[instrumental music] 2
Damon Sasso: Seven teams answered the call... 3
and decided to go to war. 4
To prove they have what it takes, 5
the world's best drone builders and pilots 6
have been gathered from around the world 7
to compete in a series of challenges 8
that will test their engineering... 9
piloting... 10
problem-solving... 11
and teamwork. 12
[all cheering] 13
[music continues] 14
[instrumental music] 15
Damon: On this season of "Drone Wars," 16
we see the thrill of speed... 17
complexity of engineering... 18
We mount the basket on a rail system. 19
the sweetness of victory... 20
Yeah, baby! 21
- Yeah! - That's right. 22
- Good job, Jason. - Yeah. 23
and the agony of defeat. 24
[bleep] you, Adriatic Sea! 25
Damon: Join us as the battle heats up 26
and we narrow down competitors 27
until only one team remains. 28
This season, on "Drone Wars." 29
[instrumental music] 30
Joshua Sharfi: Drone Wars is a series of challenges 31
to put pilots and engineers to the test. 32
We're coming in first on this one. 33
Joshua: Teams of two must design and create 34
the ultimate flying machine to be able to conquer 35
ever-changing obstacles and win points 36
to avoid being knocked out of the competition. 37
- You ready? - Ready. 38
Go! 39
Come on, buddy. You got it. 40
Man: Oh! No! No! 41
Run! Run! [laughs] 42
[instrumental music] 43
Welcome to "Drone Wars." 44
I'm your host, Joshua Sharfi. 45
And I'm Vanessa Jova. 46
Drone Wars is a series of challenges 47
to put pilots and engineers to the test. 48
Teams of two must design and create 49
the ultimate flying machine to be able to conquer 50
ever-changing obstacles and win points to avoid 51
being knocked out of the competition. 52
Let's meet the teams. 53
We have John and Jason from Team Chaos, 54
specializing in design and engineering. 55
From Team Dialexa, we have Nathan and Romeo, 56
specializing in research, 57
design, and product development. 58
From Team Beards, we have Jared and Yves, 59
specializing in computer science 60
and software development. 61
From Team Ikaliktan, we have Luciano and Jose, 62
specializing in aerial photography and film. 63
Joshua: Next up, we have Sean and Marco, 64
from Team Kopterworx specializing in drone racing 65
and aerial photography. 66
Next up, is Sam and Jacob, 67
for Team California Dronin', 68
specializing in aerial photography and film. 69
And finally, we have Team Pyro Drone 70
with Ricky and Bobby, 71
specializing in drone racing. 72
One thing you all share, 73
you're some of the best in your field. 74
While your backgrounds will give you an edge 75
in some of the challenges, it won't in all. 76
Two heads are better than one, and what will give you 77
an advantage is your ability to work as a team 78
to design a system that will outperform the competition. 79
Vanessa: At the end of every challenge, 80
teams will be awarded points based on their performance. 81
But make sure you don't come in last too many times. 82
Every four challenges, an elimination will happen. 83
The team with the least amount of points 84
will be eliminated from the competition. 85
And the teams with the most amount of points 86
at the end of "Drone Wars..." 87
bragging rights, and 10,000 bucks. 88
Now, who's ready for the first challenge? 89
[all cheering] 90
Your first challenge 91
is going to be right behind me. 92
In two days¡¯ time, a hay maze will be built. 93
From your team, one person will hover 94
the drone above the maze, 95
and the other will have a real-time view 96
of what the drone is seeing. 97
Joshua: Person two will, in essence, 98
have a real-time view of themselves 99
and will have to get through the maze 100
in the quickest time possible. 101
Vanessa: First place will receive 10 points. 102
Second place will get 8 points. 103
Third place will get 6 points. 104
If you complete the maze, you'll be awarded 2 points. 105
And if you do not, you will get zero. 106
So, your challenge is to build 107
a custom drone from scratch. 108
You then have to have a working camera system 109
to provide a real-time view 110
to your teammate in the maze. 111
Vanessa: You have two days to complete the challenge. 112
So, let¡¯s head to the workshop. 113
[applauding] 114
[instrumental music] 115
Welcome, teams. 116
Your challenge starts here. 117
This is the workshop where you'll be designing, 118
building, and testing out your custom-made drones. 119
Here you have access to 3D printers 120
CNC machines, drills, tools, parts, and money. 121
Get you gear, decide what you wanna build, 122
and head to the workshop. 123
The time starts now. 124
Let the Drone Wars begin. 125
[instrumental music] 126
Could you set this over by the power? 127
Yeah, for sure. 128
Jacob: Ah, my name's Jacob Steagall, 129
and I'm on California Dronin'. 130
I'm a freelance photographer. 131
I also do aerial cinematography/photography. 132
Damon: Sam and Jacob have backgrounds 133
in aerial filming, so building a drone with a camera system 134
is something they are familiar with. 135
Most challenging is the unknowing situation. 136
Honestly, like, every time we, uh, we wake up, 137
we don't really know what the day's gonna bring towards us. 138
Damon: But a new challenge for them 139
will be running through a maze 140
while looking at themselves 141
from a bird's-eye view. 142
Disorienting, to say the least. 143
So, something like a medium-sized quad or hex 144
will probably give us that lifting capacity 145
plus a little bit of power. 146
Damon: Like all teams, they will have to decide 147
what style of drone they wanna build. 148
Some of the most popular drone configurations 149
are quadcopters, which have four propellers. 150
Hexacopters, which have six propellers, 151
and octocopters, which have eight propellers. 152
Quadcopters are typically more agile, 153
consume less power, and are cheaper to build. 154
By adding two more propellers, 155
hexacopters add stability in flight, 156
and can carry more weight. 157
And with eight propellers, 158
octocopters are the most stable, 159
can carry the most weight, 160
but are also the most expensive. 161
California Dronin' decides to buy a hexacopter kit, 162
