Drones abuzz @SEABURYHALL!

Archer-Heiman Smith mods his drone to include LEDs for better orienting his Drone in flight.

For his 8th Grade Project, Archer Heiman-Smith is researching the best use of drones. Aside from the purely recreational racing, he has experimented with Drone Delivery and Search & Rescue using a Tile for recording GPS location of remote objects spotted through his on-board “First Person video” system which streams live video back to the base station for real-time remote navigation.

Archer’s journey through building has taught him a lot about perseverance, as drones can be quite finicky — they contain no less than 7 micro controllers, which all need to work together flawlessly for controlled flight — as well as requiring electrical system knowledge including soldering, voltage regulation, high powered Li-Po batteries and Physics including PID tuning, center of gravity, and lift.