FlyMod at MOYO Drone Fest 2017, "Art Factory Platform"

MOYO Drone Fest, held on June 10-11 in Kiev, gathered under its wing not only quadrocopters and drones, but also various novelties of the world of electronics and gadgets, cyber sports games and consoles, numerous electric vehicles such as electric cars, gyroscuters, monowheels and other innovative technologies.

The festival was held on the territory of the former Darnitsa Silk Mill, which since 2014 has been called Art Factory Platform. Now the mill does not fulfill Stalin's five-year silk production plan, but is a creative space for festivals, exhibitions, concerts and conferences.

On June 10 Flymod Squad came to Kiev to participate in the drone racing competition within MOYO Drone Fest. Arriving at the place at the appointed time, approximately at 10.30 am, we found the race track in the initial stage of construction and a small number of organizers. The race track was set up inside a large courtyard surrounded on all sides by the brick walls of the factory. From the courtyard there were several exits to the former weaving workshops, one leading to the main festival area with demonstration stands, and the second was the pilots' rest rooms.

FM's art house video

While most of the pilots were still getting to their destination, we had already occupied a separate "dressing room" and began to prepare for training flights.

But almost from the first hours of being at the venue, it became clear that there were serious problems in the organization of the races. The first day turned out to be long and exhausting, as the track installation, briefings, various preparations, technical hiccups and qualification itself stretched so much that the event ended at about 23.00. And this could have been partially avoided if the track had been set in advance, and at least 3 pilots participated in the heats, not strictly two. Well, instead of wasted time on checking failsafes and useless briefings, more time and effort could have been spent on organizing safety for pilots and spectators. Until the last it seemed that the fence was still in the installation stage. The man-high net was installed only on one side and remained unchanged till the end of qualifying.

Problems with the timing of the competition and safety were supplemented by various technical punctures. Perhaps some of the pilots counted on a good signal from the soundstations, but as the organizers explained, the soundstations disappeared in an unknown direction, so on the first day they were absent. Although the advantage of the competition was that instead of the hated transponders the TBS serif system was used. But even here there was a serious spoon of tar. Incorrectly calibrated serifs showed absolutely random results of flying lap, someone with delay, someone on the contrary ahead. Clocks worked even if the pilot flew a few meters away from it, and sometimes they did not work at all, so the final table of qualification changed several times during the day.

One of the examples of incorrect operation of the serif system is presented on the video:

Constant technical interruptions and hiccups sometimes hinted that the organizers deliberately delayed qualifying to check how spectacular the track would look at night. Indeed, in the dark time the track looked interesting - backlighting, spotlights, LED strips and smoke curtain promised to be a good spectacle for the spectators of the festival and for broadcasting on TV. But, unfortunately for the spectators, on the first day, after the pilots complained about the lack of necessary fencing, several drone crashes into the crowd of people and broken windows, the organizers forbade the spectators to approach the track and promised to fix the safety flaws by tomorrow.

The boredom was saved by interesting demo booths, where you could try out various virtual reality attractions or just make a bloody mess in the new Mortal Combat. Flymod team did not miss the chance to test the new Nissan Leaf.

During the first day each pilot managed to make only 3 flights on the track, 2 training flights and one qualification flight.

First qualification results

Qualification results published on Facebook. List of pilots who made it to the finals.

Final results of the first qualification day, the list of 32 pilots who made it to the final.

The second day, June 11, started about the same as the first one. From 10 am to 17.00 there was a sluggish preparation for the main competition, a little bit changed and the track itself, for example, the starting gate was moved further away from the sharp turn, so that the serifs worked more reliably. Closer to 13.00 some chaotic unorganized training started, in which Flymod team did not take part.

Instead we visited an atmospheric modern art exhibition. The huge hall of one of the workshops of the former mill was filled with unusual art installations entitled "The Place of Man in the World of the Future". The exhibition was divided into four topical themes - rapidly developing technologies and human connection with them, destruction of gender stereotypes, consequences of popularization of plastic surgery, ecology of the future and the idea of the death of human civilization.

Drone racing competition started closer to 18.00. The standings included 32 pilots from Kiev, Odessa, Zaporozhye, Dnipro, Kharkov, Lvov and even a few pilots from Belarus. The flights were held in stages 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, semi-final and final. Two pilots participated in each tournament flight - 1 wins, the other is automatically eliminated from further competition.

Close to 1/4 unforeseen weather conditions led to the fact that the usual summer downpour broke all the plans of the organizers to arrange a spectacular show for broadcast on TV. The strong wind fell the columns with protective netting and other structures, and numerous lighting equipment was immediately shut down. The grid system was completely drenched, as it was only recalled 15 minutes after the downpour began. TV reporters who came to make the broadcast caught the event completely de-energized.

There were few spectators during the day, and the bad weather, long preparations and lack of any spectacle led to the fact that the rest of the event was almost completely silent and empty. Announcement of pilots' departure and start took place without using a microphone, and the rest of the time the judges evaluated the passing of the lap and identified the winner visually.

As a result, there was no sense to prolong the event further, and the race from 1/4 to the final with solemn awarding of certificates was held in one hour.

The winners of MOYO Drone Fest were:

• 1st place Nikolay Podakov
• 2nd place Vladislav Babushkin
• 3rd place Ilya Lukashchuk

The competition was initially advertised as a World Cup round, but was it really a World Cup round or just flights at the festival?

F3U FAI judges were present at the event, but they informed that they had nothing to do with the organization of the competition. So far there are no official results about the event, except for this pithy paper:

Photo Report

Flymod Squad in Kiev

Drones resting on Maidan

The territory of the Art Factory Platform

Someone has been surfing since the morning.

A nice meeting with other pilots

Preparing Flyfish for a training flight

First briefing, most of which was taken up with discussing fines, disqualifications and paid disputes with the judges.

Flymod at the start

The first day was very tiring

A couple more photos from the qualification day

Day two, June 11

Flymod visited an exhibition of modern art.

The author's paintings are created with the help of collage technique. Showing how the perception of classical art is changing over time.

In the future, instead of people there will be lonely holograms wandering around the world.

An internet web where illusion and reality are sometimes indistinguishable.

Metal construction in post-apocalyptic style called "The Voice of the Last Man on Earth", when approaching it from a huge speaker started to sound long industrial sounds.

No, it's not an art installation, just the wall of an abandoned workshop

Even quadrocopters found a place in this exhibition.

Excerpt from the text to the video installation: "The Winner" is an act of awarding from which the main elements have been eliminated, leaving only the announcement of the award. There is no winner, no announcer, no engaged audience. There is only an illusory victory and an empty arena whose walls are peppered with visual effects. The victory itself, as well as the pathos of announcing the winner are leveled, only the fact of "winner this" remains. For me an important part of the project was the theme of illusory significance, how will show business culture change in 10-20 years, the structure and hierarchy of entertainment, why do people have a need to announce the winner and who is this abstract character?

A set of UFO photos, some are old fakes from the 50s, 60s and some are modern photoshop. The installation shows how much the development of technology can easily change reality.

Before the competition there was enough free time, you could admire the demonstration stands and take part in the drawing of prizes. Well, and then just relax in the lounge zone.

Even the animals at the festival tried to ride on a monocycle

The competition has finally begun

Journalists of the TV channel "Inter" watching from the side.

The last photo from the festival. Flymod returns to Odessa.

Text: Vyacheslav Tregubov

Photo: Vyacheslav Tregubov, Igor Olishevsky, Denis Perevozchikov.

Video of serif test: Dmitry Yatsenko

Video editing: Denis Perevozchikov

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