Flying directly at wall in "Hover" mode

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lukego
Beginner
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:28 am

Flying directly at wall in "Hover" mode

Post by lukego »

I have a Crazyflie 2.1 with the Flow deck and the latest firmware update from this morning and very recent cfclient. The problem I'm seeing is that when I turn it on in "Hover" mode and apply some throttle it seems to fly directly sideways into a wall. I also find that if I hold it in my hand, gripped on the side to avoid obscuring the camera, it feels like it pulls really hard in extreme directions rather than seeking balance.

I have checked the A/B on the propellers and that everything is sitting tightly.

What could be the cause of such an extreme issue?

I have seen tips about balancing propellers and tuning the center of gravity from battery weight but I am assuming those issues don't cause such extreme behaviour as what I am seeing.

(I've also tried flying it without the flow deck quite a few times but never managed to get it flying stable, always crashes within about ten seconds. That was mostly via Bluetooth from an Android phone.)
kristoffer
Bitcraze
Posts: 630
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:47 am

Re: Flying directly at wall in "Hover" mode

Post by kristoffer »

Could you post a video when flying with the flow deck?
lukego
Beginner
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:28 am

Re: Flying directly at wall in "Hover" mode

Post by lukego »

kristoffer wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 11:09 am Could you post a video when flying with the flow deck?
Sure. Should I start it flying from the ground or holding it at some height with my hand?
kristoffer
Bitcraze
Posts: 630
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:47 am

Re: Flying directly at wall in "Hover" mode

Post by kristoffer »

I think taking off from the ground and hovering would be interesting.

BTW is this behaviour something you only see with the latest firmware (that is, did work before)?
lukego
Beginner
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:28 am

Re: Flying directly at wall in "Hover" mode

Post by lukego »

So far we've never flown for more than about five seconds before crashing the crazyflie. I don't know if this is normal for beginners. That's in manual piloting: with the flow deck we've only ever seen it fly directly laterally into a wall, less than one second of flight, no signs of control.

We've been trying to make a video now but we're stuck on a different problem: the cfclient shows a successful connection to the crazyflie but is not getting any telemetry back nor transmitting commands. I can move the crazyflie and it doesn't update the horizon etc in the GUI and I can also press buttons on the controller which shows thrust % but doesn't make the crazyflie do anything. I've tried restarting the cfclient, removing and replugging the usb radio, toggling power on the crazyflie via button or battery disconnect, and this seemed to work for a while but not anymore. The battery is currently reading about 50% based on what the GUI shows.

I'll try again to make the video another time and with a full battery.
wydmynd
Member
Posts: 87
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2018 9:25 am

Re: Flying directly at wall in "Hover" mode

Post by wydmynd »

suggest connecting via USB just to make sure that works.
lukego
Beginner
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:28 am

Re: Flying directly at wall in "Hover" mode

Post by lukego »

Here's a video of the Crazyflie with flow deck controlled by the USB radio and a Playstation controller. The behaviour is always to fly hard sideways in seemingly the same direction. I'm not sure if this is likely to be a software/firmware issue, a configuration error, a piloting error, or a mechanical error. Any troubleshooting tips would be welcome!

https://youtu.be/we5XiltwrHQ
jonasdn
Expert
Posts: 132
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 3:13 pm

Re: Flying directly at wall in "Hover" mode

Post by jonasdn »

Could you perhaps get the newest version of the client? And try the new flight controls in the flight tab that uses a command based way of flying. It sends simple commands like "take off", "land" "go left" "go right" "go up", etc.
cmd.png
You can install newsest client using python pip3

Code: Select all

pip3 install --user --upgrade cfclient
or from release page:
https://github.com/bitcraze/crazyflie-c ... n/releases
kristoffer
Bitcraze
Posts: 630
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:47 am

Re: Flying directly at wall in "Hover" mode

Post by kristoffer »

Other interesting tests would be to check:
1/ Does it fly well without the flow deck?
2/ If you lift it up with the flow deck mounted and move it around a bit, does the X, Y, Z at the bottom of the flight tab in the client change accordingly?
lukego
Beginner
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2021 8:28 am

Re: Flying directly at wall in "Hover" mode

Post by lukego »

Sorry guys, I've been spending all available time so far just fighting with Python dependency installation problems. It's miserable. I will come back to this when I am ready to face another attempt at deciphering pip error messages. (I have also been trying tools like x11docker to help but no luck yet.)
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