but only use four propellers, 163
which will cost less money for this challenge 164
and leave them with options 165
for future challenges. 166
We have a medium-sized frame. 167
So, that way we have a lot of area for adapting. 168
Sam: My name is Sam Mobley, 169
I¡¯m 19 years old, 170
and my team is California Dronin'. 171
So, I first knew that I wanted to do drones 172
about a week after I got my first drone. 173
I¡¯d flown it, like, 20 times everyday 174
and it just... I was hooked. 175
I just kept doin¡¯ it and never want to stop. 176
So, what are we gonna do for the first challenge? 177
I say, we try to keep it as cheap and simple as possible 178
so that we have more money to spend in the future. 179
My name¡¯s Bob Forhoogi, I¡¯m 30 years old, 180
I'm from Los Angeles, California, 181
and I'm on Team Pyro Drone. 182
I wouldn't really say that 183
I wanted to be a drone racer from the beginning, 184
because it didn't even exist five years ago, 185
so, I kinda just fell into it because of my background. 186
Damon: Bob and Ricky both have a background in drone racing. 187
Their expertise is in piloting 188
and building smaller quad racing drones. 189
So, how big do you think we should make it? 190
Well... 191
I think that chair looks perfect. 192
I agree. That chair looks like it could fly pretty well. 193
Let's grab it. 194
My name's Ricky Martinez. 195
I'm 25 years old, and I'm on Team Pyro Drone. 196
I'm not sure if any of my other skills 197
are gonna come into play 198
to help me win the competition. 199
Um, I think, the main thing is my skill as a pilot. 200
I can fly through pretty much anything 201
and I can fly pretty much anything. 202
So, I think, just my overall skill as a pilot 203
is what's gonna help me win the competition. 204
This wood looks excellent. 205
Now, we just need a hacksaw. 206
Damon: In order to save money for future challenges, 207
they decide to build their drone from scratch. 208
So, we figured, save as much money as we can, 209
keep it simple, 210
and see what we can do 211
with something we could find 212
right at home or... 213
at the store or close by... 214
Anywhere without havin¡¯ to buy 215
expensive carbon fiber. 216
[speaking Spanish] 217
Damon: Jose and Luciano also come 218
from the aerial filming world, 219
which will serve them well in this challenge. 220
[speaking Spanish] 221
[speaking Spanish] 222
Damon: Choosing a hexacopter will give them 223
more stability while in flight, 224
which will make it easier for them to see the maze. 225
But the quadcopter promises 226
a longer flight time 227
and saves them money 228
which they can use later on. 229
Nathan: My name is Nathan Gingrich. 230
Um, I'm from Dallas, Texas. 231
I'm 35 years old, and I'm on Team Dialexa Robots. 232
But my friends call me El Fuego. 233
Um, the-- the flame, kind of the hair 234
and ¡¯cause I¡¯m always movin¡¯ and goin¡¯. 235
Uh, my day job, I work for a company called Dialexa. 236
Uh, we're a technology company. 237
We do, uh, end-to-end solutions. 238
So, anything from a piece of hardware 239
that we have to program, that we can build 240
from scratch to, uh, design web pages, 241
uh, applications for phones to computers. 242
Damon: Romeo and Nathan 243
specialize in research and design. 244
While Romeo focuses more on the designing and building, 245
Nathan can focus on piloting, 246
giving them balance on their team. 247
The-- the copter¡¯s gonna be able to lift a lot, so... 248
if we have it in the budget, we¡¯ll take it to... 249
Otherwise, the gimbals, like, the last of my priorities. 250
My name is Romeo Espana. I'm 29 years old. 251
I'm from Dallas, Texas. 252
And I'm on, uh, Team Dialexa Robots. 253
One thing I love about multicopters 254
is just how straightforward they are. 255
It¡¯s certain number of motors and props 256
and all they're doing is keeping themselves in balance. 257
And everything else spawns from that. 258
Probably do something like big props on a 6S battery. 259
That¡¯s... 260
Just, and... which means... 261
we keep it light, which means we don't put 262
a complicated gimbal... on it. 263
Just a servo or something to keep it stable. 264
Damon: They come to the same conclusion 265
as Team Ikaliktan and California Dronin'. 266
While a hexacopter would be nice for stability purposes, 267
it will be too expensive for this challenge. 268
So, they buy a hexacopter platform 269
and build it in a quadcopter configuration. 270
Are we gonna do fixed-position camera 271
looking straight down or a tiltable... 272
Jason: My name is Jason Cole. 273
I'm from Nashville, Tennessee, 274
and I'm on Team Chaos. 275
Flyin¡¯ and building are, is a big passion for me 276
and it always has been. 277
Anything that goes in the air... 278
I¡¯m in, just, love with it. 279
I'm gonna try to move pretty quick. 280
Yeah, and I¡¯ll try to keep it as stable as possible. 281
So, you know, vibration¡¯s down 282
not getting disoriented, maybe, yaw... 283
My name's John Fernandez. I'm 45 years old. 284
I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina, 285
and I am half of Team Chaos. 286
I think I'm known for very meticulous builds, 287
and thinking outside the box, and coming out with very 288
unique ways to build things and solve problems. 289
Do we go HD or SD on the transmission? 290
I don¡¯t know. We¡¯ll have to see what other, the parts add up to 291
'cause HD is a big chunk. 292
If we can get it in the initial build, that'd be great. 293
That¡¯s, like, that¡¯s, like, half the build 294
if we go HD ProSight. 295
Damon: As engineers and hobbyists specializing 296
in design, John and Jason realize the difficulty 297
of this challenge isn't building the drone, 298
but a camera system 299
that will be able to convey 300
a view that is helpful. 301
So, Team Chaos looks at a camera gimbal 302
to stabilize the movement created by the drone. 303
What about flight control? That's our main thing. 304
- That¡¯s gonna make or break us. - It¡¯s the heart of the drone. 305
So, I mean, there's options. 306
Uh, I know it's more expensive, 307
but I say we go with a Vector. 308
Damon: The flight controller is a computer 309
on board the drone. 310
