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A podcast about drones and the people behind them. An educational and entertaining take on the current state of drones and what flies ahead in the drone world.
Mark Masterton (00:00)
Will you still be building drones, racing drones for the rest of your life, do you reckon?
Ronald Meza (00:03)
I saw a video on YouTube from these guys from Australia flying through forest. It reminded me of that scene of Star Wars they're flying like chasing each other in the forest.
Mark Masterton (00:14)
We're
gonna get along, Ronald. On today's episode of Drone is the Future, we're joined by drone racer Ron Mezett. A certified engineer and drone pilot. Ron earned a master's in industrial engineering in Colombia, shifting into the drone world by capturing aerial shots for news stations. Ron's obsession with drones and engineering saw him begin to build drones of his own from scratch and start racing them in the West Coast Drone Racing League. Hear all about it now.
Drone as the Future is made in partnership with Drone as a Service. Make your survey, mapping, or inspections safer, faster, and more efficient with the help of our team. Elevate what's possible with droneasaservice dot com. Ronald. Welcome to the Drone as the Future Podcast.
Ronald Meza (01:03)
Thank you so much for having me here. Thank you for very exciting.
Mark Masterton (01:05)
Coming in.
Very excited to have you on board. You're our first drone racer. First drone racer I've ever had the chance to sit down and talk to. So this is very, very, very cool. If I had to get you to guesstimate, Ron, how many drones have you built in your life?
Ronald Meza (01:26)
I have lost the count to be honest. it's been many. if I have to give you a number right now, I'll say I'm in the double digits, somewhere around fifty to sixty different aircraft that I've sort of like put my my own skills into.
But but there's more to that story, maybe I'll share later.
Mark Masterton (01:51)
Totally. And we we were having a little chit chat next door before we started the pod and I rudely cut you off when you were wanting to talk about your background and how you got into drones, but now we can hear that story out loud. So I'd love to hear how you first got into drones and a little bit about where you came from.
Ronald Meza (02:11)
Sure. I'm I'm from Colombia. I used to live in a city called Medellín. beautiful city in Colombia and I had a neighbor who used to work for the local news station. And his job was to just simply go outside filming with a drone. And I'm talking about year twenty thirteen, something like that. So it was a very
How can I say like rough machine because at the time the technology wasn't very polished or anything like that. But that really got my attention and that's when I became aware of drones. a year after this, I migrated into Canada and and I saw this as a as a opportunity. It was a fresh start and decided to get in business working with drones.
So I have a background in engineering and I lear I learned everything about the what I needed to know about drones and I started building my first prototypes in in twenty fourteen and eventually became aware of this new sort of like niche application which was FPV Racing. we s I saw a video on YouTube from these guys from Australia.
Flying through forest and it remind me of that scene of Star Wars where where you they're flying like chasing each other in the forest at the at the moons of Endor.
Mark Masterton (03:55)
We're gonna get along, Ronald.
Ronald Meza (03:59)
And and I thought to myself, like, this is amazing, this is mind blowing and and immediately got my hands on like okay, how can I make this happen for myself? And since then it it never stopped. so it's been over twelve years since since then and now I actually work making drones. I design and develop drones for the
Дефенс серчн реску сектор.
Mark Masterton (04:31)
Yes. You managed to turn a hobby into a full time job.
Ronald Meza (04:35)
Basically, yes. Wow. It became my career. so I was saying like I turned what at the time seemed to be a a problem, which you know is moving to another country starting from zero into basically building, you know, my next stage in my career. So th I'm thankful that you know I did that. Like thank you myself from the past.
But it it's been it's been a really awesome journey. It's been an awesome experience. I've met so many cool people along this journey and I've been into places I've I've I've had the opportunity to travel due to being working with drones to places I've never thought of I was ever gonna be.
