PRACTICE
DRILLS
U.S. Drone Soccer is dedicated to student success. Our mission is to inspire students to pursue education and careers in aerospace and science by leading students to build, program, fly and become successful team members by providing a hierarchy of competitions and events that highlight student skills in engineering, aviation, teamwork, and leadership.
Flight Drills to become a better pilot at U.S. Drone Soccer
Rules of Thumb Before a scheduled flight or competition:
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Systematically prepare and charge batteries then place in fireproof bag
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Replace any propellers with a chip or bend on a blade
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Confirm aircraft and radio transmitter are bound.
What initial flying techniques should we be teaching in our drone soccer class?
1. Hover at eye level
2. Team Drill - center court through goal then back in a racetrack
3. Turtle Mode practice
4. 1 on 2s, 1 on 3s, then 1 on 4s defensive strategy
This is a standard practice progression for new pilots, keep an eye on their hands as they fly and watch for moments when they take their thumbs off the controls.
How do you introduce and teach the turtle mode? We're having challenges with that.
Have students arm the drones, then flip them over so they suction to the ground.
Practice the turtle mode steps:
- Disarm, throttle idle
- Left turtle arm switch up, then right arm switch up
- Use the right stick to roll the drone over
- Disarm both switches, throttle idle
- Arm and fly
Advance Flight Control Drills
Round Robin (Sato Academy Red Dragons, 2023 U.S. Drone Soccer National Champions):
1.) 5 or 3 crew team lines up ready-to-be-armed aircraft in team blue zone/red zone in the arena.
2.) Captain of team announces “arm your aircraft” all aircraft are armed by pilots
3.) Captain of team announces “lift off” - all aircraft fly straight up to equal height as others (5’) to form a line of drones in flight.
4.) Team Captain announces “to the right” - the line of aircraft flies in a single line toward the opposite side of the arena and to the RIGHT of the goal. The aircraft leading the line proceeds around the back of the goal from right to left to continue flight in an oval back to the original position, in a line or to continue flying the oval pattern around the back of the goal.
5.) Team Captain Announces “to the left” - the line of aircraft flies in a single line toward the opposite side of the arena and to the LEFT of the goal.
Additional Resources:
https://hardwaretester.com/gamepad
https://storage.googleapis.com/dsapps.dronesports.us/index.html