Some flight controllers are more expensive, 311
but have more sophisticated features, 312
like auto-leveling and GPS tracking. 313
We may have to rake, like, a servo or something. 314
So, we take the FPV cam, 315
and once I get into position 316
you flip the servo, and then, drop it down. 317
Yeah. So, we just have a straight up bird's-eye view. 318
Yeah, so we can see the maze, and you can kinda... 319
Pac-Man it through it. 320
Yeah. 321
Sean Krell. I'm from Los Angeles, California. 322
I'm 33 years old, and I'm on Team Kopterworx. 323
I started with drones probably three years ago. 324
Build a TBS Discovery from a kit. 325
You know, soldered it all together 326
and I-- I was hooked. 327
That was it. 328
Since then, I started, um, 329
a racing group called LAFPV. 330
Um, we're, like, a free to enter... 331
uh, community thing in Los Angeles. 332
FPV racing, we set up a track. 333
Anybody can come. It¡¯s completely free. 334
So, we have plenty of room for batteries. 335
We¡¯re under 400 bucks. That¡¯s perfect. 336
- Nice. - Yeah. Yes. 337
There¡¯s so much left over... 338
- For a big build, that¡¯s easy. - Yeah. 339
Marko: My name is Marko, I'm 30 years old, 340
and I'm on Team KopterWorx. 341
I start flying drones 342
uh, roughly three years ago. 343
I flew drones mainly for videography. 344
So, that¡¯s my main thing, the drones. 345
I don't really build drones. 346
Damon: Sean and Marko come from different backgrounds. 347
Sean is a drone racer. 348
He's used to building and piloting 349
small racing quadcopters. 350
But since this is a challenge 351
where they need flight as well as video, 352
Marko's experience in aerial filming will help out. 353
If we build, I mean, the good thing 354
is we build a small one now... 355
- Yeah. - Something FPV racer style. 356
Then that'll equip us for any kind of challenge like that. 357
But, you know, we won't have any real, like, 358
GPS hold or any stabilization 359
that's gonna make this one easy. 360
Damon: Sean and Marko decide to save money 361
by using a simplified flight controller 362
without the additional features. 363
That also means that piloting their drone 364
will have an added degree of difficulty. 365
We probably aren't going to need anything 366
too complicated for this task. 367
Jared: We definitely need wireless image transmission. 368
So... 369
I think it would be quite good to... 370
Yeah. It can't be tethered. 371
[laughs] Yeah. 372
Yves: My name's Yves Conan, I'm 35 years old, 373
and I'm on Team Beards. 374
We call ourselves Team Beards 375
because I made the mistake of letting Jared 376
pick the team name. Yeah. 377
We thought, well, we'll call ourselves "Bayard" 378
¡¯cause its spelled "Beard." 379
Um, and evidently, when we emailed 380
Bayard without phonetics, it got turned into Beard, 381
and then someone thought, "Ooh, actually, it should be Beards." 382
So, we ended up being Team Beards. 383
[chuckles] 384
Physical attributes, not related. 385
All things considered, this looks like 386
it could be a very easy task. 387
I do think we're going to need to look 388
at a, uh, flight controller with, uh, 389
GP-- GPS control. 390
Because I don't want to have to constantly 391
be occupied with keeping the thing over the maze. 392
Damon: Unlike Team Kopterworx, 393
Team Beards has decided to use a more expensive 394
flight controller, with features like GPS hold, 395
which will allow the computer 396
to keep the drone stationary 397
without additional pilot input. 398
I think what we'll probably do 399
is look down the hexacopter routes as well. 400
Because if we go for a hexacopter 401
we get a little bit of redundancy 402
when it comes to, uh, the motors. 403
Damon: Additionally, they choose to go 404
with a hexacopter. 405
It'll cost more for parts, 406
but will also give them added stability in this challenge. 407
[instrumental music] 408
Damon: Coming up, will four, six, or eight propellers 409
give the most advantage for this challenge? 410
And later, will the teams 411
be able to conquer the maze? 412
[instrumental music] 413
Damon: Seven teams of drone builders and pilots 414
take on their first challenge of trying to navigate 415
through a maze with a bird's-eye view. 416
Will these teams be able to complete their builds 417
before the challenge and have a flying drone? 418
[speaking Spanish] 419
So, what¡¯s weird about this challenge 420
is that they have to see themselves 421
from a third-person view. 422
When you and I look at each other, that's first person. 423
I¡¯m lookin¡¯ from my eyes to you. 424
But, imagine, you're looking at yourself 425
from a bird's-eye view. 426
You don't see in front of you 427
you see from the top-down. 428
- Like a video game. - Right. 429
So, these guys are gonna be wearin' goggles 430
runnin' through a maze 431
just like they're in a video game. 432
But they have to rely on their teammate 433
to make sure they get all the way across. 434
So, what's gonna be the most 435
challenging part of building their drone? 436
I see that's gonna be challenging. 437
But what about the actual build? 438
Joshua: What's tough about this one 439
is they have to build the drone 440
in a short amount of time. 441
Not only that, they have to have 442
a live video system to be transmitted 443
to be able to help the runner 444
navigate through this maze. 445
The time is tickin¡¯, and we are really curious 446
about what they're gonna do. 447
[instrumental music] 448
Towards the back, we'll run the XT60 connector 449
so that battery sits, the LiPo sits on the bottom. 450
-Okay. -Okay, and then... 451
Sean: Motor wires connect here, that 452
and then this goes to the flight controller. 453
This is your ground and your, uh, 454
signal wire for the SC. 455
Damon: Thanks to the simplicity 456
of the quad racer design 457
as well as Sean's familiarity with the build, 458
their drone comes together 459
in only a few hours¡¯ time. 460
- This guy right here-- - Oh, I see it. 461
- See it? - Yeah, go ahead. 462
Hell, yeah. 463
- You got it? - Yeah, it's perfect. 464
- Awesome. - Yeah. We're good. Okay. 465
We're absolutely gonna win. 466