Talking about the Tashmahal in India. talking about the beaches of Croatia. Wow. I'm talking about the this futuristic city of Dubai. and the country, Canada and Canada have had the opportunity to travel throughout the country. You
Mark Masterton (05:48)
You t you you started off making drones as a as a pastime on the side of full time work as an engineer in Colombia and then you come to Canada and you managed to transition into making them as a job, which is incredible. but how did you go from building drones for your job to racing them?
Ronald Meza (06:04)
So I think was actually the opposite. First started with racing drones, right? And that eventually gave me credentials to to you know and and the authority and the criteria to be, you know, working within the industry. The the f first few drones that I built myself were exclusively for fun and and
That's how I learned to fly. That's how I learned about regulations. That's why I learned about the technical aspect of it. Like, you know, the the technology, how to work with it, how to build them, all that stuff. And yeah, after gathering all that information, it became second nature to me and and this is how I you know it turned into a career actually.
Mark Masterton (07:01)
What does it take to to build a drone from scratch? Like where where do you begin? What for in basic terms, what do you need to make a a a basic drone that will fly? Don't have to go into too much detail, because I won't be able to follow.
Ronald Meza (07:14)
So
No but first of all you don't have to be an engineer or anything like that. I believe anybody can do this. there are some steps that you should take before jumping into it. If you've never worked with electronics or soldering components or anything like that, that's where you want to start.
You want to read a lot before you even buy your first component or anything like that. there's a lot of resources online. and and today is easier than ever to to get into into not specifically FTV, but into drones. so once you overcome that you know
that side of of of the of the process, you know, the education, then you s you'll start buying pieces. And let me give you a little bit of a an advice or a warning.
First you sort of like think about it, buy your first drone or whatever, but then it becomes an addiction. And the next thing you know it's you have, I don't know, five, ten drones in your place. Because it it's so much fun it it becomes an addiction.
Mark Masterton (08:47)
Be honest, how many do you have right now?
Ronald Meza (08:49)
So I've been trying to get rid of them. Like I've been very active on on market marketplace. but currently I have about about six drones, FPV, so they're the the DIY type of drone. And I have also the traditional off the shelf DJI you know, type of drone. Yeah. I have a couple of those. Wow. So do you have a high
Mark Masterton (09:16)
Room dedicated to drums.
Ronald Meza (09:18)
Yes. I I do have you know, I'm very lucky and very fortunate that I get to work from home. So I've through the years I've assembled like a small l lab, I call it, or a workshop where I have some tools and and the space to to be able to do this. And so what I was you know, continuing to answer the the the question, so
You're gonna need the the the parts, the components, and then you're gonna need some time to put it together. now you cannot be sort of like desperate or anxious to to you know, just buy your things and go out there. It's it's a marathon. It's just something that is better if you take your time and then you really understand what you're doing. there are some risks associated with with operating
These type of machines, especially if you're surrounded by people or property. Yes. so that's this the the other aspect that you should really educate yourself on is regulations. And there's also a lot of resources online nowadays that you could use. There's even dedicated schools that help you obtain your licenses and stuff like that. but in general terms, this is this is what you need. Is it's not rocket science.
Anybody can do it. It just takes some time. Sone.
Mark Masterton (10:50)
some of your clips online you've actually like built a drone from scratch, like on camera. Like all the soldering it like it was giving me flashbacks to school when they taught me how to solder and I wasn't very good. But like you were it was incredible just building every circuit board together. how if you're building a drone from scratch then, how long does it take you, roughly? Well for a a a basic racing drone, I guess.
Ronald Meza (11:15)
Yes, when you
Nowadays, after practicing practicing so many times and and you know, building so many drones, it could take about a couple of hours, two two, three hours to finish it, to to build it completely. I'm talking about a simple one. Nothing fancy, like no like sophisticated sensors or anything like that. Just the basic f rig that will, you know, allow you to go to the park and and fly FPV.
But I remember when I first started it it used to take maybe a couple of days. a lot of frustration. Well, I'm talking about, you know, you're basically focusing on on doing that. Like there's nothing else. Ever everything else dis everything else disappears. yeah, you're in the lab and it's just yourself on the drone, your components, everything, everything else disappear. it can take you or it used to take me a couple of days.
