How does ANAFI Ai’s obstacle avoidance work?

The drone’s obstacle avoidance (OA) system relies on stereo cameras, located on each side of the main camera. Make sure the lenses of the stereo camera are always perfectly clean: you can use a drop of specialized (photo) lens cleaning liquid to ensure the cleanliness of the optics.

The OA system is activated through the Quick Settings and its status is displayed on the HUD, through a shield icon in the top bar:

 

• grey: OA deactivated
• green: OA activated and operating optimally
• orange: OA activated, degraded operation
• red: OA activated, but inoperative

 

Parrot strongly recommends deactivating the OA whenever the icon is NOT green – unlike in the following screenshot. 

Obstacle avoidance and manual piloting

The OA is designed to help the pilot, not to replace his control over the drone.

 

• Do not lose sight of the drone and always remain focused on its flight.
• Rely on your own judgement to control the drone and manually avoid obstacles. 
• Be wary of obstacles, in particular people and animals which may find themselves on the trajectory of the drone. 
• Keep the speed of your drone under 8 m/s. 
• Set an RTH altitude before each flight. 

 

When you fly the drone in a direction where the OA cannot detect obstacles (directly sideways or sideways and toward the back), a notification appears on your screen as on the screenshot below.

Face the drone in the direction of the motion to avoid getting this notification.

 

Obstacle avoidance and automated flights

During automated flights, the drone manages its trajectory to keep the OA fully functional.

 

However, users must carefully plan and monitor their automated flights in the following conditions, as the OA might not work optimally.

 

• Dynamic (moving environments).
• In front of surfaces or objects that are:
  • monochrome (plain white or black, on any other color without distinct texture or motive);
  • reflective;
  • water based or transparent;
  • mobile;
  • very dark or very bright.
• In areas where the lighting conditions change drastically or very rapidly.
• In rainy conditions.

 

Obstacle avoidance: screenshots

The following screenshots illustrate situations where the OA should be deactivated to avoid piloting errors.

If you see the “stereo camera failure” as in the latest screenshot, land your drone as soon as possible and reboot all systems (drone, controller, app) before attempting another OA activation: you may have to recalibrate the stereo camera before you can activate OA again – refer to the “Calibrations / Obstacle detection” section of this guide for further information.