Uh, I mean, have you seen Marko? 467
He could... whoop any dude here. 468
So, I feel-- feel good about that. 469
Worst come to worst, I can just smash through the maze 470
and go straight to the end. 471
Jason: Yeah, that's solid, alright. Power button. 472
- It's on the bottom I think. - Cross your fingers. 473
And three, two, one... 474
Give it a second, it's gonna happen. There you go. 475
- Awesome. - Dude, it¡¯s not even shakin¡¯. 476
That¡¯s perfect, man, we don¡¯t even have to add any weight. 477
Uh, press it down. Make sure that it can recover. 478
- It¡¯s awesome. - It¡¯s stabilizin¡¯, man. 479
Damon: The gimbal mount for the camera 480
adds weight and requires more power to operate. 481
But it will help to balance out any moves 482
that the drone has 483
and give Jason as steady 484
of a view as possible. 485
Yeah, I think the task is gonna be, 486
maybe tough to complete 487
depending on how our testing goes, 488
which we'll know a little bit later on. 489
Um, if everything goes well, 490
I think we're gonna knock this thing out of the park. 491
- Alright. We got some motors. - Motors. 492
A receiver. We got the switcher. 493
- Sweet. - It's gonna help us switch. 494
- Three antennas. - Okay, last part. 495
Bob: What do we have? Where¡¯s the frame? 496
Get the frame. 497
Ricky: Alright. 498
- Yes! - Look at that baby. 499
Beautiful frame. This guy's gonna fly amazing. 500
Damon: Although the scrap wood design 501
has saved money, 502
it has also added a lot of weight. 503
The weight, the weight of the chair 504
is the weight of the wood. 505
It's a lot more than we expected. 506
That's the main worry. 507
We're worried about the battery that we've chosen, 508
because it's pretty large. 509
'Cause we're looking for a... 510
decent amount of flight time. 511
So, it's gonna be a complication. 512
Damon: In addition to drilling the holes 513
in the frame to shave weight, 514
they also added four more propellers and motors 515
to the bottom of the drone to double the lifting power. 516
When we walk through the world, 517
because we build everything ourselves, 518
we generally look at everything in terms of flight. 519
So, everything we see, we try to make fly. 520
What's quite nice about this frame 521
is it's built into the frame. 522
- So you can see the... - Yeah. 523
The, uh... circuit, essentially. 524
Which means, instead of having messy wires 525
what I can do is, I can chop these down, 526
and wire them directly in. 527
I don't think the time constraints are an issue 528
at all, the reason being is, 529
I'm very used to building motor rotors 530
with a inordinately small amount of time. 531
I've often had to build something 532
in less than two days. 533
I've even had to build something in one day. 534
Damon: Fortunately for Team Beards, 535
Jared is used to building on a time crunch. 536
What I'm going to do is get a servo 537
and you can have that in your hand. 538
And that's how you'll, you'll be telling me 539
the solution to the maze. 540
What I can do is flip a switch 541
from left, middle, right 542
to tell you to turn left or right. 543
Damon: As computer scientists, 544
Jared and Yves further utilize 545
technology to their advantage, 546
by creating a servo that Jared can control 547
and convey directions to Yves with. 548
[speaking Spanish] 549
Damon: Jose and Luciano 550
realize that a fixed-mount camera 551
will require them to move the drone 552
every time they need a different view. 553
[speaking Spanish] 554
Damon: But by adding a pivoting camera 555
to their drone, they will be able 556
to move the field of view 557
without having to move the drone. 558
So, we've got frame. We've got arm-- 559
First, I want to see if the motor 560
matches up really nice with those mounts. 561
Romeo: Sure. 562
Transmitter? Video? Where's the camera? 563
Camera's here. 564
- Orange? - Yeah. 565
Nice. 566
Damon: Nathan and Romeo are able to 567
quickly assemble their drone 568
because they find ways of assisting one another. 569
The teamwork aspect of this competition 570
is very important, 571
and must be utilized 572
in order for the teams to advance. 573
Unfortunately, not all teams have mastered quick builds. 574
Uh, the hardest part about building a drone 575
would be, uh, watching Sam build it. 576
Jacob: Did you try these ones? 577
- Yeah, they were too big. - Or these ones? 578
- Those were way too big. - Yeah. 579
- Like, this-- - It's not those tiny ones? 580
No, this fits, but it's not tiny. 581
Just push. Get it in there. 582
[laughs] I¡¯m tryin¡¯! 583
Damon: The time Sam takes to help Jacob 584
in assembling their drone 585
is putting them behind the other teams. 586
And they risk not finishing before the competition. 587
That went in your belt? 588
I¡¯m tryin¡¯, man. 589
[instrumental music] 590
Damon: Still to come... 591
the teams start testing their drones 592
to make sure they can compete. 593
Will Pyro Drone's flying-chair design 594
even be able to get off the ground? 595
Ricky: I don't even know where I am, Bob. 596
[instrumental music] 597
[instrumental music] 598
Damon: Is it possible to navigate through 599
a giant maze by using the viewpoint of a drone 600
a 100 feet in the air? 601
Which teams get lost in the maze 602
and which ones conquer it? 603
[laughing] 604
[music continues] 605
Damon: Team Chaos is the first to finish their build 606
and do some last-minute testing 607
of their gimbal system. 608
Alright, let's get the gimbal on. 609
Power it up. 610
John: Make sure the gimbal¡¯s in the right position. 611
We'll check the camera real quick. 612
[instrumental music] 613
[drone whirring] 614
Damon: If it works as they intend, 615
they will have an easier time seeing the maze, 616
which should give them an added advantage 617
of running through in the fastest time. 618
Jason: This is fine. 619
- There¡¯s the sun right here? John: Yeah. 620
Jason: Wow! Big difference. 621
Awesome. 622
- Looks good? - Yeah. 623
John: I'll bring it down? Jason: Yeah. 624
I think that's a good test, right there. 625
- Power, check. - Yeah, come on. 626
Radio, check. 627
Bulb's flashing, check. 628
Damon: After Team Beards finishes building their drone, 629