Usually on the weekends. but yeah, like nowadays is you you become faster at doing it. You understand exactly what you have to do. I think that the the reason it takes time is is because, you know, at first you're not sure whether you should connect certain components to to to another. you you
You create in your mind sort of like a template that you always follow and and that becomes, you know, your your strategy to to build them and and and that really shortens shorten the time like significantly.
Mark Masterton (12:52)
Would you say your skills as an engineer help inform you when it comes to building drones and racing drones?
Ronald Meza (12:58)
As an engineer, I like like at s at university they never taught me anything about drones or anything like that. However, you learn skills that are very useful for this. For instance, you know, you you learn how to approach all these events as as a process. So the ability to stay organized. Like I do keep a spreadsheet where I have all the information about my drones.
So that I know exactly what did I put on them, you know, what type of component, what version of the firmware you're working on. So it's it becomes almost like a project management situation, personally. maybe th other people take a different approach, but in my case it helped me to sort of like stay organized, you know, approach everything as a as a process and have a system for it. And
yeah, like there's some technical aspect that that I may have learned from from when I was studying, but but it's it's something that that you have to do to become really good at. Like you you have to just get to work on on drones, get your hands on and eventually you'll become really, really good. And you know, if you're really passionate about it, it doesn't take a long time to to reach that level.
Mark Masterton (14:25)
So what what makes for a good racing drone? Like I've typically flown commercial drones, drones for filmmaking and things like that, but the drones that you make, if you could you've got one here, you could show us it. very different to your typical DJI drone or drone that we're used to seeing usually. How does it differ and what makes it so much more specialized?
Ronald Meza (14:52)
Yes. So to make an analog an analogy with the real world sample, commercial drones, off the shelf drones, they would be like a like a van. You buy a van or a pickup truck to do specific function, you know, something that doesn't require you to go fast or anything like that. You you need to load up transport things around, or you know
comfort or something like that. These guys are the Formula One or the Ferraris of of of in the in the drone world, right? So what makes them different is first of all the power to weight ratio. So when you build a racing drone, the first thing you have in mind is that the amount of thrust that you have should be at least eight times the weight.
So if your drone weighs one kilogram, you should aim at have a drone that can provide thrust of around eight kilograms. Wow. And the reason you want to do that is is because you want to have enough power to accelerate, decelerate, and have something called authority, which is fighting external elements like the wind, or maybe you hit a branch on a tree or or a gate while you're racing.
You want your drone to be able to recover fast. And if you have a drone that is underpowered, that becomes a really difficult thing to achieve. so I would say that is the first key element, the power to weight ratio. The second thing is that you're having a specialized video system.
that connects to a set of goggles and they transmit video with very low latency that's another important aspect your video system should provide you with the fastest you know transmission power possible if you have delay that will really impact your ability to fly.
Mark Masterton (17:16)
Right. If a tree's there, it's actually right next to the tree.
Ronald Meza (17:19)
Yeah, by the time you react you're ready crash. Yeah. And and the third aspect of of you know what makes these guys special or you know I don't know if more interesting but special is the fact that you get to build them yourself. You get to pick whatever you wanna put on, you wanna make it as fancy or as simple as you want.
Mark Masterton (17:22)
Not good.
Ronald Meza (17:43)
And you understand what's happening, what's going on inside of it. So you you have that ability to repair or make modifications to it at will. So yeah, those are the the the things.
Mark Masterton (17:57)
To me it looks really cool and like a stripped back version of a of a commercial drone. We used to see in like these smooth edges and plastic encasement, but there's no such thing on that. It's like light and it's ready to rip. is there you talked about those modifications and stuff. Are there things that you add to your drones that make it a a run drone in particular? Yeah. When when it's pulling up on the strip and at your latest race.
