Getting started with Skydio Pathfinder (Beta)

Pathfinder aims to help remote pilots navigate autonomously with confidence. We know pilots have a lot to manage, and with Pathfinder we aim to reduce the need to manually pilot to and from your destination. Pathfinder is safe, fast, and reliable, and can work at night, in the rain, and in lost connection returns.

[caution] Pathfinder is a beta feature that is only available for docked drones. Pilots are always solely responsible for where their drone flies. [/caution]

 

What is Pathfinder?

Pathfinder calculates “smart routes” on the vehicle based on data about the real world. Instead of flying in a straight line to the destination, Pathfinder calculates the shortest path avoiding major obstacles and maintaining a constant altitude above ground (AGL).

 

What is available in beta?

When you use “Fly here now”, Pathfinder will calculate an optimal path based on its knowledge of the world. Features include:

• Terrain following to maintain constant AGL
• Configurable travel height between 100-400 feet
• Diagonal ascent to travel height
• Return to Dock using Pathfinder

Enabling and Configuring Pathfinder

Your Skydio Deployment Engineer will set up Pathfinder when they install your Dock. If you do not see Pathfinder as an option in Flight Settings, reach out to your Deployment Engineer or Skydio account team who can follow up on the request.

 

Once enabled, Pathfinder can be configured in Flight Settings. Here you can enable Pathfinder for fly-to-point and returns, set the travel altitude, and choose the buffer size around buildings.

Using Pathfinder

Remote pilots can edit settings on Pathfinder as well. They can set the travel height, diagonal or vertical ascent, and return options.

 

When using Pathfinder, make sure you understand and monitor the route the drone plans to take.

• Always create keep out zones (geofences) around construction sites and new buildings that might extend into your travel space (over 70 feet or ~7 stories)
• Use Pathfinder with obstacle avoidance (OA) on initially as you’re getting comfortable with the feature. As you become more comfortable, you can feel more confident that Pathfinder will work with OA off
• Use the 3D follow button on the map to get a better map view of where Pathfinder is going. While the map view does NOT use the same data that Pathfinder uses, it provides good context for where the flightpath is going.
• Flying in highly dense urban areas will always have risks. Monitor your GPS and connectivity health carefully in these areas

Known Limitations

• Pathfinder will have data for ~36 square miles around your dock (~3 miles in any direction)
• Pathfinder data is static and only updated every 6-12 months. Make sure you geofence construction sites and new tall buildings
• Pathfinder does not account for protected airspace currently. Make sure you keep drones away from any airports or military bases
• Pathfinder does not account for GPS weak spots. Try to avoid known weak GPS areas
• Pathfinder will only fly around geofences, not over or under them

Known Issues

• Setting a Home Point is not supported in Dock-based operations. Return to Dock will not work with Pathfinder if a Home Point is set.
• Pathfinder takes large detours in dense cities to avoid narrow streets, and may stop a short distance from the pilot’s desired target location
• Pathfinder fails to find a path in complex acute geofences/pathfinder does not route above or below keep out zones of geofences
• Pathfinder does not incorporate FAA restrictions
• Pathfinder does not route around thin objects like wires and antennas
• Pathfinder does not route around any dynamic or temporary objects like other drones, construction sites, or cranes

FAQ

[accordion heading="Who is eligible for Pathfinder?"]

We are currently in the process of rolling out the Pathfinder Beta to Dock for X10 DFR customers. If you haven’t received the option to enable Pathfinder and feel it would help you urgently, please contact your Skydio account team.

[/accordion]

[accordion heading="I’m not eligible yet. When can I get Pathfinder?"]

All dock-based drones in the US will be getting Pathfinder over the rest of the year. Non-dock based drones will also get Pathfinder, but we don’t currently have an ETA to share.

[/accordion]

[accordion heading="How does Pathfinder work?"]

Pathfinder uses a 3rd party geospatial dataset that includes large obstacles (buildings, trees) and terrain. It stores this data on the drone to calculate the most effective routes and navigate between points maintaining a constant AGL.

The dataset is updated every 6 to 12 months.

[/accordion]

[accordion heading="Can I use Pathfinder on any X10?"]

Not yet. Pathfinder is only available for dock-based X10s. We expect to roll it out for crew-based and hand-flown X10s in future releases.

[/accordion]

[accordion heading="Can I use Pathfinder at night or in the rain?"]

Yes you can. Since the paths are calculated on the drone using map data, Pathfinder will work in various conditions. However, Pathfinder is in Beta and during this period we recommend you use Pathfinder with OA on when possible. As you use Pathfinder with obstacle avoidance (OA) on and build confidence with the feature, you can consider flying Pathfinder with OA off.

[/accordion]

[accordion heading="There are new obstacles in my operating area, how can I avoid them?"]

Add keep out zones (geofences) around any area that you’d like the drone to avoid when navigating. This is useful for cranes or new constructions that are over 70 feet tall, but can also be used to prevent Pathfinder from going into restricted FAA zones or other areas you generally want to avoid.

[/accordion]

[accordion heading="Why can’t Pathfinder fly below 100 feet AGL?"]

We currently limit Pathfinder to >100 feet because obstacles tend to be more dynamic at lower altitudes. You’re much more likely to encounter temporary obstacles like cranes, wires, and smaller construction sites at this altitude.

[/accordion]

[accordion heading="How far can I fly with Pathfinder?"]

The operating range for Pathfinder is limited to ~36 square miles around a Dock, so you can fly ~3 miles in any direction.

[/accordion]

[accordion heading="Why am I seeing a “Limited Operations” tag on my drone?"]

Tags on your drone in Skydio Cloud alert you to potential issues with setup. The tooltip should provide you with an understanding of the issue and what to do next. Typically for Pathfinder, this tag shows up when the drone is waiting for or in the process of downloading Pathfinder data. It will typically resolve itself in 10-15 minutes. The drone can still be operated, and if it had older Pathfinder data on it, you can still fly Pathfinder using the old data until the new data is downloaded.

[/accordion]

[accordion heading="I’m having issues, who can I reach out to?"]

You can reach out to the Skydio support team with any Pathfinder issues.

[/accordion]

[accordion heading="I have an idea that would make Pathfinder more useful for me. Who can I share my idea with?"]

The easiest thing you can do is share your ideas through the post-flight feedback form. You can also share your ideas with any member of your account team. Skydio has a process for taking in feedback from customers through account teams and getting them to the product and engineering team.

[/accordion]