Demo and Teaching

[R.Perry]

I don’t know if we have any teachers or instructors on this forum, but I have a new assignment. I have been volunteered to give a presentation of the drone and it’s capabilities.
Where I live is somewhat remote, and I’m the only drone guy that is licensed and insured in my area.
First demo is to grammar school, now this class will be 1st through 8th grade. The second is Sheriff and Fire department at the same location. The location is just outside of Yosemite park.
Here are my questions:
How do I present drone operations to such a wide range of children?
For the Sheriff and Fire folks should I assume they are up on the laws.
Now I’m on the volunteer fire department in my area, but the area I’m will be doing this demo and is in another county, with less fire and sheriff.
Each presentation is thirty to forty minutes, probably longer with questions from Sheriff and Fire people. I’m going to be using the Inspire 2 and Mavic for the demos.
How do I stretch out a demo that should take ten to fifteen minutes to thirty to forty minutes?
I have two weeks to prepare for this. Oh, and my fee, free.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[BigAl07]

How do I present drone operations to such a wide range of children?

I just did a DEMO to a group of Special Needs young adults and adults last week and that was my challenge as well. Afterwards it was much easier than I had expected. I just di show & tell hand holding (me not them) the aircraft and telling them simplistic terms and techniques.

For the Sheriff and Fire folks should I assume they are up on the laws.
Now I’m on the volunteer fire department in my area, but the area I’m will be doing this demo and is in another county, with less fire and sheriff.

Absolutely NOT! They know a very minimal amount unless they already have a sUAS program. I'm going to assume since you're doing a demonstration for them they do NOT have a sUAS program yet. I'd suggest printing out the FAA sUAS Sheet for LEA and having them available.

Each presentation is thirty to forty minutes, probably longer with questions from Sheriff and Fire people. I’m going to be using the Inspire 2 and Mavic for the demos.
How do I stretch out a demo that should take ten to fifteen minutes to thirty to forty minutes?

Talk about the aircraft individually, go over the flight controls, and show how you "See" what the aircraft sees on the display device. Then do a couple of DEMO flights and let everyone get time watching the display. The time will FLY by. . . .

Keep us posted.

 

[Fred Garvin]

....... The second is Sheriff and Fire department at the same location.
<SNIP>
Now I’m on the volunteer fire department in my area, but the area I’m will be doing this demo and is in another county, with less fire and sheriff......

You could subtly turn this into an opportunity.....they may very well be looking at capabilities in order to deploy their own operations.....you could, very subtly, work in your availability for hire as a consultant to develop a drone program for them, and function as a pilot for a period of time after it is setup and operating until their own personnel are well trained and functional.....

 

[clolsonus]

For the kids, I would start by keeping the presentation relatively short and high level. Probably not all of them will be as interested, so you'll lose some of their attention if you drone on too long or get too deep into details right away. For sure do a flight demo if you can, but keep it closer where they can still see it. Expect that some of the kids will be super interested and will ask really good questions ... and I'd let their questions lead the discussion into more detailed areas as time permits. That said, you might get a group that is super quiet and can't think of any questions -- so you might come prepared with a few interesting questions yourself that you can ask them and then maybe follow up with a fuller answer yourself. I did a little talk at my university (for a few staff, researchers, professors ...) and brought a fixed wing drone that had been outfitted with led lights for dusk flying. I powered it on and showed the lights and that became the highlight of my talk ... people were standing up to take pictures of it. So they didn't care about anything I actually said, they were just impressed with LED light strips -- go figure -- I didn't expect that reaction at all. So my best advice is whatever the audience age or background, turn something on and blink some lights and you will be great!

 

[R.Perry]

Thank all of you for your advice. Fred, I'm really not looking for more work, I'm suppose to be retired, but I enjoy helping where I can.
The Sheriff department is way under budgeted, Fire is all volunteer. I suppose they are thinking search and rescue because they cover a lot of the back country that gets lost hikers & hunters. They depend on the National Guard for search and rescue and their response time is somewhat of a joke.
The reality is the area is just too vast for drone SR operations. I think the the best application is surveillance and we did on a few months back and it was interesting, but different county.

