Project Overview
This is where I fell in love with Dynamics and Control. During my time at the SPACE Lab, under the leadership of Professor Ahmad Bani Younes, I worked on developing autonomous navigation algorithms for drones using Python and OpenCV. The project involved enabling drones to navigate paths using QR codes. I left the project in Summer 2024 to focus on a difficult Junior year, but the experience I gained here was invaluable and solidified my passion for aerospace engineering. It is important to note that Dr. Ahmad Bani Younes was on sabbatical in my junior year, which contributed to my decision to leave the project early.
Timeline
| Month | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Nov. 2023 | Dr. ABY accepted me into his lab and tasked me with self-learning Python. |
| Dec. 2023 | Completed Python basics and used it to send commands to a DJI Tello EDU drone. |
| Jan. 2024 | Developed initial QR code detection and navigation using OpenCV. The drone was able to read commands from the QR code. |
| Feb. 2024 | Developed algorithm to detect QR code shape and size to estimate the position vector of the drone to the QR code. |
| Mar. 2024 | Conducted indoor flight tests and refined navigation algorithms. |
| Apr. 2024 | No progress due to classes. |
| May. 2024 | No progress due to classes. |
| Jun. 2024 | Began learning how to use ORB-SLAM3 software for object mapping. Necessary because the drone had monocular forward vision and 2 downward facing lidars to detect its distance to the floor. |
| Jul. 2024 | Attempted implementing ORB-SLAM3 on the drone; however, the drone's Python package and ORB-SLAM3's Python bindings relied on incompatible Python versions. |
| Aug. 2024 | Left the project to focus on junior year course load. |
Video Demonstrations
Short demonstrations and flight tests showcasing autonomous navigation, QR-code based commands, and algorithm behavior.
GitHub Repository
All sharable code can be found in the GitHub repository linked below: