Drone AI

Type: Action
Category: AI

Controls an autonomous 3D flying drone. Implements weighted Seek + Obstacle Avoidance behaviour, maintaining a configurable hover height and horizontal follow distance relative to a target. Place on the drone object and connect to On Update.

Properties

Target

Property	Default	Description
Target	—	Object to follow in the scene

Movement

Property	Default	Description
Speed	4.0	Maximum flight speed
Vel Lerp	0.08	Velocity smoothing (1 = instant, lower = more inertia)
Rot Lerp	0.05	Rotation smoothing toward the target

Positioning

Property	Default	Description
Hover Height	3.0	Height above the target
Follow Distance	5.0	Horizontal distance maintained
Height Deadzone	0.3	Minimum vertical difference before correcting height

Obstacle Avoidance

Property	Default	Description
Probes	6 — Full	Number of avoidance raycasts: 6 — Full or 2 — Minimal (perf)
Avoid Radius	2.0	Obstacle detection range
Avoid Weight	1.5	Weight of the avoidance direction vs. seek direction

Sockets

Socket	Direction	Type
In	Input	Exec
Out	Output	Exec

Generated code (simplified)

import mathutils as _mu
_dt = Range.logic.deltaTime()
if not hasattr(self, '_drone_rdy'):
    self._drone_rdy = True
    self._drone_vel = _mu.Vector((0.0, 0.0, 0.0))
    self._drone_probes = (
        _mu.Vector(( 1, 0, 0)), _mu.Vector((-1, 0, 0)),
        _mu.Vector(( 0, 1, 0)), _mu.Vector(( 0,-1, 0)),
        _mu.Vector(( 0, 0, 1)), _mu.Vector(( 0, 0,-1)),
    )
_drone_target = self.own.scene.objects.get('player')
# ... Seek toward target + height
# ... Avoidance raycasts in 6 directions
# _drone_steer = seek_dir + avoid_dir * avoid_weight
self._drone_vel = self._drone_vel.lerp(_drone_steer * 4.0, 0.08)
self.own.applyMovement(self._drone_vel * _dt, False)
# Smooth Yaw rotation toward target

Typical usage

Surveillance drone

[On Update] → [Drone AI:
                   Target=player
                   Speed=5.0
                   Hover Height=4.0
                   Follow Distance=6.0
                   Avoid Radius=2.5]

Low-performance drone (dense object areas)

[On Update] → [Drone AI:
                   Target=player
                   Speed=3.0
                   Probes=2 — Minimal]

Notes

• The object should have No Collision or Ghost physics to move freely in 3D.
• applyMovement in world space (False) — the drone does not inherit parent object rotation.
• Probes=Minimal uses only 2 raycasts (forward + down) for better performance.
• Multiple drones each have their own _drone_* state thanks to the hasattr guard.