VR Gear Makes RC Airplane the Coolest Toy Ever
A Canadian RC airplane enthusiast shows us some sweet unanticipated convergence between a model RC airplane and virtual reality gear. It works like this: The airplane is a conventional one, controlled by a wireless remote control. On the airplane is a pan-and-tilt camera, controlled also wirelessly. Here's the cool part. The video is viewable through virtual reality goggles, which have a gyroscope built in to sense the movement of the goggles. When the wearer moves his head, the camera moves. Tragically, this is not a product you can buy, but a DIY project. (props to Gizmodo)
9:25 AM * PERMALINK * 122 comments
Comments:
Excellent. Great footage, and I really appreciate your explaining the design.
Thanks
Very cool video. What's the name of the song in the background?
ingeneous! this is as close to actually "flying" as one could get.
however, i fear if I were the one piloting it, i would lose myself in the flight, and the plane would sail out of range of the radio-remote controller.
Cool...
I used to fly sailplanes many years ago. Totally the same view. Would love to know if adding a little yaw string to the nose would help with controlling the model....
Well this is absolutly great, i thought about it some years ago but the technology wasn't realy there yet.
Now imagine the potential of this, dogfights ? :) travel? military, spy enormous.
Great job
GOZR
Very cool. I had thought about doing this a few years ago, but now the technology is light enough to actually be able to do it. For version 2, why not mount the camera beneath the plane, so that you get full 360 degree view in all directions.
You'll also need some kind of on-screen indicator of where you are relative to the signal strength radius so that you don't fly outside of your RF range.
Next the military will be doing this via satellite I'm sure (if they're not doing it already).
What if you would mount 2 camera's and transmit them as steroscopic view! That would be even more immersive! Think about seeing depth with this system, that would completely rock!
The military already is. You hear about 'un-manned drones' all the time if you follow the Iraq 'war.'
Yeah, the military has been doing that for years, only with much more expensive equipment. They even have armed (single missile or single bomb) versions where the remote pilot can target something on the ground. They also have a version that can shine an IR laser on the ground which is used as a target reference for traditional manned bombers such as F/A-18's or the stealth bomber to come in and drop on.
Pretty amazing. The umannded drones the goverment/military use propellers, but they are larger than this person's prototype.
I'd love to have one of these myself as a toy to get back into flying, but it's not worth prison time from being charged with espionage.
FYI - if you like aerial views/images, then feel free to check out my aerial images from my Website photo gallery!
www.pnwphotography.com
sucks
Amazing video and a very cool idea. I'm also wondering what the name of the song in the background is?
Music is from Riverdance I believe
Music according to orignal google video post:
Enigma - Lord Of The Dance - Celtic Dream
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2237947353453839215&hl=fr
that is amazingly sweet, for 2.0: config the plane to follow your head movements.
Military has a throwable plane that they watch on a laptop. About the size of a small frisbe. They also have a mini-helocopter that can move around inside a building looking for OBL.
The FBI better keep a watch on this guy. He could end up virtually manning a guided bomb.
Yes, I would also like to know what the music is in the background.
That would be bizzare to get lost in flying then see yourself standing there.
i want this so bad! im so jelous i love flying and would love to have one of thease, i want to be a pilot this would be awsome! great work.
He even took the time to put little gauges (I wonder if they work) in the inside the cameras field of view so it looks like a little cockpit.
Brilliant!
All I can think is how can we use this in warfare and recon :)
ref: stereoscopic view
-- YEAH!
ref: He could end up virtually manning a guided bomb.
And you know!? -- it'll probably happen in the not-too-distant future with some payload of lightweight powder or something.
Guess it's time to outlaw this hobby, eh? :(
The song is called "Celtic Dream" from Lord of the Dance soundtrack by Ronan Hardiman.
If you ever find someone to manufacture it, let me know
so how much longer till we use this in a war?
I can already see the future, as with home computers or cellphones, when every moron and his brother has one, and then the skies are filled with amateur paparazzi.Oh the possibilities!
