DroneBlocksTelloSimulator 0.0.4

Program a drone with the DroneBlocks Simulator and then deploy to Tello

DroneBlocksTelloSimulator

Welcome to the DroneBlocks Tello Simulator with Python. If you are looking for the JavaScript version you can check it out here.

The wonderful thing about this library is you can interact with a simulated Tello drone and take the same code and run it with a real Tello drone.

The first thing we recommend you do is set up a virtual environment for your project. This isn't a necessity but it helps keep your project clean.

python3 -m venv venv

or on some systems you may need to use the following:

python -m venv venv

Now that your virtual environment is up and running go ahead and activate it from the root of the project directory.

source venv/bin/activate

on Windows:

.\venv\Scripts\activate

Now install the DroneBlocksTelloSimulator Python package:

pip install DroneBlocksTelloSimulator

Installation is done! Now you need to create your first mission with the DroneBlocks Simulator. You'll need a "key" so that your Python code knows where to communicate with the simulator. Access the following url:

DroneBlocks Simulator Link

Open the browser console and look for your unique key. It will say something like:

Your unique DroneBlocks simulator key is: 8529804e-15a4-4b29-b614-83fbfe24a8e1

Make note of this unique key as it will be used in your mission code below.

Talk about allowing insecure content for Chrome.

Create a simulated mission using the following code:

import asyncio
from DroneBlocksTelloSimulator import SimulatedDrone

async def mission():
    drone = SimulatedDrone('a5f921f4-f2f0-446d-b216-1a4e34ab4fa0')
    await drone.connect()
    await drone.takeoff()
    await drone.fly_forward(100, 'in')
    await drone.fly_left(100, 'in')
    await drone.fly_backward(100, 'in')
    await drone.fly_right(100, 'in')
    await drone.flip_backward()
    await drone.land()

asyncio.run(mission())

Congrats! Your first simulated mission! Now let's run the exact same code on a real Tello. We're assuming you know how to connect to Tello from your computer so go ahead and do that.

Once connected you'll run the exact same code above with two small difference. We're using a different import and constructor necessary to interface with the Tello drone.

import asyncio
from DroneBlocksTelloSimulator import Tello

async def main():
    drone = Tello()
    await drone.connect()
    await drone.takeoff()
    await drone.fly_forward(100, 'in')
    await drone.fly_left(100, 'in')
    await drone.fly_backward(100, 'in')
    await drone.fly_right(100, 'in')
    await drone.flip_backward()
    await drone.land()

asyncio.run(mission())

Ta-da! Now you've run the same code in both the DroneBlocks simulator and on Tello! Let's take a look at all the commands available to both the Simulator and Tello:

drone.takeoff()
drone.fly_forward(20, 'in')
drone.fly_backward(20, 'in')
drone.fly_left(20, 'in')
drone.fly_right(20, 'in')
drone.fly_up(20, 'in')
drone.fly_down(20, 'in')
drone.fly_to_xyz(10, 20, 30, 'in')
drone.fly_curve(25, 25, 0, 0, 50, 0, 'in')
drone.flip_forward()
drone.flip_backward()
drone.flip_left()
drone.flip_right()
drone.land()

Give it a try and let us know what you think! If you run into any issues please open a bug here.