4/8/2026 at 8:31:57 PM
Author here.I've spent the last six months replicating the paper "Champion-level drone racing using deep reinforcement learning" and now I'm writing down the blog posts I wish I had along the way.
Any feedback is welcome, especially as I'm a bit unsure if I struck the right balance between being concise and not requiring too many prerequisites.
Also if you're working on RL and robotics (especially aerial), let's connect!
by daww
4/10/2026 at 10:35:29 PM
I assume you are going to start introducing all the 2nd and 3rd order effects? One big one is ground effect, and another is vortex ring state/settling with power and the related translational lift, and the props themselves have p-factor and the dirty air effect for the rear props.by avidiax
4/11/2026 at 12:29:42 AM
Are there any resources you know of on modelling ground effect? I’m curious how this would change the dynamics from the post.by quibono
4/11/2026 at 6:34:37 AM
My understanding of it is that it's especially apparent when you are within 1 prop width of the ground. For a quadcopter, it's most apparent just off the ground, since the props are small compared to the entire craft. You don't usually operate the drone in ground effect for very long, but you need to really push the throttle to get in the air, and the drone floats if you are close to the ground.The other effects are more apparent, especially settling with power, the tendency to pitch back as you go faster, and translational lift. Modeling all of these accurately turns into a fluid simulation, so probably you'd just want a heuristic.
by avidiax
4/10/2026 at 9:52:51 PM
Isn't it just bi-copter?by dvh
4/10/2026 at 11:12:13 PM
No, it's a quadcopter setup, but simulated in a 2D world (I guess for simplicity). A bi-copter would require tiltrotors, which is different.by palata
4/11/2026 at 12:17:58 AM
In 2D, a bi-rotor is equivalent to the quadcopter in the post. There are 2 thrusts you control to guide the thing.by echoangle