have several crashes into bushes, a pine tree & an olive tree (as seen in this video). Luckily they were soft targets & no damage was done. So, my take on this is DON"T use Dynamic mode, unless you are in a completely open space & even then be ready to grab back control of the Anafi when it starts twitching out!

 

[Hawkeye Alaska]

If you wore a brighter shirt I believe it would perform better. You are blending in with the background to a degree.

 

[Dirk_ANAFI]

Thank you for your impressive documentation!
I found Dynamic also hard to control and in the User Guide there is a hint only to use the mode in a completely free area. Seems to be a mode for a very fast moving "Me". But I also do not understand completely what is the specific of this mode.

In your video Anafi seems to fly a bit low as it looses you!? Min. Follow-Me height should be 5m and min. distance 10m.

 

[Krusty Geeza]

If you wore a brighter shirt I believe it would perform better. You are blending in with the background to a degree.

Interesting pointer. I'll try & keep that in mind for future.

 

[Krusty Geeza]

Thank you for your impressive documentation!
I found Dynamic also hard to control and in the User Guide there is a hint only to use the mode in a completely free area. Seems to be a mode for a very fast moving "Me". But I also do not understand completely what is the specific of this mode.

In your video Anafi seems to fly a bit low as it looses you!? Min. Follow-Me height should be 5m and min. distance 10m.

Mine is completely erratic in the Follow Me requirements, it loses the "Too Low" message when I'm at 3 metres high & loses the "Subject Too Close" message anywhere from 5 to 20 metres!

 

[Mar]

Well I had a good laugh watching that.

 

[Krusty Geeza]

Well I had a good laugh watching that.

Glad I could help!

 

[pete4561]

Hi, I'm completly new to drones so please forgive the stupid questions!!

I'm looking at getting an anafi, I have a few questions but this seems to answer a big one, the unit appears to be avoiding the trees during the follow however I understand it doesn't come with object avoidance software\sensors? Can anyone explain!!?

Thanks
Pete

 

[Vegasrobbi]

Anafi does not have front or rear obstacle avoidance sensors and will not avoid trees.

I want to mention I normally use an iPad Mini 4 for follow and Anafi is excellent. Recently I tried a couple Android devices in follow and it was terrible. If having issues with follow try an Apple device.

 

[pmh1nic]

No ideas on follow me mode but if anyone that was watching missed your location in the identification box there should be no mistaking where you are after watching the video. I might see a cat, dog, deer or possum when walking my dog but never a kangaroo .

 

[Krusty Geeza]

Hi, I'm completly new to drones so please forgive the stupid questions!!

I'm looking at getting an anafi, I have a few questions but this seems to answer a big one, the unit appears to be avoiding the trees during the follow however I understand it doesn't come with object avoidance software\sensors? Can anyone explain!!?

Thanks
Pete

Pete, there's no such thing as a stupid question. In the Anafi's Follow Me modes you can control the yaw (left/right) & its altitude as well. I was steering it, except for the Follow Me Dynamic mode, where it just zooms all over the place! Don't use that mode unless you are completely in the open & I mean completely in the open. It randomly speeds up & slows down darting all over the place erratically, getting up to 50 kph's at times!

 

[Krusty Geeza]

Anafi does not have front or rear obstacle avoidance sensors and will not avoid trees.

I want to mention I normally use an iPad Mini 4 for follow and Anafi is excellent. Recently I tried a couple Android devices in follow and it was terrible. If having issues with follow try an Apple device.

Where as I have an iPad Air II & an iPhone 8 Plus & it takes forever for the GPS tracking to kick in if you deliberately hide yourself, but the altitude adjustment works well, but I now suspect that's because of the inbuilt downward looking camera in the Anafi.

 

[Krusty Geeza]

No ideas on follow me mode but if anyone that was watching missed your location in the identification box there should be no mistaking where you are after watching the video. I might see a cat, dog, deer or possum when walking my dog but never a kangaroo .

One of these days I will manage to capture a mob of them at sunset. Should be easier as the sun is setting considerably earlier now.

 

[pete4561]

Pete, there's no such thing as a stupid question. In the Anafi's Follow Me modes you can control the yaw (left/right) & its altitude as well. I was steering it, except for the Follow Me Dynamic mode, where it just zooms all over the place! Don't use that mode unless you are completely in the open & I mean completely in the open. It randomly speeds up & slows down darting all over the place erratically, getting up to 50 kph's at times!

Ahhh right ok cheers for clarifying that!!

 

[Vegasrobbi]

Where as I have an iPad Air II & an iPhone 8 Plus & it takes forever for the GPS tracking to kick in if you deliberately hide yourself, but the altitude adjustment works well, but I now suspect that's because of the inbuilt downward looking camera in the Anafi.

My M.O. is launch, start follow it usually takes the Mini 4 about 7 seconds to get GPS and barometer lock. Change to locked follow, dynamic is scary. Draw a box around my vehicle and go. When visual is lost Anafi uses GPS but it's sloppy. You can reestablish optical by tapping on the subject during follow.

Dynamic altitude works very good with iOS, when you get low and VPS terrain follow kicks in the Drone to Low warnings pop up but that's where I fly so I ignore them.