Ronald Meza (18:22)
Yes, absolutely. So customization comes along with with building the drone. I personally don't add too many too much decoration to it or or or things like that. I I
I when I modify it is because I have a specific purpose in mind to mount something, you know, create something that that the manufacturer didn't think of at the time I got it or whatever, and I really need to add say a camera or mount the batteries in a different way. that's the type of modification I'd like to do. So sort of like improving and securing things in place.
There's some other people that really enjoy getting creative and they start, you know, adding like a little cover to it and they start adding colors and stuff like that. And that's another thing that I believe is really cool about F D V racing drones. it's sort of like a outlet for expression. people are capable to express their personalities and and their style through the aircraft or
the type of flying that they do. but yeah, so I do customize my drones with the intention of of securing things and and and placing things rather than making it sort of like pretty or something like that. Because what happened is that after you get really excited, you go outside, you start flying, most likely you're gonna crash and
You know, I at the beginning I used to be like, I wanted to be pretty or whatever. But then I realized that after you crash, your drone looks really ugly. Like sometimes, you know, you break it, you gotta go back and build it together again. So so yeah, I try to be like more efficient. Yeah. and not waste too much time on, you know, adding things that I don't think are necessary.
Mark Masterton (20:31)
Talk
about crashes briefly, because to me, if I crash a drone, I remember like probably how many times I've crashed throughout the years, probably quite a few, but you remember them because like that means that your very expensive camera drone isn't gonna fly again and you have to go buy a new one. but for in the racing scene, crashes happen all the time from what I see, like really ugly crashes with bits of equipment flying everywhere. How often does it happen and how do you guys recover?
Ronald Meza (20:58)
So when you're in a racing environment, crashes are a a natural thing to happen. so how do you combat that or how you, you know, g go around that you have to bring quite a few drones to the races. Okay. Sometimes you're lucky, you don't break anything.
Sometimes you're not as lucky, you break everything you br you bring to the to the race. Even you sometimes you can't even finish a race because you don't have anything else to go. So you gotta go back to your home, you know, and fix everything. So so yeah, it's very common when you're starting, you think that man, it's a big failure or whatever, but it's just part of it. It's it's it's the nature of it.
Mark Masterton (21:29)
Straight back to the lab.
Ronald Meza (21:50)
when you're flying by yourself and you're at a park doing freestyle and stuff like that, it's less likely that you're gonna crash. You're careful, you're being careful. but during the races is is something that happens all the time. And it's actually what adds sort of like that excitement to to the races, right? Like you don't wanna crash. It's it's it's something really hard to achieve.
Mark Masterton (22:14)
Let's talk about the racing 'cause it's a scene that I've don't know much about and I would love to learn more about it. Like how are they organized? if I was gonna go to one for the first time, what should I expect at a race, a drone race? Where do they take place and all this?
Ronald Meza (22:29)
So
races are very niche type of event. very special type of people go here. Not at no no it's not for everybody. races have been happening since as far as I recall, since twenty fourteen. Here in BC they started later, probably around twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, that's when when the scene started, you know.
sort of like first appeared here in in in in in Vancouver especially. And so these are small events that are carried at usually private venues. Usually it's someone's home backyard or you you get permits from b a business like a like a brewery or like a like a maker space or something like that. So you really have to
If you're an organizer, you really have to nail that at first. Have a good location. then you need to have some technical, some equipment to be able to manage a race. so you need to have a timing system. Okay. you need to have a you know a a computing system that goes along with it so you can manage it. there is a software that allows you to create race
It's race management software. that allows you to, you know, create the heats, groups, you create pilot profiles, things like that. And then you have the pilots. So usually, you know, the the the biggest amount of pilots that I've seen was probably like fifteen to twenty. at an event that we organized at the AgriPlex in in Surrey. but
The ongoing races you usually get about eight to ten pilots or something like that. And it's not very common to have spectators. for some reason, may maybe it's the infrastructure, like you don't have big screens to show what's going on or you know, you don't have someone announcing what's happening. So it's not very attractive for for for that reason yet.
There is a league in the US called the drone the DRL, the drone racing league, that organizes big events at stadiums. So that that's a different level. That's a different, you know, level of organization and, you know, what's going on.