they attempt the test flight. 630
Oh! Oh! [bleep] 631
[laughing] 632
Yeah. 633
Well, the net works. [laughs] 634
Damon: But clearly aren't used tothe way this drone flies. 635
So, you¡¯re confident with this thing flying tomorrow? 636
Yeah, I think so. 637
- Alright. - It'll definitely fly. 638
We don't know for how long though. 639
[laughing] 640
Damon: Jared will have to make sure 641
he is able to stabilize this drone 642
in order for Yves to have a chance 643
of getting through the maze. 644
- Let's do this. Right? - Yeah. 645
Nice and smooth. 646
[drone whirring] 647
Damon: Team Kopterworx's mini quad racer takes flight. 648
- Check the camera. - Check, check, camera, yeah. 649
Yeah, I think it's perfect. 650
Wow! So you guys really built a racer? 651
- It's a racer. - Yeah. 652
It's our Lil' Spicy Boy. 653
And you guys are gonna do this maze tomorrow 654
with this racer? 655
Yeah! It's stable enough. 656
Damon: And since there are 657
no advanced flight controls, 658
there will need to be more piloting control 659
to keep the drone in one place. 660
Unlike Team Kopterworx, 661
Team Dialexa has used an advanced flight controller. 662
And in combination with a larger drone, 663
shows the added stability in flight. 664
[robotic voice] Dialexa Robots. 665
Finished third, which is so good. 666
Alright, I haven't seen this GPS 667
on any of the other ones yet. 668
What's going on with that? 669
Why'd you decide to put that in there? 670
So, that's pretty standard for the DGI. 671
Uh, a series of flight controllers. 672
Um, the reason the GPS is on a mast is to kinda pull it away 673
from the electronic speed controllers. 674
Those generate a lot of noise. 675
[speaking Spanish] 676
[drone whirring] 677
[speaking Spanish] 678
Damon: Team Ikaliktan's drone has immediate problems 679
receiving proper signal. 680
[speaking Spanish] 681
Luciano: We got problem with the battery. 682
The power, the power is not... 683
- And, uh... - Radio, man. 684
Yeah, it is. 685
Damon: And it seems to be related to insufficient power. 686
[speaking Spanish] 687
Damon: But with a battery replacement, 688
they are confident it will be ready to fly 689
for the challenge. 690
It attracted the bee. 691
[drone whirring] 692
It¡¯s just like a mini glide. It¡¯s so powerful. 693
- Does it fly good? - Yeah, dude. It¡¯s so powerful. 694
Damon: After Team Pyro Drone added 695
four more propellers, their flying-chair design 696
has become quite powerful. 697
By using eight motors in the X configuration, 698
they will have the power of an octocopter 699
with the maneuverability of a quadcopter. 700
You guys took a chair and broke it up. 701
- And made it into a drone. - Yeah. 702
- That flies... with speed. - It¡¯s good. 703
You killed it. Why are there two motors down there? 704
- I haven't seen that yet. - Two motors? 705
Yeah, on the top and the bottom. 706
- It's got eight motors total. - Eight? 707
- Two on each piece? - We wanted more power. 708
- More power. - Yeah. 709
Come on. 710
[drone whirring] 711
Yeah. 712
- Is it alright? - Yeah. Climbing more. 713
Jacob: It works, man. 714
Damon: Fortunately, California Dronin' 715
is able to finish on time, 716
and they have a drone that flies 717
as they had hoped. 718
You guys were the last ones to do a test flight. 719
Were you nervous that you're not gonna make it? 720
We were a little nervous. 721
We were right there on the edge. 722
Having little issues towards the end, 723
but we got it in. 724
I'll take it though, 725
I have confidence in my partner. 726
He had an amazing build, so, I knew it was gonna fly. 727
It was just a matter of how well. 728
I gotta say, I was a little worried myself. 729
But now, when I seen this fly, 730
it was so stable, so smooth. 731
It sounded clean. 732
'Cause it is. 733
So, Team Chaos finished first, 734
but everyone seems to be having a working drone, 735
and it looks like everybody is gonna race tomorrow. 736
That's right, I can't believe these guys made the cut 737
with such a short amount of time. 738
I'm pretty impressed. I was really doubtful. 739
These guys actually made the flying-chair work. 740
I can't wait to see that 741
flying at the donkey ranch tomorrow. 742
[instrumental music] 743
Damon: Next, the teams take to the skies 744
in order to overcome the maze challenge. 745
Which of them jump to an early lead in points 746
and which of them crash? 747
[instrumental music] 748
Damon: Drone builders and pilots 749
have designed custom drones 750
that will allow them to see a maze from the sky. 751
The first challenge in the "Drone Wars" competition 752
starts now. 753
[instrumental music] 754
Hey, teams. Welcome to challenge day. 755
As you can see, the maze behind us 756
is finally finished. 757
And just to recap what you¡¯re doin¡¯ today. 758
Joshua: The pilot is gonna be hoverin¡¯ a drone 759
over the maze, and he's gonna send 760
a real-time video feed to your runner. 761
Your runner¡¯s gonna be wearin¡¯ video goggles 762
and he can only see what you're gonna give him. 763
So, getting your pilot and runner 764
to work together to get the runner through the maze 765
at the fastest time possible 766
is gonna win this challenge for you. 767
You guys are going in the reverse order 768
that you finished, so, California Dronin', 769
you finished last, which means you are going first. 770
Alright, California Dronin', it's all come down to this. 771
Tell me a little bit about your final product. 772
We ended up switching to a Vector flight controller 773
in the end, because we were having 774
some issues with our initial one. 775
This kinda set us back on time a little bit 776
which is why we're going first today. 777
Alright, well, that might work in your advantage. 778
Tell me a little bit about... 779
Has your strategy changed now that 780
you've seen the maze a little more? 781
Now that we've seen it a little bit 782
I¡¯m hoping to kinda run, walk, maybe speed walk it. 783
- Run, walk. - Yeah, we don't really know. 784
It's kinda, once you get in there, 785
we'll figure it out, but we'll see. 786
Vanessa: Alright, cool, well, you guys 787
