Litchi Waypoint "MISSION ENDED" and keeps on flying!

jmlfilm · Jun 22, 2017

Hi Forum! I've now had TWO instances of this and want to see if anyone has any ideas:

I'm using Litchi with a single controller doing a very short waypoint mission (only about 100 feet from me), and shortly after executing, the controller announces "MISSION ENDED" -- and suddenly the Inspire is left moving forward along a linear path at the same speed the mission left it in. I remain in control, meaning I can maneuver, BUT the resting forward speed seems to reset to whatever speed the mission left it at instead of hover. Meaning I have to pull BACK into REVERSE to keep it from forging ahead on its own.

The first time this happened it was going about 25mph, and shortly after dropping the mission resulted in the Inspire crashing at full speed into a tree trunk (DJI Care was worth every penny with that X5R hanging on the bottom). When I got it back, after doing research to figure out what I should do in such a situation, I set it up with a very conservative waypoint mission flying at 1.5mph to see if I could replicate the problem - this time with my finger on the mode switch so I could flip it to "P" if it took off again.

For the most part it worked just fine after a bunch of testing, flew the mission again and again. I tried something new - first executing the mission, and with the Inspire still in the air (only about 8ft), I adjusted the waypoints to further refine my move, saved the new mission, executed -- and the Inspire repeated the error. "MISSION ENDED" - and off it went in a straight line at the same speed as the mission, but no longer following the waypoint mission. I hit the mode switch to "P" - and nothing happened. Thankfully this time it was blazing at only 1.5mph, so I was able to recover and land it by pulling back to reverse, resulting in a shaky hover once I found whatever it needed to counter the motion - dropped the gear, and landed. No harm done. But still scary.

I've got some room left on my DJI Care so I can keep experimenting, but if anyone has any ideas they would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for reading my story!
Josh

lake_flyer · Jun 23, 2017

Scary, autonomy is still very far from reliable.
Many Mavic pilots don't even know how to fly, using only their app icons. And my guess is that many newbie I2 pilots (I mean the first time amateurs with money to burn) are also way to confident in the autonomous features. They will in fact never learn how to fly.

I'm beta testing Autopilot for almost 2 years now and I still don't trust it enough to fully use it. Tried Litchi couple of times but it didn't convince me either. I only fly waypoint missions while having it in sight, within the legal limits, keeping my finger at the P/F switch. Having to abort regularly because of unexpected behaviour. I don't think it's the softwares fault, it's the constant changing of parameters in the firmwares, without any notice, forcing the app developers to constantly change as well.
Quite a ratrace they're in.

LoudonMacReady · Jun 23, 2017

Could you share the mission in Mission Hub. Otherwise all we can do is guess.

jmlfilm · Jun 23, 2017

Thanks! I wasn't aware I could do that! Awesome!
Mission Hub - Litchi
This mission ran successfully for a bunch of passes, and only broke as described above when I moved one of the waypoints while the Inspire was in the air, re-saved it and executed. It started at waypoint 1 - and "MISSION ENDED" after only a few seconds so it continued on that heading between 1 and 2 before I was able to rescue it. Thanks for the input!

LoudonMacReady · Jun 23, 2017

jmlfilm said:
Thanks! I wasn't aware I could do that! Awesome!
Mission Hub - Litchi
This mission ran successfully for a bunch of passes, and only broke as described above when I moved one of the waypoints while the Inspire was in the air, re-saved it and executed. It started at waypoint 1 - and "MISSION ENDED" after only a few seconds so it continued on that heading between 1 and 2 before I was able to rescue it. Thanks for the input!

What do you have it set to do at end of mission - look in mission settings.

jmlfilm · Jun 23, 2017

I was experimenting with a couple - but the one that failed I'm pretty sure was set to REVERSE. I started using BACK TO 1 later.

LoudonMacReady · Jun 24, 2017

jmlfilm said:
I was experimenting with a couple - but the one that failed I'm pretty sure was set to REVERSE. I started using BACK TO 1 later.

Kinda sounds like the edit was the issue, but I can't see that in the plan. I will fly tomorrow and experiment.

Personally, I'd advise against editing "on the fly" as it's too easy to accidentally tap a new waypoint into existence.

LoudonMacReady · Jul 4, 2017

Sorry, I experimented a bit and can't duplicate your issue. Don't have enough data.

halifax · Sep 7, 2017

I have had Litchi abort waypoint missions three times in the past two months. Litchi announces "Mission Completed" or "Mission Ended" (can't remember which, as the brain goes into emergency mode) but in any event, the mission is canceled.
This has happened in three different places in two states, all in rural areas near no airports or controlled airspace. Most missions are fine, but the unpredictable nature of the abort is disconcerting.
For two missions, Litchi completed the mission. For the third, the aircraft stopped in a hover, and as it was in terrain, I had to hike (run) a bit to regain contact and reel it in. On one mission (last Monday), it aborted at about 50' above the home point at the start of the mission. At another location, it aborted when it lost comms with the remote control. One would expect it to autonomously complete the mission but nope. Very odd. This is the only issue I have had with the app and it is not common, but it happens.