Mark Masterton (25:03)
You're all building drones, you're all this is all very much your passion, but someone wants to win. So is there is a sort of competitive edge to race deck?
Ronald Meza (25:14)
There's like a like a love hate relationship between everybody because like you said, like we're all friends. We're all like into something that we enjoy, we love, but at the same time you wanna beat the guy next to you, right? Like whomever is the best at the moment. so yeah, there's there's a love-hate relationship, I would say, between between all of us. But mostly love. Like we all really respect each other and it's very uncommon to see
I don't know, bad situations happening or anything like that's very unusual.
Mark Masterton (25:47)
Is
there a current team in the races that you take part in that you you see them rocking up and you're like, we're in for a race today? Sort of thing. Or are you one of the big dogs?
Ronald Meza (25:57)
I I don't consider myself a big dog. Like I mean I I do have experience flying, but honestly I'm not the best out there. There's people out there that are insanely good at at flying, like they're so consistent, like they pretty much never crash. What does it
Mark Masterton (26:15)
Take
to be a good drone racer.
Ronald Meza (26:17)
Practice. That's it. there's no workaround. And so what I was gonna say if if you allow me to backtrack a little to to that question where where you ask like where do people go about, you know, learning about the races or or joining a race or something like that. Yeah. there's there's one in BC there's that I know, there's one group called Quad R Us. So so that's like Quads with W. And
Sort like the Toys Arras logo kind of thing. Cool. But applied to drones, so it's called Quadsaras. Okay. And they are very active. They organize races during the the spring and summertime in Delta. They have a field in Delta. And and basically they all you have to do is follow them on Facebook so that you you learn when a new race is gonna happen and
They have instructions. They provide instructions. You just go online, pay a fee, usually forty, forty-five bucks. and then and then that's it. You're you're in you're subscribed to the to or or you're participating in that race. You're gonna go to that race, they'll let you know what you gotta bring. you you always you there's something here in Canada that most hobbyists, RC hobbyists have. It's called
The Mac license. Okay. So it's Mac is an association that sort of like governs certain rules about RC models usage here in in in in Canada actually. And they offer you some insurance. Like there's w once you become a member, there's some coverage that that is good to have in case something goes wrong with your drone, you hit something or someone. Yeah. and once you get all these
That's it, you're good to go. Off to the races. And it's up to you what's gonna happen.
Mark Masterton (28:21)
When there's new people joining the scene, do you like as someone who's been a part of it for so many years, do you sort of take them under your wing and are you a mentor to some?
Ronald Meza (28:30)
Yeah, w well what's pretty cool about about this is that there's always new people coming into it or even experienced people, but there's always a problem. There's always a trouble you know, something happened, becomes a mystery, you don't know. When you go to these places you have like a a free access to this knowledge everybody has, right? And sometimes you even can troubleshoot as a group and it's like, Hey guys, I have a problem
What could be the the the the issue. same happens online. Like you there's also Facebook groups and stuff like that where you can go forums and post your questions and stuff like that. But but yeah, like personally, that's one of the things that I enjoy the most to share the knowledge and to help. if if someone is in trouble or, you know, really don't know what to do, it's it's something really I personally enjoy.
Mark Masterton (29:29)
The you've just described it, it seems like very inviting, quite easy to get into and approachable. do you wanna like set the record straight on like sort of rules and regulations that people might be scared of and think, I I I can't do that 'cause there's this there's certificates that I have to get, there's rules and regulations that have changed. what's the latest on it and it's still approachable as a sport, isn't it?
Ronald Meza (29:57)
Yes,
I would say that most people that become s scared about regulations is because they haven't even taken the time to read about them. there's a lot of resources put out there by Transport Canada that explain in simple language what you should or should not do while operating these devices.
