How to make a CARGO DRONE with AUTOMATIC DOCKING - Space Engineers Automatons AI Update

[@AliceDoesThings404]

So after some investigating and feedback, it seems you can actually land drones on moving grids, as long as you increase the speedlimit of the drone. Apologies for testing it more thoroughly.

[@Anuwabu]

Did they improve the collision avoidance/navigation at all since the beta? I couldn't even get a drone at 10m/s limit to follow me through gigantic hallways of a static grid base without it bumping into walls and wrecking itself. Now they can dock with moving grids?

[@AliceDoesThings404]

The only way they can dock with moving grids, is when turning collision avoidance off. I didn't play much with it since the beta, but the collision avoidance seems a lot better, although it seems the drones are almost way too careful.

[@Daniel-Strain]

Thanks for this! If you turn the magnetic strength on the connectors off, couldn't you just switch the lock on the connectors without turning them off?

[@AliceDoesThings404]

The reason why is simply because the drone needs to reposition itself and has a tendency to not move before the connector is ready to lock again. Meaning then that the drone will be stuck. And if you turn the magnetic strength off, you might end up with the drone not locking on properly. Not something I have tested however.

[@Anuwabu]

@@AliceDoesThings404 My beta drone set to follow me at 10m/s and 15 meters decided to randomly fly up 200 meters then faceplant into the ground killing itself to avoid servitude. Way too careful would be a step up.

[@bloodraven8020]

As other people have said, a sincere thanks for not pulling a "and draw the rest of the owl" on us. I was stumbling around trying to figure out exactly what to do, getting things mostly right except for a few crucial steps. Your video cleared things up and gave me a foundation to work off of. o7

[@draconas109]

thank you for showing something that other creators have either did a 30 second demo of or completely ignored

[@khamseen]

Very helpful guide, thanks! In my cargo drone testing so far I ended up adding two additional recorder blocks so I could set fixed 'exit' paths from my main base and my mining outpost. I found with that 5 seconds of no collision avoidance the drones had a tendency to just pull a fast 180 and slam through the buildings to try and get to where they wanted to be. Now I just need to figure out how to get them to not take off to fly to the other location if the battery levels are insufficient to do so. So far I've had three drones fall out of the sky mid journey lol.

[@khamseen]

So in case anyone else reads this and had the same issue I found a way to get it working. I'd forgotten that timers can now be started even when turned off and they'll just start counting down once they're turned on again so I added an Event Controller to my drone which monitors stored power and when it drops below 90% threshold it'll turn off the launch timers, when it goes back above the threshold it'll turn them back on again. This way it can still fly to and land at whatever base it's heading for next, but it wont take off again until it's got enough charge to actually make the journey. My little drone dude is now flying back and forth between my main base and my nickel mining outpost which is 32Km away and has managed 5 trips without falling from the sky.

[@venator-classstardestroyer568]

@@khamseen I thought about using additional event controllers that toggle something off to handle battery and hydrogen. Glad that it works so I don’t have to painfully test it.

[@khamseen]

@@venator-classstardestroyer568 Haha glad to have saved you the pain. It only took me a handful of drones falling out of the sky before I figured out the best way to stop it. :D

[@doctorcaduceus2672]

These videos are always so neat! With all the new AI updates, you could, in theory, deploy an automated outpost that will mine, transport, and defend itself from attacks without your intervention.

[@1953dan]

Excellent job of explaining how to set it up. You answered some questions I had and saved me a fair amount of testing. I was wondering if it could dock with a moving ship and now I know. Of course being stationary gives the drone a better fighting chance, also if you need precise maneuvering, it's best to keep the drone's speed low. I get more consistent results that way. I've noticed that you can put many way points in a straight line and it doesn't slow it down. So, I use them to turn the connector back on and switch the collision and precise settings.

[@-drey]

that's a cool looking rover !

[@AliceDoesThings404]

Was just something quick to show off the drone, glad you liked it though!

[@thepatriarchy1637]

this only works while you have line of sight to the base. the ai recorder ignores the minimal altitude setting of the flight block, so it will usually just crash if there are obstacles on the drone's flight path. thanks keen

[@boopjackrex7598]

I’m fairly certain you can get around this problem with multiple event controllers and different ai blocks for different functions, it gets clunky when testing for the first time but I have done this for other types of autopilot ai

[@bobbyjohnbunn]

Sorry for the late reply but interested in the answer. Would flying really high for the first waypoint of the base and rover make it less likely to crash into the ground?

