Creating autonomous programs for the S1 is really fun. Specially considering you have full control of the robot (even when the autonomous program is running, up to a point). With that in mind I was trying experimenting with some interesting things to do. The app comes with a counter attack example (which is not really a counter-attack) as it does not fire back) so I decided to create a real one. The general idea was:

1 - Detect a hit.
2 - Turn to the side where the hit happeened.
3 - (Eventually, not implemented) Detect another S1 in that direction.
4 - Fire back.
5 - Return to the initial position.

It seems I found at least very annoying limitations of the API:

- It looks like when an autonomous program is running. You can not fire (i.e. you can not program the S1 to fire automatically).
- There does not seem to be a way to select the fire mode (gel/ir). Programatically firing (again, not in an autonomous program) seems to result in the gel blaster always being used.
- This is speculative but based on the above and the working in the API documentation, it is possible that you can also not detect IR "hits" in the armor. Only actual physical hits.

What is the correct way to report this kind of things to DJI? As it is now, what you can do with the robot seems to be artificially limited by an incomplete or over-sealous (like when not allowing you to fire in autonomous mode) API.

Hello and good day BGA. Thank you for reaching out and for sharing these information with us. Let me forward this thread and these information to our designated DJI department for further development of the DJI Robomaster S1. For the latest updates, kindly please stay tuned to the latest news in our DJI official website at www.dji.com or by checking the Release Notes specific for your product. Thank you for your kind and understanding and for your valued support.

DJI Stephen Posted at 8-6 10:45
Hello and good day BGA. Thank you for reaching out and for sharing these information with us. Let me forward this thread and these information to our designated DJI department for further development of the DJI Robomaster S1. For the latest updates, kindly please stay tuned to the latest news in our DJI official website at www.dji.com or by checking the Release Notes specific for your product. Thank you for your kind and understanding and for your valued support.

Thanks Stephen.

In any case, I found this in the FAQ:

"What modules or components can be controlled with custom programming?
Many parts of the S1 can be accessed and controlled through programming, including 7 motors, 6 hit detectors, 7 infrared sensors, 21 LED lights, 1 vision sensor, 1 microphone, 1 speaker, and 2 gyroscopes."

In other words, it says that the infrared sensors should be available in the API but they do not seem to be. This looks like a bug worth fixing.

BGA Posted at 8-8 10:19
Thanks Stephen.

In any case, I found this in the FAQ:

Lol yeah I guesssss we can access the microphone - with the "Clapper" detection api.

But I can't see any way to directly access the Speaker either.  There is a api that returns the angle of tilt of the chassis so they count that as "gyro".

Counting all the motors in the chassis and gimbal and all LEDs as "sensors" is a bit of a stretch...

Yeah want access to IR Hit Detectors!  Moderator - please pass that to the devs!  

And yeah I don't like being stuck in gel bead mode!  Free the lasers!!  

BGA Posted at 8-8 10:19
Thanks Stephen.

In any case, I found this in the FAQ:

You are very much welcome BGA and thank you for raising this matter to us. let me please forward this information to the designated DJI department fro us to check and for further development. Thank you.

Any updates here? My son and I are working on a project were we want to target and use the infrared blaster autonomously. Is this not possible?