are the first ones to go. 788
Let's get you over to the starting line, 789
and you can start your drone. 790
Alright. 791
- Sam, you ready? - I'm ready. 792
Alright, Jacob! 793
You start in three, two, one, go! 794
[instrumental music] 795
[drone whirring] 796
[drone whirring] 797
Damon: After Sam takes off 798
he notices the wind conditions 799
affect his ability to keep the drone 800
centered over the maze. 801
Along with the disorienting nature 802
of looking through the goggles, 803
Jacob takes a few bumps into the maze walls. 804
Can you see what's going on here? 805
- Yeah, it looks like... - Oh, wow. 806
That looks pretty complicated actually. 807
I know. He needs to go back. 808
Damon: Sam tries to keep good positioning of the drone, 809
but it doesn't keep Jacob from taking some wrong turns 810
and getting lost. 811
Sam: There. No. Vanessa: No, no. He's got it. 812
Sam: He's got it. He's got it. He's got it. 813
You're directing him pretty well. 814
I mean, I, I can see... 815
- No, he needs to go back. - Oh, no! 816
Vanessa: Blocked. 817
[drone whirring] 818
How¡¯s he doin¡¯? 819
He¡¯s doin¡¯ good. I think he¡¯s got it. 820
I think he's got it too. 821
Now, he's moving faster. 822
Now, you have this lo... Oh, yeah. 823
Oh, yeah. He's running. 824
Is he getting here? 825
Alright, 6 minutes 30 seconds. 826
Jacob: Hey, yo! I can't see. 827
I hear him. You hear him? [laughs] 828
Damon: But with the glimpse that Jacob gets of his position 829
along with feeling his way through, 830
he finally finds the solution, 831
and comes out the other side. 832
[Vanessa cheering] 833
You made it! 834
Alright, 7 minutes 36 seconds. 835
I was a little scared for you guys. 836
I'm not sure how the other teams 837
are gonna do. How do you feel? 838
When you're in there looking at yourself, 839
it¡¯s really hard to tell which direction you¡¯re going. So... 840
What happened in the beginning? 841
There was, like, a little... 842
I went the wrong way, I guess. 843
So, I, I thought I saw an opening. 844
Didn't really find it, 845
and, uh, had to go all the way back. 846
Go the opposite direction, and work from there. 847
- It was pretty difficult. - Well, awesome, guys. 848
- Good job. Congratulations. - Thank you. Thank you. 849
Let's see what happens next. 850
Alrighty. 851
[instrumental music] 852
Alright, Kopterworx, team two. 853
Tell me a little bit about this design. 854
Sean: This is our Lil' Spicy Boy. 855
Lil' Spicy Boy, that one's very tiny. 856
FPV racer, tiny, little battery, he's got about five minutes 857
in the air, before it falls out of the sky. 858
You better move quick, are you worried about that? 859
Nah. This guy¡¯s super fast. 860
Alright, and what's your strategy? 861
I see you have something a little special over here. 862
Marko: This is our strategy. Vanessa: Very clever. 863
I haven't seen anyone do that yet. 864
- Yeah. - Okay. 865
So, you're gonna be at the starting line. 866
When I say go, you lift the drone 867
and you get in there. 868
- Okay, let's do it. - Okay. 869
Alright, Marko, start in three, two, one, go! 870
[drone whirring] 871
Damon: Lil' Spicy Boy takes flight, 872
and the wind conditions toss him around, 873
making it difficult for Marko to see where he's going. 874
Sean: Holy [bleep]. 875
The wind is [bleep] killing me. 876
The wind is killing Lil' Spicy Boy. 877
Damon: The maneuverability 878
of the small racer 879
doesn't help in this challenge, 880
and Marko also has to use 881
the touch-and-feel approach 882
in order to move through the maze. 883
Do you see him right now? Is he strugglin¡¯? 884
- I see him. - Is he moving through? 885
Vanessa: 'Cause I can't see anything. 886
Oh, he's doing good? Okay. 887
[instrumental music] 888
Yes, there you go. There you go. 889
There he goes. You got it. You got it. Here he comes. 890
Damon: But despite a drone 891
that isn't ideally suited for this task, 892
Marko somehow manages 893
to make it through the maze in quick time. 894
Yeah! Damn! 895
I don't know how the hell you did that. 896
- Oh, my God. I have no idea... - Dude... 897
That was no thanks to me. Holy [bleep]. 898
I didn't think Lil' Spicy Boy was gonna make it. 899
At first, he was just flingin¡¯, the wind was flinging him. 900
But you guys got it in 3 minutes 30 seconds. 901
I think you had a lot to do with it. 902
Because you were just pushing through 903
really quickly. 904
You were all over the place... 905
- I could... Struggling. - Yeah. 906
[instrumental music] 907
Alright, Team Beards, third up. 908
Jared, tell me a little bit about this drone. 909
So, what we have here is a hexacopter. 910
A hexacopter? 911
Jared: Which means it's got six motors. 912
- I got that. - Six arms. 913
What about you, Yves? 914
I see you have a little bit 915
of your own strategy going on here. 916
What's, what's this? 917
Yves: Yeah, well, this, this is just a highly visible... 918
bag at the end of a stick. 919
Very clever, even more clever 920
than the last thing I saw, I like it. 921
You guys are getting more and more creative. 922
- And this? - This? 923
- Well, do we have it running? Jared: Yes. 924
Jared: So, that little gadget 925
is on the switch on the radio. 926
And, as you see, when I move the switch it changes. 927
Now, what I can do with that 928
is tell Yves to go left or right-- 929
Oh, wow. You guys got a lotta extras. 930
Lot of bonus things over here. 931
Hopefully, we won¡¯t need them. 932
Okay, so, Yves, you're gonna start 933
over there at the start mark. 934
And when I say go, you start your drone 935
and you start running. Okay. 936
Yves, you start in three, 937
two, one, go! 938
[drone whirring] 939
Alright, looking good. Pretty stable. 940
Damon: The advantages of the hexacopter 941
are immediately realized 942
and Jared creates a stabilized view 943
of the maze that Yves can see. 944
Jared: Where... I don¡¯t know where Yves is. 945
Oh, there he is. 946
- Oh, I think we're-- - On the right. 947
Jared: He's on the right. Vanessa: Right, alright. 948
Jared: That's a dead end. 949
Vanessa: Oh, oh, no. Turn around. 950
Oh, he's going through. 951
It's, it's quite hard to see 952
'cause the shadow looks like an opening. 953