And if you really, you know, want to understand them and and and you read the the cars, the the part nine of the cars, the Canadian aviation regulations, you will understand that most of the the the the things that you have to to follow or or or you know the the rules that they set out there, they're common sense, right? Like don't fly near an airport or don't fly at at a concert where there's thousands of people.
if you don't have you know, insurance or you know, your your aircraft hasn't been certified. one of the regulations that that they put out there is related to the weight of the drone. So I think the the the the Transport Canada people, the officials, they've come up with a a theory that, you know, obviously the smaller
the drone, the less damage you can cause to someone or or property. Yeah. And so they've set a limit of up to two hundred and fifty grams for drones that don't require a license. If you build a drone that weighs less than that, you do not really need to have a license or anything like that. However, you still have to follow the basic rules. as I was saying, like you know, not flying near an airport or doing risky things.
Mark Masterton (31:54)
Yeah, yeah.
Ronald Meza (31:57)
if if you're serious about it, I would recommend you to enroll in an online course or something like that where they really take you by the hand and they show you everything that you you you should know. And then eventually you go and do your your test to get your license. It's online, it's an open book exam. so it I mean it's pretty easy to pause it, to be honest with you.
Well to be honest with you, it's is is I think I believe it's important. Anybody, everybody that uses these type of devices they should know about it. Even though if if you're not planning on on, you know, flying a big drone or doing commercially or anything like that, I think it's important. And and I think it's a good a good thing that that the country has put those in place. because
There's potential bad actors out there and and yeah, like I understand where they're coming from. They're trying to minimize risks to everybody, right? And and I think that if we all follow, you still can enjoy the hobby. There's no there's no reason for you not to enjoy it to be scared or anything like that. So yeah, my suggestion is to learn about them. And there's it everything is out there. Everything is public access. You just have to have you know, make the time to do it.
Mark Masterton (33:21)
I'd love to ask you, what can you recount one of your favorite memories down the years from from racing drones? A particularly good race or a you know, a memorable crash? I I don't know what it could be, but w a particular fond memory of yours.
Ronald Meza (33:37)
You know, that's it's kind of funny. Like every race is particularly exciting. Like I don't know, for some reason I still have this feeling before starting flying during a race where your heart is pumping so hard. So for me every race is is really real fun, you know, and and and I have a lot of, you know, interaction with other people, friends and stuff like that. You get to socialize a little.
But there was this particular event that we were this same event that I was mentioning in the Agriplex in Surrey. these are sort of like a barn style of of of building. they have quite tall ceilings and stuff like that. And I remember that event particularly we invited a a three D pilot, like a three D helicopter pilot.
And he brought this gigantic helicopter, really cool. And this is the first time I'm seeing this in person. I've seen videos of it, but he starts flying and his drum starts doing crazy stuff, upside down, he's flying really close to the ground, everybody's like, you know, their jaws are on the floor. And for some reason he decided to go high up and do something, and all of a sudden, bam.
The thing smashed the ceiling and and it landed in the middle of you know the place and everybody was like, Whoa, is this part of the show? Clearly it wasn't. he he trashed that that beautiful helicopter. It was like thousands of dollars worth of of you know money, and and it was the coolest thing I've seen in races so far. luckily he's a sponsor, so he gets free.
Helicopters whenever he wants, but it that was really cool and nobody was expecting to see that, to be honest with you, and it was really exciting.
Mark Masterton (35:42)
It's always nice when they go off script. Yeah. Drone as the future is made in partnership with Drone as a service. Make your survey, mapping, or inspections safer, faster, and more efficient with the help of our team. Elevate what's possible with drone as a service dot com. Right. in terms of drone racing in general,
It's growing in popularity. We've got the the drone racing league in the States filling out stadiums and some of the best in the world competing. Where do you see it going in the in the future? Is it gonna be sort of competing with F one? In terms of like social media following, it's kinda neck and neck on online, but where do you see it in the future? Are people gonna take it a bit more seriously?