[@FloydATC]

This is the best video I've found on the subject, but about one time out of three the autopilot flies *almost* to the third waypoint but doesn't trigger the action. Instead, it will just hover until it runs out of juice and falls out of the sky. It seems as if it's close enough to stop maneuvering but not quite close enough to start the docking sequence. To clarify: I don't see how OP could have designed things any different to work around this issue.

[@TheAechBomb]

I had this issue, it turned out the vehicle didn't have enough thrust when fully loaded, so it couldn't move at the tiny speed to the exact point to trigger the waypoint

[@mworld]

I think Batteries need separate options for Recharge On and Recharge Off in addition to a toggle, then when a drone connects it could also force battery charging on.

[@A_VeryLargeRock]

I understand it’s been a year, but I haven’t seen anyone comment and I hope you’ve already fixed it, but in case you haven’t. What you can do is instead of setting up something individually you can link all of your docking functions to a timer block, which may also include setting batteries to recharge. When it comes time to unlock, you can have it to where they are switched back to auto or discharge. I hope this helps anyone that may find this video later on as well.

[@lukas0999]

12:10 I use the Basic Task to get my Drone back to Base. After it gets to the waypoint for the Basic Task, it starts the recorded Base Docking Task. The Base Docking Task alone functions as it should, but in combination with the Basic Task my Drone does some weird stuff when the Base Docking is active. It goes further and further away from the landing point. I have no clue why the recording won't function when it gets started by the Basic Task

[@bawabik233]

This was so helpful that you are awesome. Right to the point. Thank you!

[@AlasDev]

any way to detect ores indtead? for example a drone that u send in space and will keep going untill its ore detector detects something, leave a beacon and returns back?

[@AliceDoesThings404]

Unfortunately that is not currently an option, though someone may add that functionality with mods.

[@AaronPaulley]

What's the max distance the drones can travel and find their way back to a home base for example?

[@StyxRiverGynoid]

If the base was set by GPS, it won't care. If it's locked to a beacon, then it's down to the broadcast range the beacon is set to (and sufficient propulsion time)

[@Dagonius.]

Great videos, Alice!

[@Srcsqwrn]

I wish this was a complete tutorial on its own, rather than needing to do previous homework on another video for a different purpose.

[@hellohello-fs7we]

It would be nice if i could use the same event controller for different events and resulting actions, not just having an AND gate. Also, can you not just use an event controller for when to take off back to the mobile grid?

[@AliceDoesThings404]

It would be a really nice feature indeed. As for using an event controller. That is kind of what I am doing already with the cargo % event. But if you mean to use just event controllers and no timers. You could, but then it would take off straight away, after reaching a certain % and not empty itself fully. That is the main reason why I have the timers. Still, good suggestion. 👍

[@Arcanidge]

​@@AliceDoesThings404 if you make it turn off 1 event controller after meeting condition n activating a 2nd for return paramater, still needs 1 timer, but excellent video, going to apply this tomorrow for sure

[@Thaytor]

cool video: What about using event controller to check if connector is ready to lock then lock?

[@AliceDoesThings404]

That is another way of doing it, great suggestion! The reason why I use a timer, is to allow the connector to stabilize, and not connect traight away. But the event controller would work just as well.

[@NotTheLastSoL]

​@@AliceDoesThings404 you could probably do both, event controller plus a half second delay timer.

[@dalemorgan8263]

​@@NotTheLastSoL You mean the event ctrlr starting the timer block, right?

[@NotTheLastSoL]

@@dalemorgan8263 yes

[@Doomguy_74]

This is awesome. So lets say you want to launch a couple drones to do a patrol while in space then return to the mother ship are the methods still the same?

[@AliceDoesThings404]

The method is still the same, but if the mothership moves, you need to select the reference beacon option

[@marcusw86]

How would you make an automated mining drone with the new A.I blocks?

[@fitzmagic1]

Can you have the task set on cargo and battery carge.. like the same setup but have it stay at the base when it needs to change

[@TrinityVirtualWorld]

Hello, I would like to thank you for the beautiful work. I managed to make the spacecraft land and take off successfully following the steps you went through in the video. Now you can create new vehicles and ways to play.

[@Briskyyy]

idk if things changed after this video was posted but my drone likes to after it undocks from my base or my static collector just sit and fly around for a minute before finally starting to pathfind to the first point, then its a 50/50 on f it actually works or if the drone decides to fly off in one random direction

[@Los21189]

Having trouble with the reference Beacon not picking up my rover what do?