 

[PatR]

Richard,

You have two audiences with completely different mind sets.

The younger group would like to do anything “fun”. What most of them have yet to realize is they can have a lot of fun while working.

We used drones as one of the foundations of a multi-year STEM program. Everyone had a lot of fun flying them but all of them also learned how various facets involved with drones grew from science and math. It opened more than a few eyes to consider a future in robotics, aeronautics, computer sciences, mechanical and electrical engineering, and other fields.

Most of them had yet to decide what they wanted to do in life but most all of them wanted to do something where they had a passion for and could have fun.

So I won’t try to tell you what to say or how to say it, instead consider demonstrating why there’s more to these things than what they initially see. Consider taking a couple of cheap toy drones they can fly and crash. Doing that shows it will take a little work but gives them the opportunity to have some fun and laugh at their mistakes.

The law enforcement side will be looking at the possibility of doing some things faster, easier, cheaper, safer, using existing staff. The budget is a big deal as anything you will be showing them can’t get bought in this year’s budget.

My county is similar to yours in staffing and budgets. The use of drones was initiated via the volunteer FD through one of the supervisors. He flew drones and did aerial work for the FD pro bono. That initiated interest with county SAR. SAR had to dig deep to afford a drone, with SAR being the initial department entry. The program later expanded to the regular Sheriff’s division. The country now shares drone services with s neighboring county.

You might want to make mention of federal LEA grant money that might be available for this stuff. A grant keeps the budget intact. If purchasing has to come out of a formal budget it will be two years before anything happens.

Questions might come up over flight training, licensing, airspace, and CoA’s. DJI will help train new LEA users, deal with product maintenance and upgrades, and assist with CoA filings. LEA CoA’s provide tremendous operational latitude, and once filed for, tends to get DJI flight restrictions permanently lifted.

Law enforcement has been setting up an industry wide training and documentation group to maintain standards consistency across the country. I don’t have the name of that group on hand but it might be worth looking up.

 

[haveblue]

How do I present drone operations to such a wide range of children?

I have done a couple of demos with elementary school kids. It will be a lot easier than you think. Keep in mind they are really going to want to watch it fly, and that in and of itself will awe them.

• Make a quick lesson plan and estimate how much time you have with each event you want to cover.
• Quick nomenclature is always easy and can educate them regarding the drones.
• Fly the drone and let them see the screen, they will be really excited and asking a lot of questions at once. If you are able to have someone assist you, recommended.
• It will go quicker than you think.
• Humor always helps.
• Give yourself 10-15 minutes of Q and A, there will be A LOT of questions, from the adults too.

For the Sheriff and Fire folks should I assume they are up on the laws?

• In my experience they will know very little and most of this is because they don’t have a UAS program.
• Lesson plan.
• They will have A LOT of specific questions.
• How much, costs?
• They will probably want you to explain 107 to them.
• Flight time?
• Payload systems?
• Camera capabilities
• What can they be used for/ and can’t.

How do I stretch out a demo that should take ten to fifteen minutes to thirty to forty minutes?

You are going to be very surprised on how quickly your time will go. A good lesson plan will help a lot.

A Q&A session will very easily take 15-20 minutes, especially for the Sheriff and Fire Departments.

Hope it goes well

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

I don’t know if we have any teachers or instructors on this forum, but I have a new assignment. I have been volunteered to give a presentation of the drone and it’s capabilities.
Where I live is somewhat remote, and I’m the only drone guy that is licensed and insured in my area.
First demo is to grammar school, now this class will be 1st through 8th grade. The second is Sheriff and Fire department at the same location. The location is just outside of Yosemite park.
Here are my questions:
How do I present drone operations to such a wide range of children?
For the Sheriff and Fire folks should I assume they are up on the laws.
Now I’m on the volunteer fire department in my area, but the area I’m will be doing this demo and is in another county, with less fire and sheriff.
Each presentation is thirty to forty minutes, probably longer with questions from Sheriff and Fire people. I’m going to be using the Inspire 2 and Mavic for the demos.
How do I stretch out a demo that should take ten to fifteen minutes to thirty to forty minutes?
I have two weeks to prepare for this. Oh, and my fee, free.