It¡¯s more complicated than you thought, huh? 954
I don't know that he's listening to my control. 955
Damon: Unfortunately, Jared's directions 956
sent through the servo don't help Yves out, 957
and he still gets lost. 958
Yves: [bleep] dammit. 959
He's in a dead end. 960
Vanessa: I see that. 961
No, no, not that way. 962
[bleep] 963
- I think he's going on his own. - He's going on his own, right. 964
Damon: But Yves uses his walking stick 965
to help pave the way through the maze 966
and finally makes it out. 967
Jared: Run! Run! 968
- Yes! - Yay! 969
- Wow! - I see the bag came off. 970
I couldn't see crap. 971
You, you look like a thief. You¡¯re a thief. [laughs] 972
Okay, Team Beards, 4 minutes 2 seconds. 973
A lot of things came up for you guys, what happened? 974
Well, at first, I couldn¡¯t, couldn¡¯t see myself whatsoever-- 975
Couldn't see yourself at all, and you weren't 976
really giving him a very good view. 977
How much did his view end up helping you? 978
Or did you just kinda go through it on your own after that? 979
Well, by the end, it was help, quite helpful. 980
And this thing, this thing helped me take corners 981
like a pro, so, I'm happy I had it. 982
How confident do you guys feel? 983
What do you think? How do you guys think you did? 984
I think we did quite badly. 985
Well, I, I think we're mid-range. 986
'Cause half the people will go right 987
and have the same problem I did. 988
The other half will go left, and have a pretty easy, uh... 989
Okay, so, the mathematics of the game. 990
They're in the middle. 991
[instrumental music] 992
[speaking Spanish] 993
[speaking Spanish] 994
[speaking Spanish] 995
[instrumental music] 996
[drone whirring] 997
Damon: With the battery problems resolved, 998
Luciano is able to take flight 999
and stay hovering above the maze. 1000
[speaking Spanish] 1001
[speaking Spanish] 1002
Damon: It takes Jose a moment to orient himself, 1003
but once he does, he sees the solution from above 1004
and moves quickly through. 1005
[speaking Spanish] 1006
[speaking Spanish] 1007
[speaking Spanish] 1008
- Yay! - Woo! 1009
- Good! Yeah! -Muy bien! 1010
[drone whirring] 1011
Luciano: Woo! 1012
[cheering] 1013
Vanessa: Woo! 1014
[laughing] 1015
Woo! 1016
[speaking Spanish] 1017
[instrumental music] 1018
Damon: When we come back, Teams Pyro Drone, Dialexa, 1019
and Chaos all try to beat the fastest times. 1020
Which of the teams solve the maze 1021
and which of these teams crash? 1022
[instrumental music] 1023
Damon: Four of the seven teams 1024
have already successfully navigated 1025
their way through the maze, by only seeing themselves 1026
from a drone's point of view. 1027
Now, the last three teams put their custom drone designs 1028
into action to see if they can compete. 1029
[instrumental music] 1030
Alright, Team Dialexa Robots. 1031
This is lookin¡¯ pretty sexy. 1032
Tell me a little bit about your design. 1033
So, we've got a center quadcopter 1034
with heavy-lift motors, uh, 4S battery. 1035
Tons and tons of power. Good stability. 1036
We know what we're doing. We're ready to win. 1037
Now, that you've seen the maze, 1038
and you've seen everyone else's props, 1039
any new strategies? 1040
I don't think what we're doing has changed. 1041
Mainly, if I get a stable view, I¡¯m hopin¡¯ I could solve it 1042
pretty quick and run. 1043
You guys feel confident? 1044
- Definitely. - Absolutely. 1045
Alright, Nathan, start in three, 1046
two, one, go! 1047
[drone whirring] 1048
Damon: Dialexa's last-minute addition 1049
of a blue umbrella helps Nathan 1050
to easily spot himself. 1051
He¡¯s got it. Come on, buddy. You got it! 1052
[instrumental music] 1053
Alright, he's moving. 1054
I'm not sure that's the right direction. 1055
[instrumental music] 1056
Damon: Their drone keeps position 1057
thanks to their computer-aided flight controller 1058
as well as Romeo's piloting. 1059
Is it harder than you expected? 1060
- Not at all. - Not at all. 1061
You feel confident. Okay. 1062
Two minutes twenty seconds. 1063
Damon: Seeing himself from above, 1064
Nathan finds the maze solution 1065
and makes it through in record-breaking time. 1066
- Yo, buddy! - Hoo-ha! 1067
Woo! 1068
[laughing] 1069
Alright, let's land this baby. 1070
Vanessa: Nice. 1071
Romeo: Come on, baby. 1072
Alright, team blue, you crushed it. 1073
Two minutes forty seconds. How do you guys feel? 1074
Awesome, I wanna do it again. 1075
Dude, you did amazing. That was awesome. 1076
That was way, way faster than I expected. 1077
I have to say you guys are the most emotionally stable team 1078
that I¡¯ve worked with so far. Super confident. 1079
The whole time I was asking things, you were like, 1080
"He's doing good, he's doing good." 1081
You didn't really come out shaken up. 1082
What was it like for you in there? 1083
Uh, at first, I was a little disoriented 1084
with the umbrella above me. 1085
As soon as I got out in front like I should¡¯ve 1086
and then, uh, he was a real nice guide, I knew-- 1087
Well, the umbrella didn't really make it. 1088
- No, it didn't. - You made it through. 1089
[instrumental music] 1090
Alright, Team Pyro Drone. 1091
Tell me what's going on here. The flying chair. 1092
I'm really excited to see what's up with this. 1093
So, we took a piece of a chair and made it fly. 1094
It's got eight motors on it. 1095
We had to do that because the wood 1096
was much heavier than we expected. 1097
Much sturdier than we expected. 1098
Um, we basically just used the same components 1099
that we're used to using. 1100
And, um, yeah, that's about it. 1101
Are you worried about flight time because of the weight 1102
or you feel confident in that? 1103
I think it'll give us, uh, maybe ten minutes of flight 1104
with the battery that we're using. 1105
And, you, you're all about speed. 1106
Is that part of the strategy? 1107
Yeah, I just wanna go fast through the maze. 1108
You always wanna go fast? 1109
Always. 1110
Alright, Ricky, three, two, one, go! 1111
[drone whirring] 1112
- Oh! - Whoa! 1113
Damon: The flying chair has no problems taking off, 1114
but with its smaller size, simplified flight controller, 1115