Actually you can buy it from Chatten Associates.
cesdiwi thought it was great. it probably costs to much for moron to buy so we dont worry about them.
It's fake dude, this was posted and exposed on slashdot
#klined on efnet
high coolness factor.
looks great. congratulations.
Now just mount another cam and transmitter and you can watch it in 3D !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome. Saying that it's "tragic" that you can't buy this may be a little dramatic though :)
Cool.
I belive, i can fly... :-)
Think Robots in a 1:1 ratio. With a 1 foot scale as a full model. In a warehouse with about 32 sq feet and you can play from anywhere in the world using broadband.
You buy and sell treasure the players find.
What a great idea.
We are looking to develop KAP but this beats the socks of that.
Mike
Looks fake to me. At the beginning when he is holding the plane and has the goggles on, he turns his head left and right, but the camera doesn't move!
Could this be a hoax?
this is not a fake. sheesh! pretty simple set up with a good R/C pilot. And a beuty of a place to fly too. Yes the military has a major budget and have had this type of setup for many years. Far advanced of course. I'm sure this guy has a chunk of change wrapped up in his lil gadget himself. Great video!
IT NEEDS ONE MORE CAM FOR PASSENGER
VOTE
&
BUY !
The DOD already uses unmanned drones that do this. But this is so much simpler.
Just a very cool idea and phenomenal job on a hobbyist level.
how do you peep into girl's bedrooms?
Sweet, if I had a few grand and knowledge I'd build one myself.
boobs not war
Very Awesome idea,
Although... I probably wouldn't make one even if I did have the money. You have a wireless network sitting next to your brain, I'd be too scared of frying braincells and turning my brain into mush.
Wow... this site has very cool videos too! http://www.rc-tech.ch/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=6&Itemid=41&lang=en
It is NOT A TOY like said the tittle. The FPV (first person view flight )need a lof of flight´s hours before.
Your invention is junk. I worked on this 20 years ago, but we did not have the electronics then, You need 3D vision and a gambol mounted "Head" with twin cams in the cockpit. The head has to move exactly like the operators head or the balance is off. We even had arms and hands moving as mocks for effect. These were simple cloth mockups attached to the joy stick and throttle leaver. The ground unit was a helmet with duel TV screens (primitive). It worked but was extremely unstable and the depth of field was impossible to achieve because of poor focusing system.There was no way then, to come close to a real 3D human vision effect. We broke a lot of toys that year ! Good luck.
Good grief some of you people are jackasses.
"sucks", "your invention is junk", etc.
Do better and provide the world with video of it. Actually, that wouldn't even validate you statements, because improvement doesn't invalidate the predecessor in terms of ingenuity and application.
In short, posting "sucks" and giving no feedback as to why (and no, *saying* "we did it better" is not feedback) makes you look like a halfwit.
Cooooooooooooooooooooooool!
"how do you peep into girl's bedrooms?"
Attach the rig to a model helicopter. Need a rotary wing to hover, mate. Probably worth attaching one of those inverse wave sound eliminators as well, so aforesaid girl doesn't notice the noise from the rotors.
Off to the model shoppe for me :D
Anyone have a link or something to what I need / how I can build this???
I find this very interresting, but im suspecting it to be very expensive :(
I want one... for my RC Cub 'n Crash :)
To all those saying it's fake:
You can buy the goggle/camera setup here.
It's only about $1200 + shipping.
I might actually get one of the fixed view rigs for my plane. It's less dramatic, but I've heard much easier to fly...
They recommend using a Futaba 7+ channel radio as the motion tracker sends info through the trainer port on the Tx (that's why the camera didn't move in the beginning; he wasn't pushing the trainer switch). I believe it eats 2 channels for moving the camera mount. The camera signal is independent of the Tx/Rx.
The guy who made this video posts on several RC boards. You can find info here about him.