Thanks for any advice.

Hey @R.Perry we hold drone training classes, and it so widely ranges the questions we get, and what each different person is interested in, but here is our advice:

- With the grammar school:
-Keep it strictly to a high-level view of capabilities. They don't need too much detail, and will get bored if you go into too much detail.
-Especially with the inspire, cover film production, research some particular movies/scenes that have used the Inspire. This is a great tool to show you what has been shot on what type of drone: DJI PRO - Explore New Ways to Film and it does cover the Inspire.
- Tie-in why it would be illegal to fly over Yosemite park. This will be a real-life example way to tie-in with the FAA rules and why they are important to follow.
-The Mavic has more real-life applications, give an overview of those, how public safety uses them, etc.
- In addition to the two drones you have, give a brief overview of drone technology, what all it incorporates. The different camera applications and what industries use them on a professional level (real estate, cellular tower inspections, agriculture, public safety, etc).


With the Sheriff and Fire department:
-Go over capabilities and real-life applications that suit their needs (search & rescue, surveillance, firefighting)
- Definitely touch on the rules, and waivers they may want to apply for (flying over crowds - Parachute needed, night flying)

Good luck! I imagine both groups will have a lot of questions, so leave time for those!

 

[R.Perry]

Thank you all for your advice, with the kids it will be fun. I see so much potential for law enforcement and fire. I'm sitting down with the teacher that is putting this together for the school and her husband is one of the Deputies up there.
The area is heavily wooded with tall pine and cedar trees so I figured I would take one of them up above the trees and let them all get a birds eye view of what the drone camera is seeing.
I would like to link to a laptop so more people could watch the flight at one time leave me free to fly.
Also thought about a short Drone Deploy mapping for the sheriff and Fire to demonstrate how they could cover an area autonomously or with a pre programmed flight. I have a new volunteer for an observer, well, I volunteered my wife. She is learning what an observer does and has flown the Mavic.
Oh, I am getting paid, a free lunch in the cafeteria.

I have already been asked about training, and if they had the budget for it I would recommend sending their people to one of the established schools that demand a level of flight proficiency before graduating. The sheriff goes to our church so I'm already getting some ideas from him.

Thanks all for your insights

 

[HAWK-i.us]

I'd stay away from the autonomous stuff for a first outing, unless you demo some "follow me" or hand gesture kinds of stuff for the youngsters. . I doubt the First Responders will be as interested in DroneDeploy deliverables as they would be on an overview of the regs, costs, technology, and relevant applications. One thing that'll be sure to please is to let 'em see how sharp the image is while in the air. I'm pretty sure you'll have a harder time finishing in the alloted time than with filling it. Ask 'em why they're interested and go with the flow. Have a plan, but be prepared to roll with their interests. Have fun with it.

 

[CeeBee]

For the moment I give lessons on our Senior University in drone-flying. I have parted it in three lessons and present it in a Power Point program. I have made 35 pictures there I show how drones are constructed (three, four, five ore more arms)
How it is possible to let the drone make all manoeuvres. I talk a lot of security and why all who fly drones MUST keep to the rules. There is also time for discussing the new EASA rules here in Europe. The course end of with lessons in practical flying drones.
As I fly drones commercial I also talk about all the things You can do with a drone and how many earlier dangerous jobs now are quite safe just for the use of drones.
This lessons are of course not for children but I think more about the Police and the Firebrigade. And I will say that everyone who has any opportunity to talk about drones must talk about security and condemn all flying too high and too fare away and over people. Think of VLOS.

