What you will need

  • An initialized DD24 microSD card: Software Initialization

  • A 5 V, 3 A wall adapter (preferred) or, if the Duckiedrone is already assembled, a fully charged Duckiedrone battery

What you will get

  • A live Duckiedrone DD24-B

First boot#

There is only one first boot for every Duckiedrone. Savor the experience.

Before getting started#

The first time a newly flashed microSD card is inserted into the Duckiedrone, a special “first boot” procedure is executed.

Attention

The first boot procedure will take roughly 10-15 min, during which the Raspberry Pi might look unresponsive. Do not interrupt the first boot procedure, e.g., by removing power to the Raspberry Pi. It will likely corrupt the microSD card. A corrupted microSD card will have to be flashed again.

The Duckiedrone requires a stable power source for the whole procedure. Do not power on the Raspberry Pi just yet.

Getting started#

To get started:

  1. Computer: Make sure the Raspberry Pi is not powered.

  2. Network: Prepare a network connection to the Duckiedrone, for example by:

    • having a Wi-Fi network that matches the credentials preconfigured on the microSD card during the initialization procedure, or

    • connecting the Duckiedrone with an Ethernet cable to the router the base station is connected to.

  3. Insert the initialized microSD card into the microSD card slot of the Raspberry Pi.

    Attention

    Do not connect the microSD card to a USB-A port of the Raspberry Pi through an adapter.

  4. Power on the Raspberry Pi: Insert the charger into the USB-C port of the Raspberry Pi, or plug in the Duckiedrone battery to the XT60 connector if the Duckiedrone is already assembled. On the standard Raspberry Pi 4 configuration, the red power LED turns on and the green activity LED flashes when the microSD card is accessed. On a Raspberry Pi 5, the single bicolor LED turns green as startup progresses and flashes off during microSD-card activity.

See also

Duckiedrone DD24 first boot sequence.

Monitoring the first boot#

Once the boot procedure is complete, the Duckiedrone automatically connects to the default network or any available network previously set up.

Checkpoint ✅#

To verify that the first boot completed:

Test

On the base station, run:

dts fleet discover

Use Ctrl-C to stop the command.

Expected Result

The ROBOT_NAME row appears. Its Status column first reads Booting, then Ready when the first-boot process has completed.

ROBOT_NAME is the Duckiedrone name chosen during the microSD card flashing procedure.

Next step#

Once the Status column reads Ready, connect to the Duckiedrone.