[@johnrambo5010]

Is there a way you could post the rover and drone to mod io I’m on Xbox and would love to use them in here

[@Tee-np1fc]

Great vid! Anyone else get a vib from firefly ep "Trash" lol. Vid was great, just the name of the episode.

[@Franckidoo35]

Hi chief, thanks for the tuto. the link for Cargo Drone Blueprint are not working

[@Armand79th]

Bugs... In Space Engineers?!? Never!! I mean... They never fix bugs in Space Engineers.

[@Quantum_Tator]

I can't seem to get the bloody base to offload the ore/ingots to the drone.

[@Tzarkyl]

i did this and it kinda works but it seems to navigate awkwardly shooting up high and dropping really close to the ground, and has crashed a few time, all the AI blocks are over the connector, and i have a beacon on the mobile grid, any more tips?

[@Perryverduijn111]

On the pertram senario in multiplayer it tends to overshoot any ideas how to fix this? I recorded the landing and everything multple times. But when i load it in or it did a few cycles it tends to overshoot.

[@shadowlordalpha]

Are we able to change the reference beacon? so for example move it to allow several drones to be on several different pads with the same path

[@benoluke1]

Could you please share your blueprints with us? I mean those towers and drones.

[@AliceDoesThings404]

I can do that going forward, should be up soon.

[@benoluke1]

​@@AliceDoesThings404 I will be very grateful :)

[@liskowyswag]

One thing I am missing is how to set up the drone so it fills up the container itself, after connecting to the connector

[@AliceDoesThings404]

You need a conveyor sorter. In my case and like stated in the video, I had put one on the rover, pushing ore into and through the connector the drone connects to.

[@liskowyswag]

@@AliceDoesThings404 so in the sorter u add the stuff you want to be loaded for example stone, to the white list so the stone is automatically transported through the connector, is that the case?

[@AliceDoesThings404]

You hit the nail right on the head. Yes, that is correct.

[@liskowyswag]

@@AliceDoesThings404 thanks so much for clarifying all this and also for the guide, I have a little bit different project where I wanted to focus on mining uran on asteroids, so idea is to have few drones docked in on our moon base, and whilst mining, my cargo-drone-rocket would fly to me for pick up and drop it off at base, we have 6 slots ready and first tests done, was thinking of setting up the cargo% lower for each so I could watch it go off one after another in a sequence through remote cam 😀👍

[@liskowyswag]

Sorry to bother you again bro but how do you set it up so drone unloads cargo into base?

[@derHodrig]

AI Blocks are a big step forward but I see a huge number of "more or less repetitive" blocks on the ship, just to accomplish simple tasks

[@fgk6207]

What about power up the drones when the battery is low?

[@1953dan]

The Event Controller can look for that and have the drone set a course back to base. It can also check if the oxygen / hydrogen tanks get low among many other things.

[@fgk6207]

So... When the battery is, for example, below 20%, the event block will trigger a timer block where it sets a recording block to a main route "off", activates the recording block to the power supply, docking to main base, which in activate a timer block to set the drone's battery on recharge. Then a new event block where the battery is 90% or more, it will trigger a new timer block to make the drone go back into the main route, but in addition turns the battery on the drone to "auto", so it can fly. Does this sound about right? tried tinkering with this myself, but i think i need to tinkering with it a little more 🙈😅😂

[@AliceDoesThings404]

If you look at my "How to make a patrol drone video" I cover exactly this topic, as well as refuling ammo automatically.

[@fgk6207]

@@AliceDoesThings404 yes, I saw it after I commented here 🙈

[@c.jvangreuning8862]

JUST ONE PROBLEM i have its not taking any or transferring any cargo from the miner to its own cargo storage

[@AliceDoesThings404]

Do you have a sorter on "Drain all", whitelisting ores, and a proper connection to the cargo storage of the drone?

[@c.jvangreuning8862]

@@AliceDoesThings404 that's one thing I didn't use... Sorter. Will try it out in a bit. Thx for the help

[@AliceDoesThings404]

Your welcome, glad I could help!

[@c.jvangreuning8862]

@@AliceDoesThings404 after adding the sorter it did work but for some reason its not connecting to the connector no matter what it keeps on missing it and yes after adding the sorter and making a new marker for it . still nothing ... it was working perfictly yesterday .... and for some reason now and then it keeps slaaming aginst the ground ... and seem to found a bug as well when ussing a timer block to switch of the conector and it keeps swithing it on and off . the only way i saw it was when i had the connector in the hot bar .....5 hours later and still cant get it to do a base sick task cargo from a to b and its close by and both is a static for testing.... i made a recration of the drone they used in the dlc video with the small connector ... and dont want to use the big one .

