MATLAB: Parrot Mambo Minidrone’s motors 1 and 3 are spinning but motors 2 and 4 are not spinning

electric_motor_controlMATLABminidroneparrotparrot mambopower_electronics_controlsimulink

After configuring the hardware setup for the PARROT support package, I have tried to run "Parrot Getting Started" to see if my Parrot minidrone is working.
I have found out that only motors 1 and 3 spun for 2 seconds exactly but motors 2 and 4 did not.
However, I do not think it is a hardware issue as I was able to fly the minidrone using the phone app.
Anybody has any idea on why this is happening?

Best Answer

It has to do with how the optical flow sensor works. "These are camera modules that use ground texture and visible features to determine aircraft ground velocity." In order to do this, the cameras view must have contrast to it. If the camera view doesnt have any contrast the sensor will assume that it is faulty. You can see this error if you download the flight log. Near the end of the text file, you should see a line similar to this "Problem with optical flow, there has been no flow for 50 cycles in cycle 650: shutting down motors now".
Take a look at this video to see the proof ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUkDc4D4d4g ). The easiest way to fix the issue (according to Matlab Tech Support) is to add some contrast under the Parrot, and ensure that the area is well lit.
-Brandon
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