The Tello drone has lengthy been the gold customary for drone schooling in Okay-12 school rooms. Inexpensive, sturdy and outfitted with a digicam, it checked all of the bins for educators seeking to train every thing from fundamental flight ideas to autonomous coding. That’s maybe no shock, because it got here from an organization referred to as Ryze which constructed Tello utilizing DJI elements — presumably the right combo for a drone at a excessive ratio of high quality to price.
However there’s been an issue: the unique Tello app is not supported on newer working methods, and the Tello drone itself has been discontinued, making it more and more tough to buy.
For educators who’ve constructed their curriculum across the Tello, this created a severe dilemma. What do you do when your trusted classroom drone turns into tougher to seek out? Happily, many colleges proceed to maintain their Tello fleets flying by refurbishment packages and new instruments just like the FlyCode app, which breathe recent life into this confirmed platform.
Enter FlyCode, a brand new app from a STEM schooling firm referred to as Drone Legends that’s designed to resolve precisely this drawback.
How Drone Legends has revived Tello with Flycode
FlyCode is a free app out there on each iOS and Android that provides Tello drones (together with the Tello EDU and RoboMaster TT) a brand new lease on life. The app works on iOS 13.0+ and Android 10.0+ units with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi help.
Not like the unique Tello app, FlyCode is constructed particularly with lecturers and college students in thoughts. Educators really helped design it, which reveals in options like the power to pre-load as much as 10 Tello drones into the app. College students can merely choose their assigned drone from a listing, faucet and go. That’s a game-changer for managing classroom drone fleets.
“FlyCode is a breakthrough for colleges and Tello customers in every single place,” stated Scott Buell, Founder and CEO of Drone Legends. “We constructed this app to resolve the issues lecturers face when bringing drones into their school rooms — unreliable software program, poor multi-drone administration and an absence of coding integration.”
Why having a drone with a digicam issues
Right here’s one thing that usually will get neglected in discussions about instructional drones: imaging is roughly 80% of economic drone functions. Whether or not you’re speaking about infrastructure inspections, search and rescue operations, cinematography or orthomosaic mapping, the digicam is essential.
Whereas platforms like Crazyflie Nano and CoDrone supply coding capabilities, they lack cameras. For packages that wish to use drones as a software past merely studying to code, that may be inadequate. Sure, autonomous flight and coding expertise are vital, however they’re solely a part of the equation.
The Tello’s digicam — modest as it could be — makes it a real illustration of what real-world drone work seems like. FlyCode ensures educators can proceed utilizing this whole platform.
BlockCode integration coming in November
The preliminary FlyCode launch focuses on the “Fly” element, providing seamless guide flight management. However the actual pleasure is available in mid-November when Drone Legends will roll out BlockCode, their proprietary block-based coding setting.
Not like current block coding options akin to Scratch, Tynker or DroneBlocks, BlockCode is custom-built particularly for drone schooling — not tailored from Google Blockly. It’s designed to be extra superior and, crucially, extra dependable than present options.
Maybe the largest comfort? No extra switching between separate flight and coding functions. Every thing will probably be built-in into one streamlined interface, decreasing technical complications and protecting college students centered on studying slightly than troubleshooting.
The Tello provide drawback
There’s an elephant within the room: you’ll be able to’t simply purchase Tello drones anymore. DJI quietly discontinued them, leaving educators questioning what comes subsequent.
Drone Legends has stepped in to ensure school rooms aren’t left grounded. The corporate reserved its remaining Tello stock solely for colleges utilizing its STEM Fundamentals program — that means educators can nonetheless get dependable drones backed by full curriculum help slightly than attempting to piece issues collectively on their very own.
Even higher, each Tello bought by Drone Legends consists of the choice so as to add the DroneCare Restore, Substitute, and Recycle program, designed to maintain Tellos flying and out of landfills. When a drone is broken, it’s repaired or changed. If or when it’s past restore, elements are recycled to cut back e-waste. It’s a sensible, sustainable method that retains know-how investments viable and school rooms working easily.
Founder and CEO Scott Buell informed The Drone Woman that Drone Legends will proceed supporting Tello till a brand new platform meets their strict instructional requirements.
“We’re not abandoning ship,” he stated. “We’re protecting Tellos flying.”
The underside line
FlyCode represents greater than only a substitute app. It’s an announcement that the Tello nonetheless has an important position to play in STEM schooling, and that Drone Legends is dedicated to supporting educators who’ve invested on this platform.
With the core engine now constructed, Drone Legends can also be positioned to help future drone platforms as they emerge. However for now, their focus is obvious: preserve the Tello flying in school rooms world wide.
FlyCode is on the market now as a free obtain on the App Retailer and Google Play. The BlockCode coding setting will probably be added by way of replace in mid-November 2025.
For extra details about Drone Legends’ instructional packages, go to dronelegends.com.
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