[@jasonahnefeld3072]

now all we need is auto miner Drones XD

[@brunoks6951]

If you use a vehicle as reference, you can create waypoints that go deeper on the ground. Make the drone position itself and slowly moves into the ground. Then a event controller to turn off the drills and activate that way back.

[@tasora2619]

the update made the game more immersive than ever! i just hope any errors and glitches will be fixed in the AI grids.

[@blake790]

Any way to get the cargo to unload automatically like in your video? mine just sits in the container.

[@AliceDoesThings404]

Use a sorter that pulls the resources through a connector. Make sure its set to drain all.

[@cavemanbonk8320]

​@@AliceDoesThings404 the connector on rhe base im guessing?

[@Echo_4609]

Ok so you've said you made one for sentries, so have you/ will you make one for mining drones? Also thank you so much for tutorials, I tried just being lazy and downloading some blueprints but theres not yet many that Im even interested in or that look very good in the workshop Edit: also could you mention what is / isnt going to require having the DLC?

[@AliceDoesThings404]

I will be looking into mining drones soon, and as for what requires the dlc and what doesn't, I made a video showing off all the new blocks, and there I list all that come with the new DLC.

[@Echo_4609]

@@AliceDoesThings404 thanks!

[@bousquetfrederic6933]

Hi , thank you for your video and your time Sorry for my English I ve tried to set up a hydrogen cargo drone , it's full at 100% , I double checked every thing , but he doesn't want to go to the base when full , he leaves and comme back directly to the same station , I have to manually change " Equal or greater than " to " Eaqual or less than " and again to make him do anything I selected " Fuel tank " ( réservoir de carburant ) on the event controler Have a good day

[@AliceDoesThings404]

The issue is the 100% mark. The event controller can have small inaccuracies with its detection. If you set it to 95%, the problem should no longer persist.

[@bousquetfrederic6933]

@@AliceDoesThings404 Thank you for your answer , i ll try and let you know

[@kercse4157]

Great video ! Just for more AI foolproofing I would set up the thruster on-off with an event controller for connector connected event :)

[@Dianaranda123]

It would be cool to be able to build a mining drone instead, similar to how PAM works.

[@fgk6207]

i have tryed to do this 5 times now, and for some reason, it just turn on and off the connector, and the thruster group just turn off, and the drone just falling down..... it's strange. bug?

[@AliceDoesThings404]

It could be that you don't have your timers set up correctly, or that you are starting the sequence with a block on that is supposed to be off, etc. But it could also be a bug. Recommendation: Try to see if you can get the basics to work, before adding more advanced components.

[@TheUpintilldawn]

you would not have links to the base you are using and/or the truck as well would you??

[@AliceDoesThings404]

Unfortunately not. They were just solething I threw together

[@critter4ya]

Ok so I set this up and it works great for 1 round then turns off A I flight. Any ideas?

[@AliceDoesThings404]

Hmmm, that's odd.. I think potentially some of the sequencing is messed up, though it shouldn't turn off AI flight, its strange.

[@joelchalmers7861]

Managed to get this working, thank you for the vid. Is anyone else finding that sometimes the connector will just hover there and not automatically connect? I hsve checked the time and the waypoint locations to make sure its close enough. Once I add the connector timer to the final waypoint, it works first time and then needs me to manually connect every time after Maybe i need to add an event controller to the final waypoint to trigger the connector to lock?

[@TheRollingCabbage]

So, I followed the setup step by step and my drone pick ups cargo and lands okay most of the time. However, after recharge, I have to manually initiate the connector timer, otherwise the drone sits in idle. Any help?

[@JW-zr4dk]

Add an event controller? When batteries are 90% activate(x)?

[@VictorDeloin]

Thk for the vidéo, i just have an issue. M'y drone don't want take or drop nothing, i can't find the problème

[@Mario_Judah6823]

I’ve done this step by step but as soon as the drone docks it doesn’t return it just sits connected to my base. The recordings work as I’ve tested them so I feel like it’s the event control

[@AliceDoesThings404]

It could be, if you have the % maxed out that could be the issue, so instead of 0% and 100% try 1% and 99%. You just have to experiment and try around.

[@bojik2616]

Just wish the ai blocks could dock with anything but a belly connector. They will NOT line up any other side properly.