Oh great, now terrorists have an easier way to deliver payloads. Lovely. :\
" Anonymous said...
Oh great, now terrorists have an easier way to deliver payloads. Lovely. :\ "
I am so sick of hearing about the goddamned "terrorists". Get over yourselves already... What's next? Do we make everyday life like school or prison where access to every possible item is strictly controlled and people are monitored 24/7 just in case some "terrorist" wants to blow something up? Hint: you are more likely to win a lottery or get hit by lightning than to experience a terrorist attack. you are far more likely to get cancer or die in a car accident than experience a terrorist attack. Get it? All the security theater and taking shoes off at the airport does NOTHING execpt remind us every day that the "terrorists" have already won.
I agree... Let's all be a bunch of hotheads and vent our stress about having to take our shoes off at the airport. Go jump off a friggin cliff you idiot. This technology is awesome and it's not like it just "popped up," infact we've possessed this technology for many years. Japan is far more advanced in these areas; however, anyone with enough money can obtain this technology.
Range on the typical transmitter is about five miles.
My concern would be actually getting lost in the flight and actually not being able to find the way back to the airfield. A friend suggested finding a nude beach would be a fun 'trip' to make!
For all the 'terrorist' fear freaks... didja ever think mayhaps THIS could be used AGAINST them? Hah?
As a DIY project, it's outstanding, proving what imagination and off-the-shelf components can do.
I agree with the previous comment that locating the cam on the CoG on the belly of the aircraft, with a universal swivel, could give a 360* unobstructed view. The comments of unwittingly flying beyond transceiver range sound like the voices of experience, too, and with this rig you could easily see it happening.
Know lots of people who can't fly themselves(the elderly and infirm), and the sensation of flight this rig provides would put a smile on many faces. Thanks for sharing.
Wouldn't it be cool if the final video of Osama was of him staring like a rabbit caught in the headlights, courtesy of a system like this? (Yeah, I know about the Hellfire-armed Predators cruising the skies over the tribal regions, so don't waste your time in flaming me.)
And again, the one-word "sucks" response is probably one of the only ten words this moron knows. Either keep it constructive or give it a "pass", friend.
"Range on the typical transmitter is about five miles. My concern would be actually getting lost in the flight and actually not being able to find the way back to the airfield."
I suppose that's why you'd fly around an area that you knew well. Perhaps the area where you live or a local park or something like that.
Just make sure you check how had the wind is blowing up high before you release one of those babies.
Count me impressed, and that is a rare thing.
Very nice, Very Kewl.
"Hint: you are more likely to win a lottery or get hit by lightning than to experience a terrorist attack."
Sweet I'm going to buy a lottery ticket right now...
Hello from Czech Republic - Europe.It is very nice plane and project.It is like Army Spy airplane :-)) .Have good movie and BYE,BYE.
I am the maker of this planes(VRflyer) and will add my comments.
For take-off, the camera movement is desactivated, because I move with the planes in my hand. Chech, few seconds after take-off, the gyro is activate.
Someone have concern with the antenna close to my head. The video transmiter in the planes can be dangerous if the antenna stay close to the body for long time, but the receiver antenna on the headset emit no waves,it receive waves and amplifie them in the receiver, so no problem at all.
About terrorism. At one kilometer, the planes must fly not too low, I will lost the video. It will be hard to hit a window or even a car house etc.
My planes is easy to get down, if someone operate on the same channel, my planes become uncontrolable. Why not build r/c waves scrambler. If we put antenna over strategic places that emit on all r/c channel over few kilometer, it become impossible to fly a plane in direction of this place, it will become incotrolable. I know it simple to do and not expensive, but I'm not an engineer, I'm an electronic technician, so can someone will make it, I would like it.
You will find me on rc group, the forum of r/c hobbyist.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=571299&pp=15
Hi all, I wanted to make a couple comments..
First, wow.. some of you guys are jackasses. It may be the internet, but that doesn't require you to post every stupid thought you have.
