How to make your drone release something while in the air

[Corey Tucker]

i want to figure out a way to attach something to my drone that i can trigger while it's in the air to make it drop something. we had a couple of ideas for this. one was to take something up and drop it way up with a parachute. another idea was to play vertical target practice, so we are going to make a target, lay it on the ground flat, and then fly a throwing knife up with the drone, hover directly over the target, and then see who can come closest.

does anybody have any ideas on how to do this? what would be coolest is if we could press a button on the remote to make it drop. but even if we had to balance it on the drone somehow and then tilt the drone real fast to make it fall, that would suck but still be better than nothing. i've seen lots of mods on here tho, so figured someone had figured something out.

 

[John Locke]

i want to figure out a way to attach something to my drone that i can trigger while it's in the air to make it drop something. we had a couple of ideas for this. one was to take something up and drop it way up with a parachute. another idea was to play vertical target practice, so we are going to make a target, lay it on the ground flat, and then fly a throwing knife up with the drone, hover directly over the target, and then see who can come closest.

does anybody have any ideas on how to do this? what would be coolest is if we could press a button on the remote to make it drop. but even if we had to balance it on the drone somehow and then tilt the drone real fast to make it fall, that would suck but still be better than nothing. i've seen lots of mods on here tho, so figured someone had figured something out.

There was an Israeli company that makes a dropping device mentioned in this P4 forum. You might want to try a search. I think someone should make a drop device that's triggered with the front LED lights somehow. Then you don't need a separate triggering device that would likely have a limited trigger range.

 

[dirkclod]

Corey you might read in this Drone Fishing to find away to drop something .
Throwing knife huh .
Do try and not stick yourself in the head

 

[isopro]

There was an Israeli company that makes a dropping device mentioned in this P4 forum. You might want to try a search. I think someone should make a drop device that's triggered with the front LED lights somehow. Then you don't need a separate triggering device that would likely have a limited trigger range.

Humm front LED is the smartest plan, for device dropping i read about yet. BUT it is important to note, that in most jurisdiction, dropping something from a drone, is a felony...In fact dropping anything from any aircraft, is highly illegal, in Canada

 

[Erised]

Check this system Gimbal-Guard No need to open the shell triggers from C1 or C2, made for P4. Decent price for what it does 165.00 They have a video on installation of their products on their site.

 

[alokbhargava]

There are various ways to do it. If you are a circuit designer than you can use front LED light terminals to trigger a servo when lights are off. Other way is to mount a receiver on it, hook it upto a servo. You may need a DC to DC converter to power your receiver or a small battery. You will need another RC to connect to the receiver and operate it when you need it.

 

[Erised]

I don't know how you program it but you can use the usb port on the bird and your C1 or C2 to trigger your drop.

 

[Fallguy]

Easiest way would just connect a paper clip with a slight upward curve and while flying stop quickly and whatever is hanging there should keep moving and slide off. Thought about doing a water balloon drop like this.

 

[Corey Tucker]

cool, i like that idea or the manual payload dropping maze. only problem with that is you can't get super accurate, so for like dropping a knife on a target would be hard to be accurate. but that would work for something like the parachute. we want to take it to max height and see where it lands

 

[gklugie]

What... no old airplane model builders around here? A couple paper clips and a piece of thread will do. Scotch tape an end of string on to the top of your camera. Fashion a small escapement with paper clips around rear of a landing gear. (picture it) include a little hook/release for your payload. Now it gets good. When you are at your desired drop site, tilt the camera forward/down. It pulls the thread holding a little release mechanism you made from the wire clips.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

cool, i like that idea or the manual payload dropping maze. only problem with that is you can't get super accurate, so for like dropping a knife on a target would be hard to be accurate. but that would work for something like the parachute. we want to take it to max height and see where it lands

You could get fancy and rig up a servo but whatever you do, please don't drop knives or other weapons from height as that is a foolish thing to attempt without extreme safety measures taken... Myth Buster style. So again, please do not drop weapons and please do not discuss doing so here.

 

[Fallguy]

cool, i like that idea or the manual payload dropping maze. only problem with that is you can't get super accurate, so for like dropping a knife on a target would be hard to be accurate. but that would work for something like the parachute. we want to take it to max height and see where it lands

I dont think taking a knife up on a quad is a good idea.

 

[gklugie]

When I was young, we released small parachutes from kites.

 

[Corey Tucker]

A couple paper clips and a piece of thread will do. Scotch tape an end of string on to the top of your camera. Fashion a small escapement with paper clips around rear of a landing gear. (picture it) include a little hook/release for your payload. Now it gets good. When you are at your desired drop site, tilt the camera forward/down. It pulls the thread holding a little release mechanism you made from the wire clips.

I might have to try that. I read somewhere else where a guy would loop string around his gimbal but i don't want to put that much weight on it.

to canadian, i live in US so pretty sure its legal here. besides, i'm not trying to drop on somebody, just want to see how accurate we can be with a knife from way up in the clouds.

next thought was to take up a big firework, like a rocket. so we could attach a really long fuse on it and take it as high as the drone would go and release it when you saw in camera that fuse was about to light it. would be funny to see where it goes. same idea as those chasers that you point at people and watch them run, but sounds cooler when its coming down like a missile. lol

 

[dirkclod]

I might have to try that. I read somewhere else where a guy would loop string around his gimbal but i don't want to put that much weight on it.

to canadian, i live in US so pretty sure its legal here. besides, i'm not trying to drop on somebody, just want to see how accurate we can be with a knife from way up in the clouds.

next thought was to take up a big firework, like a rocket. so we could attach a really long fuse on it and take it as high as the drone would go and release it when you saw in camera that fuse was about to light it. would be funny to see where it goes. same idea as those chasers that you point at people and watch them run, but sounds cooler when its coming down like a missile. lol

Miss this ..How to make your drone release something while in the air
Like the underlined part ?

 

[My Flying Eye]

We are continuously being reminded to fly drones responsibly and not endanger anyone else. On that note, I would suggest lifting any form of knife or sharp object into the air is both dangerous and not doing any of us any favours by trying to do so and announcing it publicly.

 

[Corey Tucker]

relax guy! no animals or people will be targeted. stop overreacting!

 

[lookin4pain]

Not to add more negativity, but just check with your state. In OR its illegal to "weaponise" a drone, and it's pretty vague when defining weapon...

On the other side, I did see a video of a beer drop from one farmer to another somewhere on here.


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[stanfran]

Here is a video from last week where I dropped a toy parachutist. Kids absolutely loved it. Not quite ready to be dropping knifes over my cookout. Here is video of drop. Tough part is keeping camera on parachute on way down.

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Link to company that makes device is below. They are in Israel so it can take up to a month to have order delivered to your door. Easy installation. It triggers when front LED goes off. I have programed my C1 button to toggle front LED. Works great. Bought 12 plastic parachute guys on Amazon. In the video you will see this guy took one for the team and landed on a building never to be seen again.

Gimbal-Guard

 

[N017RW]

Here is a video from last week where I dropped a toy parachutist. Kids absolutely loved it. Not quite ready to be dropping knifes over my cookout. Here is video of drop. Tough part is keeping camera on parachute on way down.

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Accept third party cookies

Link to company that makes device is below. They are in Israel so it can take up to a month to have order delivered to your door. Easy installation. It triggers when front LED goes off. I have programed my C1 button to toggle front LED. Works great. Bought 12 plastic parachute guys on Amazon. In the video you will see this guy took one for the team and landed on a building never to be seen again.

Gimbal-Guard

You didn't send a recovery team?

Sounds like you need another mod!

Never leave a man behind.