Review: Co-drone

I spent several enjoyable hours learning how to control a CoDrone using code. Robolink, which makes CoDrone, has a series of lessons, starting with an overview and how to build a remote (yes, you have to build a remote, but it’s pretty easy to do) all the way through to using conditionals, loops, variables, flags and controlling extras such as a buzzer and LEDs.

The lessons also deal with random numbers, void statements, arrays and return functions. There are videos that can be used to introduce students to the capabilities of a CoDrone. In all, they cover all of the coding requirements of the Digital Technologies course. You code the drone using an Arduino environment so it satisfies the general purpose coding requirement by the end of Year 8.

If your students are younger, or just need a gentler introduction to coding, then the drone can also be programmed using SNAP, which is quite similar to Scratch, but can do some more advanced coding as well.

Each lesson, both in Arduino and Snap, has a time indicator, a grade level, straight-forward explanations and sample code as well as descriptions in pseudocode. Lessons also have a challenge task and links to the previous and next lessons. Students can track their lesson progression as well.

Uploading the program to a controller requires the controller to be put into upload mode by flicking the dip switch and then pressing the reset button. It isn’t the most intuitive way to connect and program the device, but there are videos explaining the process and once the students get it, they will be fine with it. The controller also has to be attached to the computer you have written the code on via a USB cable.

I chose the CoDrone as it weighs less than 100 g – meaning that it can be used within 30 metres of other students. It also has a few onboard sensors, which I hoped I would be able to gather data from, but have not worked out how at this stage.

Flight time is about 8 minutes, but in a classroom where the students will be testing their code over and over, this may be enough flight time for the whole lesson. Of course, you can buy extra batteries for a fairly reasonable price, together with charger units that will charge 4 batteries at a time. Charging time seems to be about 40 minutes.

The drone does not come with a camera, but you can purchase a snap-on camera ‘skin’, which will allow capturing the drone in first person. I have not tried the device in an actual classroom, but it does appear pretty resilient to crashes, and with the guards around the blades, it is quite safe. I did inadvertently start the drone whilst holding it by the body and all four blades got my fingers. It didn’t draw blood, but it wasn’t the most pleasant experience I have ever had, and I learnt from it.

There are quite a number of other drones on the market, which will probably work just as well as the CoDrone.

Tello Drone by Ryze weights 80 g (I’m not sure if that is with the propeller guards or not), can be controlled in scratch and has a built-in video camera:

Parrot Mambo Fly weighs 63 grams without the propeller guards or other add-ons (it has a few add-ons including a cannon, a grabber and a video camera) and can be coded in Tynker, Blockly, Javascript and Python. These are the type recommended by She Flies.