and forces from the wind, 1116
Bob cannot position the drone to help Ricky out. 1117
Ricky: Come on, Bob, I [bleep] can't see where I am. 1118
Vanessa: Is the wind pushing you, or are you doing that? 1119
The wind is destroying me. 1120
The wind is destroying you. 1121
I can't even keep it, like, relatively straight. 1122
Vanessa: Oh, my God! Bobby! This is scary. 1123
Damon: Ricky moves through the maze blindly 1124
as Bob continues to fight the wind. 1125
- Where the [bleep] is he? - You can't see him? 1126
I mean, it's tough to see. 1127
You're pretty high up. 1128
Damon: Keeping the drone in one place 1129
is not how these drone racers are used to flying. 1130
Ricky: I don't even know where I am, Bob. 1131
Go! Run, run, run. 1132
Other way! Other way! 1133
Damon: But after several wrong choices in the maze, 1134
Ricky finally makes the right one, 1135
and comes out on the other side. 1136
[all cheering] 1137
Alright, Pyro Drone, the magical chair 1138
did not fly that magically. 1139
Perhaps, if we had just thrown a chair 1140
with a GoPro on it, we could've given him 1141
some more stability. 1142
That was the roughest, most erratic flight so far. 1143
What the hell happened? 1144
Well, I have never flown 1145
with a camera pointing down, ever. 1146
So, I had no idea what to expect. 1147
I mean, that was just... 1148
On top of that, 1149
um, the wind is just crazy. 1150
The wind is gusty, it was blowing it all over the place, 1151
and my fears originally, of not having a gimbal 1152
to stabilize the camera came true. 1153
It was true, but we had a lot of fun doing it. 1154
[instrumental music] 1155
Alright, Team Chaos, 1156
you were the first ones to finish, 1157
last ones to run through it. 1158
Seems you guys had a specific 1159
strategy for building your drone. 1160
Tell me what's going on. 1161
Well, main thing we did is we adapted a handheld gimbal 1162
to a camera, so hopefully, uh, it¡¯ll have a nice steady view. 1163
Alright, we'll see how that pans out. 1164
And, you, what about your strategy? 1165
Jason, how do you feel? 1166
So, if that works out, 1167
uh, I plan to have a high contrast, 1168
uh, very high-tech T-shirt... 1169
on the end of my arm, so I can get directional position, uh, 1170
from the view, and we also have 1171
a high-powered LED flashlight 1172
on strobe, so with those two things, 1173
in theory, I should be able to really fly through this maze. 1174
Alright, Jason, start, three, 1175
two, one, go! 1176
[drone whirring] 1177
Damon: Team Chaos' last-minute switch 1178
to a more powerful battery to combat the wind, 1179
sacrifices flight time, so Jason must move quickly. 1180
Jason: Here we go, here we go, here we go, right there, John. 1181
Stable, stable. Oh, come on, I can't see it. 1182
Very hard to see him. 1183
- You don't see him at all? - I do not. 1184
Damon: But even with the dual cameras, 1185
Jason still has difficulty finding himself. 1186
Now I have to figure out where the heck I am. 1187
This is not working out. 1188
He definitely can see himself moving, he's going down now. 1189
See, he's getting the flashlight, yeah. 1190
Both are working now. 1191
Damon: They are able to get the drone 1192
in a good position for Jason to see. 1193
Oh, no, he's out. Looks like he's out. 1194
- Uh, I'm losing battery power. - No, no, no! 1195
Damon: But their last-minute trade off of power 1196
for flight time sends their drone crashing. 1197
- Oh, boy. Well, that¡¯s a crash. - Yeah, I¡¯m down. 1198
Four minutes forty-four seconds, and you lost battery. 1199
- That stinks. - Ugh! 1200
Big, big bummer, Jason. 1201
Four minutes forty-four seconds. 1202
Battery died. 1203
You guys crashed and burned. How do you feel? 1204
That is not the way I wanted to start out this competition. 1205
Jason: I had no clue where I was in the maze. 1206
We we're either so high or off, disposition, 1207
spinning around, and it just totally 1208
disoriented me where I was going. 1209
I was fumbling around, just feeling for anything I could. 1210
I was willing him to get it right where I needed it to be... 1211
- He was strugglin¡¯. - Just didn¡¯t happen for us. 1212
He was struggling, but in the end 1213
what happened was the battery died 1214
and you guys just couldn't pull through. 1215
Is that why it went down? I saw it coming down 1216
and I said, "Don't hit me." 1217
That's what I was thinking too. 1218
[instrumental music] 1219
So, we had some wind speeds today. 1220
We had the maze falling down on you guys. 1221
We had drones crashing in the middle of the maze. 1222
It looked pretty tough out there. 1223
Alright, so, for all of you that finished the maze 1224
you get 2 points except for Team Chaos 1225
which is the only team that got zero. 1226
Comin¡¯ in third place, we got Team Kopterworx 1227
with 3 minutes and 30 seconds. 1228
[applauding] 1229
[instrumental music] 1230
In second place, Team Ikaliktan 1231
with 2 minutes and 42 seconds. 1232
[applauding] 1233
[instrumental music] 1234
And the winning team, by only 2 seconds, 1235
Team Dialexa. 1236
[applauding] 1237
[instrumental music] 1238
Amazing job, guys, but go home, get some rest, 1239
because the next challenge starts tomorrow. 1240
[all cheering] 1241
Damon: So after competing in the first challenge 1242
of "Drone Wars," 1243
Team Dialexa pulls out 1244
to an early lead with 10 points. 1245
But with 12 challenges still ahead, 1246
it's anyone's game. 1247
So, the first challenge is behind us. 1248
The teams still don't know what lies ahead. 1249
But they do know what they're up against. 1250
Absolutely, it's anybody's game at this point. 1251
It just goes to show, it's not about how much time 1252
you spent at the bench, it¡¯s not about your tech, 1253
it's about teamwork. 1254
So, now, I'm super excited to see about 1255
the next challenge and how they're all gonna do. 1256
As am I, Vanessa. 1257
Damon: Next time, on "Drone Wars..." 1258
The teams enter their next challenge 1259
and build new drones to go fast. 1260
Speed, piloting, and precision flying 1261
is tested with head-to-head races 1262
at an abandoned military base. 1263
[instrumental music]