How to program a drone with Java

By , last updated August 14, 2019

In this article we will answer one simple question about drone programming – where do I start? What do I need to do to make a simple drone application?

If you don’t have a drone already, then we suggest to start by choosing a preferable programming language. Different people prefer different programming languages and libraries. Choose the one that is most familiar to you. This will speed things up considerably from the beginning.

Programming drones in Java is simple, but you need to set up the environment in the beginning. Here is a step by step guide on how to get started with programming drones in Java.

  1. Choose the library.
    In this tutorial we will be programming a drone with YADrone. This is a simple library with a lot of documentation on the topic. Note: the work on this project has stopped.
  2. Get a programmable drone
    For YADrone library they recommend any AR.Drone 2.0:

  3. Connect to Wifi
    Any programmable drone (and all of AR Drone 2.0) can be connected to Wifi. Remember that the connection is not encrypted. Follow the instructions that follow with the drone. You should establish the connection with your drone before you can proceed.
  4. Download the library
    Download the latest YADRone library (Eclipse project).
  5. Download IDE
    YADrone library tutorial uses Eclipse as an example IDE. Eclipse is an open-source programming environment that can be freely downloaded by anyone. Go to the official Eclipse IDE website and download Eclipse IDE for Java developers.
  6. Install
    Follow the installation instructions for the YADrone library with Eclipse.
  7. Go through a tutorial
    YADrone project has a set of simple tutorials with a lot of details and images. Follow it to start programming!

Have fun!