Ronald Meza (36:29)
Well, I think that the interest has already peaked and plateaued. Like I believe it was probably between twenty eighteen, twenty twenty, that was like when when things were really gaining a lot of attention and traction. but it has become something more like ubiquitous, like you know, it's not as impressive.
in in terms of like, you don't you don't you don't you don't see those expressions anymore of people like being like, this is like Star Wars, it's mind blowing. It it has become something more normal. So the people that are still in the hobby, they they're most of them they come from from that era when when it was just you know starting. and
There's new people, there's new, you know, people that always get interest, interested in into this hobby, but I I don't see the same fever as as it was before. And and again the reason is there's not a lot of sponsorship going on. you have to fund it out of your own pocket. And and it it's expensive, it could get expensive, and you need time.
So if you have all these conditions and then you know you're good to go then awesome. But a lot of people don't have that. And even though a lot of people might be interested, they still haven't really pulled the trigger and sort of like get into it, because of the reasons that I was mentioning. so I would say as of today, the people that got in two or three years ago, they're this is the people that's still carrying on with all these events and stuff like that. But
I don't I don't unless something, you know, interesting happens, like like, you know, there's more interest from from brands to sponsor people and, you know, help you with all these expenses and stuff like that. I think it'll stay the same way. Like I think it'll it'll be not not as as as popular as Formula One.
But you still can have like a like a little fan base kind of thing. I know there's some pilots that are famous because of their YouTube videos and stuff like that. They have a a a big fan base and stuff like that. But yeah, most of us we just we just do it for fun and we just wanna go outside, have, you know, a laugh with friends and
Mark Masterton (39:14)
You still be building drones, racing drones for the rest of your life, do you reckon?
Ronald Meza (39:19)
I think so. I I I cannot get a away from drones at this point. Everything I do is related with drones. You've built the Yeah, so at work I'm working with drones and I go home and I'm also working with drones or you know, having fun with with them. So yeah, I I don't see myself getting out of this anytime soon.
Mark Masterton (39:42)
Fair enough. with the tech drone tech changing all the time, is there any particular developments you're excited for in the future? It's changing all the time. We've got three sixty cameras now on on drones. it seems to be accelerating all the time. What are you most looking forward to in the in the near future?
Ronald Meza (40:05)
So talking specifically about racing drones, it has become really easy to get these guys up and running. When I first started, it would take a lot of frustration and a lot of time trying to get the thing just flying properly. talking about tuning. I remember my first few drones.
I would be taking off and they will be like like super wobbly, like wow, wow, wow. And some point you can't even control it and scary. You eventually crush it. Yeah. And you had to spend really a lot of time on learning about P I D tuning. This is something technical. I'm not sure if if you want to get into but I D. P I D. As in proportional, integral and derivative. Okay. Okay. So this is
Mark Masterton (40:51)
B D. B.
Ronald Meza (41:01)
These flight controllers they use a closed loop a closed loop feedback system where it's constantly measuring its position and and and the acceleration and it makes corrections. It is all happening thousands thousands of times in a second. and if your PID values, because you know, once you connect
you're drawn to this software called Bed of Light. that you have to go through this process and these P I D values are numbers you have to type in. You have to adjust them. Sounds technical. And and if if they're not well balanced, if the the numbers are not correct, that's when you get that type of behavior I was talking about earlier, where the drone starts like shaking.
Mark Masterton (42:00)
Like
is it gonna fly into me and hurt me? It's scary.
Ronald Meza (42:03)
Yes. So back in the days you really had to spend a lot of time during this process, the PID tuning. And again, it was like, man, like I'm not sure if this is flying correctly. and throughout the years they've developed tools that help you do it easier. And nowadays, the the software has presets. So all you gotta do is choose whatever suits your build and use flash whatever
you know, information is in there and like magically this thing nowadays flies really well. It flies really good. So you don't have to spend a lot of time doing this. you spend more time outside, having fun. That's what we and and so this is this is something that is really exciting about it. That is is easier than ever to get these machines up and running. And another aspect that I I don't know if this is ever gonna happen, but
We were talking in the other room about a hypothetical case where maybe in the future they would develop augment augmented reality applications for FPV. So instead of having a physical racetrack or something like that, you could create a virtual one so that you can see it while while you're wearing while you're wearing your goggles. And and you know, just flying through a virtual course or something like that. Potentially you can collect coins
Yeah. Or have a power, you know, and and shoot a laser to you know, your competitors or something like that. So that would be something really cool to see. it hasn't happened yet, but it would be really exciting if we can have that in the future. Sure.