Anyway, on the numerous military related comments. I've been in the Military Intel field for a while now in the US Army, and have seen my share of UAV's, UAV Operators (They're like pilots.. but kinda lazier. No offense.), and more than a bit of video collected. As a 96-B Intel Analyst, it is my job to go over the video they collect. Anyway.. I honestly don't remember the exact point I was going for.. But.. It's not exactly new technology, but it is certainly cool stuff.
Anyway.. great project, definitely an interesting rig. Tempting to make one myself. Good job.
That'd alone, spawn a new sport. VR RC dogfighting. It'd be like the real thing, but soo much more intense. Stargate comes to mind...
Even Hizbollah have this kind of stuff.
Man, I would love to have it too.
Actually, a controllsystem such as this would be excelent for "unit" level recognisance ....
David said...
"That would be bizzare to get lost in flying then see yourself standing there."
And tragic if the last thing you saw was the front of the plane slamming into the back of your own skull.
Forget terrorists; what would stop someone from using this against a dictator? Many of them like to do big open air speeches from balconies. Even those who don't have to come up for air some time. Using it to hit a democratic head of state would have little impact because administration changes are build into the system but these regimes that are based on personality cults could be easily destabilized by a small explosive on a little plane with the user well out of sight. I wonder how long before people start taking the "Bush Doctrine" to the hobbyist level. Regime change via Radio Shack.
Just a thought.
very cool toy. Some army UAV´s have missiles and infrared etc but they are way way larger aircrafts. Alright some have cameras on the belly but this makes camera control natural. GJ
Sure in the wrong hands it could do some damage with C4 i.e but its still not a high performance satellite / laser guided jetmissile for 1200 so chill guys. it a toy.
fantasic great idea do it in other places from a high building in a city would look great
Wish I could buy one.
Sweet flight.
Great !
I want one =)
//Peter
Awsome work! Post more videos :D
I totally love this project. Great work :)
We do this technology at the University of Sherbrooke. For more information, look at our website vamudes.ageg.ca
or you can buy it here as a complete package deal.......
http://www.rc-tech.ch/web/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=18&Itemid=26&lang=en
yep it's way cool
Very cool. I've always thought that this would be a great concept for any RC vehicle control. Check out this desktop rover. The next step would be to use two onboard cameras together for binocular vision.
Check this company out.
Just cool, cool CLEVER thinghie you've done. Abolutely marvelous!
This thing has got myself really into it. I'll use your great idea
for my personal projects. Thanks for inspiration and for sharing the info the info!!!.
Good luck and keep flying!
Awesome video! :D
This is downright COOL! It's a DIY SpyPlane kit. We Americans need to take note: Where, in the nation with the alleged 'most freedom' can we do this lawfully? This reminds me of this fellow who builds these home-engineered U-shaped pulse jet engines down in New Zealand. The only freedom we now have in the USA is to 'blow our hearts out' chasing dollars to 'own a home'!
"Another Anonymous said...
The FBI better keep a watch on this guy. He could end up virtually manning a guided bomb."
Yes, let the half of the US people control the other half. Work for everybody!
(Lets go to canada...)
cool but look at this
http://www.reallycooltoys.com/toys/i16info.html
Amazing this is buddy...Really liked it.But be sure such things never fall in hands of terrorists..Instead should serve army with this :)
Amazing this is buddy..really liked it..Just take care such things doesn't fall in hands of terrorists..instead such inventions should serve army :)..keep going
The song is called "Celtic Dream" from Lord of the Dance soundtrack by Ronan Hardiman
awsome technology! Hope to see this come out on the market in the near future.
That would be bizzare to get lost in flying then see yourself standing there."
"And tragic if the last thing you saw was the front of the plane slamming into the back of your own skull."
If by tragic, you mean hilarious, then yes.
WoW Thats brave
Doesn't the stereoscopic view only work within about 10 meters? In that case i don't think it would add very much to the experience.
Très beau video . Quelle est la chanson en arriere plan