Why (you need) ZiptieAI - terrytaylorbonn/auxdrone GitHub Wiki

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I wrote on the previous wiki page ("The race") about the new drone dev paradigms, and how they make it possible to build drones in a kitchen workshop without human assistance. But its not easy. There are often quite a few (unexpected) obstacles to racing ahead with DIY intelligent drones. This wiki page describes the main obstacles and how ZiptieAI can help you deal with them.

  • 1 The missing big picture demo series
  • 2 Open source software often means chaos
  • 3 Youtube experts provide limited info
  • 4 Chinese brand components are a challenge
  • 5 How to succeed

1 The missing big picture demo series

When I started out exploring drone building, I could not find a "big picture" Youtube series or website that just showed me step-by-step how to get started with drones. The closest thing I found was the excellent "Intelligent Drone System Overview" Youtube series from Intelligent Quads. I spent almost 2 months finally getting through that series (the core documentation consisted of 5 year old Youtube videos; I documented in detail the missing/incorrect steps).

The problem with that series was that it focused only on simulation. I wanted to start flying, not just simulate (and going from simulation to flying is not trivial). I just wanted someone to describe an exact reference implementation, so that I could buy the components they used and get the copter flying. There are many videos that claim to do this, but inevitably they leave out lots of details. And details are everything (these are complex flying machines).

2 Open source software often means chaos

  • A Youtube expert explains why open source projects fail (or just die a slow death).
  • "The key thing about open source, the developers are volunteers, so treat them with kid gloves". A quote from a tutorial video.

Open-source software developers are volunteers who (understandably) dont like to write documentation. In particular they dont like to write quick starts, getting started's, or reference implmenentation guides. The lack of documentation is particularly a problem because you sometimes have to "ziptie" together disparate components from many sources.

A great example of what I mean is my experience setting up an RC/receiver. It took me 2+ days to setup an RC/RX. Nowhere have i seen overview diagram of the RC/TX components and the config process. I get the impression that the Youtube experts dont know. Below is my best guess.

image

I documented my steps in Gdrive doc 2.1.3_(4.3-1)TxRx(SBEE)_tx12-rp1_v22_24.0401.docx. Search for "Main steps". It took me 2 full days to get things running (I had to downgrade Python to 3.11, config the RP1 and RC with an old ELRS version first, and then upgrade to the latest version). The process is chaotic and complex. I now understand why the bloggers always conveniently avoid ELRS configuration in their videos.

I created the following diagram that summarizes the complete config required (see the docx for more detail; my diagram is the only such diagram I have ever seen):

image

3 Youtube experts provide limited info

Professional drone youtube video bloggers are of limited help. Their job is to keep happy those manufacturers who send them free stuff and give them free expert advice. When you try to replicate what they did in a video, you discover that a lot of important details are missing (but they did get you to buy their sponsors drone stuff).

An honest expert admits he almost gave up on OpenTX

In May 2024, I watched what was for me a very inspiring drone video: Understanding OpenTX - What helped me the most. During the first 3 minutes the author gives an honest summary of his (initially) very negative experience trying to configure OpenTX (the OS for the RC stick controller you use to control a drone). He talks about how he almost gave up on tryhing to configure OpenTX.

After spending untold hours watching incomplete videos about OpenTx, and 2+ days configuring my own (with frustrating errors and confusing docs), I was so happy to hear an honest assessment of OpenTX (EdgeTX) that I bought him a $5 coffee!

4 Chinese brand components are a challenge

Another aspect of the "Ziptie" philosophy is how to deal with the quality problems of mainland Chinese brand components in hobbyist drones.

  • For a newbie, a bad component can easily mean a week of effort. You have no idea where the problem could be.
  • Sometimes you dont get honest info about bad components.

Example: SpeedyBee products

SpeedyBee products are all the rage lately. Good advertising, cheap prices. Their F405 FC/ESC combination is kind of a standard. But I had some real problems with the SBee components:

  • F405 FC connector was faulty. I had to cut up the plastic on one to get the connection to work. 1+ days of effort. I almost bought a different FC. The photo below shows the faulty connector (note my thumbnail size). For details about the problem, search for "problem discovered" in doc 3_(4a.5)-01_config_sbee_bf_(brodie)_v07_24.0414.docx.
    • image
  • F405 ESC pad for a wire to a motor came loose from the substrate. Its just hanging there.. still works, not sure how long.
  • T-800 VTX was junk. It literally fell into 2 pieces when I took it out of the packaging (the same happened to some expert in a video; he said it was no big deal). My T-800 stopped working after a few flights. I swapped in a cheap Zeus, and it worked (and verified that I was not doing anything wrong with the T-800). Below: The 2-piece T-800. It gets hot during operation. There was a piece of thermal tape (red square) that fell off. It was meant to absorb the excess heat from one of the chips (on the right).
    • image

Amazon.com reviews and return notices are a huge help

Amazon warned me about the Speedybee F405 FC (see Shopping list). I bought it anyway because its kind of the defacto standard. But in general you want to read product reviews on Amazon. When I mentioned the SBee quality problems in some forum (Ardupilot I think), the experts laughed at me for saying the the SBee FC was low quality. Until I posted the Amazon warning.

5 How to succeed

If you want to succeed in drones:

  • Expect to spend a lot more time than you expected to make progress. Use forums and web search sites. Become a patreon subscriber of a few experts or buy coffees for them (some open source developers now suggest that you "buy a coffee" for them before they answer your question). Join a local drone club, remotely if physically is not possible.
  • Look for specific instructions for specific harware. Buy hardware to fit the instructions. ZiptieAI provides such info (WIP).
  • Document if you do anything special. You will need to know the details when something goes wrong or when you have to repeat something a few months later. You can use ZiptieAI docx's as a template.
  • Have the Ziptie mentality. If something doesnt work, then ziptie in something that does. I spent several weeks trying to get Ardupilot running on both the FPV (small) and Pixhawk (large) drones (I got everything installed, but could not get the motors to turn). Everywhere I read that AP was better for beginners. I switched to PX4 (instead of AP) and things just worked.