Mark Masterton (43:47)
one thing I did want to ask you as well. drone racing requires pilots and very specialized pilots, people who've spent a lot of time practicing to get the drones to race at speed and precision and things like that. What do you think about these drones that we're seeing now that are sort of automated and using AI capabilities to pilot? What do you see the how do you see the role of a pilot changing in future years?
Ronald Meza (44:13)
Well I've seen the this evolution of autonomous autonomous drones mostly within defense and search and rescue applications. I think that the traditional pilot role will never will never go away. And the reason I'm saying this is because
There are different applications that that are there are different ways that you can use the drone to perform a mission or achieve a a a goal. And and those drones are heavily operated by artificial intelligence or you know, they're automated and stuff like that. They they do have a very sp specific application. So in this case it would be defense or, you know, yeah, like military
applications. when you're flying for filming or maybe doing some police investigation or maybe you know you're a a firefighter that needs to use a drone to to analyze the situation of you know there's a building that is built is burning or something like that. those things you still need to have someone
That will be able to control it and and make decisions. there's more complex scenarios, right? Like if you're flying in the city, if you're flying in a forest or something like that. at this point, I don't think the the the autonomous type of drones will thrive in that environment. so yeah, I think that you still will need the operator, the pilot, in the loop. And so you don't leave everything just to, you know.
the AI or or you know, an o a software that will control them automatically. and again like filming, when you're filming, there's a lot of sort of like natural skills that a pilot would put into it that you know, a a an autonomous drone may not achieve. You maybe you need to fly through a little space, a little gap. so are really complex things to do. So
Yeah, I I think we're s we're still ways ways away from from pilots getting replaced from from you know software or AI.
Mark Masterton (46:46)
Pilots are here to stay. Okay, well I think that's a nice note to wrap things up on. Thank you so much for telling me everything about drone racing, what goes into building a drone, how to get into drone racing. We've covered a lot of things, so I very much appreciate your time. Ronald?
Ronald Meza (47:01)
I really appreciate you guys having me here and yeah, it's it's really really awesome to share a little bit of the experience and and little knowledge that I have about this.
Mark Masterton (47:11)
We'll have more people coming up in future episodes of the podcast, but make sure you stay tuned to find out what flies ahead. Drone as the future is made in partnership with Drone as a Service. Make your survey, mapping, or inspections safer, faster, and more efficient with the help of our team. Elevate what's possible with drone as the service dot com.
Ronald Meza (47:44)
Hey drone as the future calling from the Well, you know already, calling in because I wanted to know what's the fastest drone that you've ever seen flown. By the way, we're breaking sound barriers now.
Mark Masterton (47:56)
That's call from the year twenty one twenty seven. Wanting to know. Yeah, y you can answer into the phone, yeah, they're still there, but they're waiting for you.
Ronald Meza (48:04)
The current fastest drone comes from South Africa. It's it holds the world Guinness record. it's a couple of son and dad engineers. And the thing can go for up to six hundred over six hundred kilometers an hour. And and currently there's a lot of people around the world trying to beat that record. but it's getting getting really fast. Real real fast.
And well, thanks for the question and talk to you soon.
Mark Masterton (48:41)
You might not be around to talk to them in person, but you know, not to make it morbid.
Ronald Meza (48:46)
Yeah.
Mark Masterton (48:57)
This has been the Drone as the Future Podcast. Today's episode has been produced by Ryan Whitten, coordinated by Samantha Holomay, filmed by John Rawlinson, and features original intro music by Josh Santos. Thank you very much for tuning in, and if you'd like to follow along our journey, fly over to that subscribe button wherever you're listening so you can be updated to hear what flies ahead.