 

[R.Perry]

Hawk you may be right about avoiding the autonomous flights with the kids but with the law and fire I think it will interest them.
CeeBee University students and grammar 1st through 8th are two different audiences.
The outline I have so far is to make the kids aware there are laws governing drone operations and a few of the basic such as altitude and flying over people.
I want to stress the importance of flying legally and safely as possible.
I want to stress that drones, especially big ones aren't a toy and they have the potential of hurting someone.
I'm having problems linking the tablet to a laptop other than hard wiring it, and that may be the only option.
I'm going to do a video for the kids then show it in the classroom. I don't want any children within 60 feet of the drone during the demonstration flights.
My first thought was to let the kids look over my shoulder at the display, however I think that may be a bit too distracting so I have abandoned that idea.

I have received so much advice on this project and I do appreciate.

 

[SanCap]

Hawk you may be right about avoiding the autonomous flights with the kids but with the law and fire I think it will interest them.
CeeBee University students and grammar 1st through 8th are two different audiences.
The outline I have so far is to make the kids aware there are laws governing drone operations and a few of the basic such as altitude and flying over people.
I want to stress the importance of flying legally and safely as possible.
I want to stress that drones, especially big ones aren't a toy and they have the potential of hurting someone.
I'm having problems linking the tablet to a laptop other than hard wiring it, and that may be the only option.
I'm going to do a video for the kids then show it in the classroom. I don't want any children within 60 feet of the drone during the demonstration flights.
My first thought was to let the kids look over my shoulder at the display, however I think that may be a bit too distracting so I have abandoned that idea.

I have received so much advice on this project and I do appreciate.

You could set up a smart TV with an Apple TV device and do a screen mirror wirelessly from your iOS device monitor sharing the DJI Go4 App. I am not sure of the distance Apple TV will go.

 

[R.Perry]

You could set up a smart TV with an Apple TV device and do a screen mirror wirelessly from your iOS device monitor sharing the DJI Go4 App. I am not sure of the distance Apple TV will go.

Bingo, I know there are people on here a lot smarter than me, thank you, great idea.

 

[SanCap]

Bingo, I know there are people on here a lot smarter than me, thank you, great idea.

Don't applause, just throw money$$$

 

[dempseycreekkid]

You could set up a smart TV with an Apple TV device and do a screen mirror wirelessly from your iOS device monitor sharing the DJI Go4 App. I am not sure of the distance Apple TV will go.

 

[dempseycreekkid]

You, can also use Reflector 3 for Windows (Reflector 3 | Screen mirror Android, iOS & Chrome OS to a bigger screen) to emulate a an apple TV. The problem with screen mirroring is overtaxing your iPad (iPad Air) during flight. Air2 and above may be ok?

 

[R.Perry]

Just a followup, I did the demo and gave a little orientation to the kids and I was told by the teachers they thought it went well. I programmed an autonomous flight, it was short so the kids could keep easily watch the drone. I turned my back to the drone and launched the flight then pretended I didn't know where the drone was going. The kids got a big kick out of that.

I had each child feel and extra blade for the Inspire 2 and asked them what that could do to someone if it hit them while the motors were running. From the expression on a few of the older kids faces I think it sunk it. I explained the rules on overflight of people, line of sight operations, and altitude and I think that was about all they needed to hear at this time.

The link to the TV didn't work but I hovered the drone about forty feet in the air and about 100 feel away and had each child look at the monitor and ask any questions. Normal question were, how fast will it go, how high will it go, and how far away will it fly. The school is surrounded by 85-100 foot pine trees so I took the drone about the trees and gave them a view with the camera pointed almost straight down.

The fire and LEO's were interested but I had a lot of know it all's so it go cut short. I did hover over one of the homes they asked me to at about 350 feet down wind of the house and of course the person on the front porch had no idea I was there, that did impress them for the potential of doing surveillance work. Number one complaint was too short of flight time for doing search and rescue and that is probably correct, but still better than nothing.

All in all, it was fun, I think the kids enjoyed it and learned a little. I took stills and videos and sending it to the principle

 

[HAWK-i.us]

Well Done !!