[@sodafied7988]

When making a drone myself, I've experimented with beacons, collision avoidance, precision mode, and have completely rebuilt the drone from the ground up ensuring that the recorder to land is directly above the connector. My drone will work correctly for a small amount of time, but then it decides to either miss the connector all together, or decide that the front of my AI block needs to face the connector instead of the bottom. I've taken a break from space engineers because this has caused me so much anger. The grid it is to land at is connected to an asteroid, so I've tried with a beacon and without a beacon in case the asteroid causes my grid to count as a moving one.

[@boopjackrex7598]

Have you experimented with the location of the beacon? Such as placing it directly next to or underneath the connector so that the drone faces the connector with a front facing connector too and is always facing correctly no matter what?

[@alexhail9971]

What a coincidence you make this video well I am making mine in public server

[@HighLigerBimBam]

Good Tutorial even a year after. Sadly the AI path blocks are so broken, that they do not work most of the time, or break after one loop.

[@thedrifter2314]

Was gonna switch from PAM and try do it using automaton stuff but this is way too time consuming to set up compared to PAM

[@AliceDoesThings404]

That is fair. It can be quite time consuming, and its your choice in the end. At least this is an option for servers that don't allow scripts.

[@thedrifter2314]

​@@AliceDoesThings404 that is very true. I was thinking of switching because I bet this way is better on performance. Especially when I get a lot of them running

[@AliceDoesThings404]

That is is as well. A script like that will usually have to do calculations for everything constantly, whilst these new blocks should lessen the performance load significantly.

[@thedrifter2314]

@@AliceDoesThings404 I am on the fence whether the time investment it worth it. I've already stopped using a few scripts such as isys solar alignment. Using instead the custom turret controller method. I might follow this tutorial (but I'll be doing it between 2 static grids) and see how it goes actually. It'll be worth it in the long run I suppose.

[@sethgilcrist8088]

i use a combo of both the ai blocks to fly to the new mining spot then activating the pam mining program at the spot. they dovetail well.

[@mokmo23]

Your little drone has one flaw that can make the system fail: Battery output is insufficient for the thrusters. And without enough power, the AI modules go red.

[@ammax9155]

Your drone has 10m/s speedlimit, if higher you can move and it will land on your mothership or rover (my test showed 20/25m/s is the limit)

[@AliceDoesThings404]

That is a good point, completely forgot to test that part. Thank you.

[@wailfulcrab]

On the way to the stationary grid, you can use AI Basic task to go to GPS location near grid then setup action for docking sequence when reaching it, this way you can make your drone fly faster to the base. AI Recorder flight path is rather slow. You would want multiple AI Flight blocks with diffrent max speed set up for this to work.

[@michaelreece3937]

Still seems a bit dodgy, it seems to struggle with heavier loads. Ends up going so slow it doesn't dock properly, messing up the sequence

[@AliceDoesThings404]

That is fair, just means you need to adjust the drone with more thrusters and gyroscopes.

[@michaelreece3937]

@@AliceDoesThings404 and maybe not have 3 large cargo containers (small grid) 😅

[@lukas0999]

@@michaelreece3937 My drone has 6 large cargo containers (large grid) and flies very well. More Thrust = "More" better 😂

[@davidstephens4763]

Still be nice able to have scripts on xbox or ps👍

[@c.jvangreuning8862]

just what i was looking for .... its complicated lol.i was hopeing the new blocks would have made it much more easy'r than what i thougt

[@AliceDoesThings404]

Whilst it may seem complicated, it would be way harder to write a script for things like this. There are definitely ways to simplify it, but this was the way I chose to do it, which is a bit more advanced than the basics. Hope this helps though!

[@aliver8794]

@@AliceDoesThings404 there is a Script which basically is the same. You Setup everything the same way. Creating Waypoints etc. I had Automated flying drones years ago. Like almost everything they add in was a Mod or Script from someone else before.

[@AliceDoesThings404]

Whilst script for doing the same have existed for a long time, its not necessarily that scripts are allowed on all servers, or being available on platforms like xbox or playstation. So its still nice to finally have it in the vanilla game, and not necessarily need scripts.

[@aliver8794]

@@AliceDoesThings404 yes that's true! The Server im playing on has Scripts limited. So the more Scripts you use the slower gets the Programmable Block and some Scripts start to Crash. You can slow down some Scripts but not the AI flying Script (cant remember the exact name).

[@Raptorias]

alice is a girls name

[@Tenken77]

You're a grown man, stop it with the "Hi Hi" fruity intro. I bet it's what's causing you those thumbs down. Man up.

[@lukas0999]

I bet you're a kid trying to be a grown-up man