Here's a remarkable video shot from the cockpit of a radio-controlled airplane. The camera's video is transmitted to the flyer on the ground below, who's wearing VR goggles. When he moves his head, the remote camera's pans and tilts correspond exactly to his movements. The result is a extraordinary feeling of actually being in the plane. Shouldn't all R/C airplanes be made this way?
Remote Flying with VR Goggles and a Camera
11:52 AM on Mon Sep 25 2006
By Charlie White
23,466 views
35 comments












Comments
Very cool.
Lag between moving your head and the image catching up can be slightly disorientating though.
I've heard of similar projects with fighter aircraft where a camera on the underside displays images on the pilots helmet mounted display... when he looks down he sees the ground and cries "I cant see my legs!"
simply beautyfull... a perfect marriage of art and gadgets.
That's pretty incredible. I wonder what the range on the video feed is?
i guess this will be used like the helmet in the apache look and shoot
now put some foam shooters on there or a pellet gun..and you got yourself a good time!
Neat trick.
I've worked on several UAV projects using R/C planes and video links. Using COTS transmitters and good antennas in the 802.11 range 0.5 to 2 miles was pretty common, depending on how crowded the environment was. Down in lower frequency ranges we relayed video from 10+ miles, but in this case I'd assume they're more limited by the R/C range and restrictions.
I also wonder how they would judge altitude and speed while flying like this. Maybe it's displayed on the goggles like a HUD.
A homemade UAV, that is pretty sweet. I bet by this guys next video, the gauges on the plane will even work.
Wonder how this compares to the military drones? This one probably cost $1k versus $1m...
That plane mounted camera is the only way you will ever see a woman again after putting on a VR helmet with wireless and a gyroscope. Might as well put on a Nintendo PowerGlove and complete the look.
Actually... flying with the powerglove would be pretty cool....
Don't knock the PowerGlove, without the ending to The Wizard would not have been so suspensful.
They definately need to hook one of these babies up to an R/C Jet...
Just beautiful.
I built a wheeled ROV with a pan/tilt navagation camera, but it's control was via a 2-axis joystick.
Well done!
One of the coolest ideas I've seen in years (and Im' not into R/C). From a photography standpoint it would be even better if the camera was mounted so that it dropped below the plane after takeoff and retracted during landing (or was mounted under the nose, perhaps).
Very Very cool.
But here are 2 ideas for improvement anyway:
1) just like simulators, you need more bogies and migs on your 6.
2) The ending should be him seeing himself fly the plane into... HIM.
Gave me a chubby.
I would totally fly that into myself so I could watch me fly into myself. It'd be super cool.
So if you fly into yourself while watching you, um, fly into yourself does that break some kind of space-time continuum?
Video of that would definitely win the big prize on AFV!
That's awesome! I would soo get that if I had the funds. That totally scores with me since I love aviation but don't have a pilots license. This way I get to cheat. Just beautiful!
This would be great for R/C aerial digital photography to know what kind of shot your gonna get.
Next stages:
Binocular cameras and headset for true 3-D depth perception and better peripheral vision. Easily done.
Micro-gyros mounted on arms and shoulders for aileron control by outstretched arm roll, elevator control by torso pitch and rudder control by torso yaw. Also pretty straightforward, although it would require a dedicated processor and some custom software.
It might look dorky to bystanders when it's being operated, but it would feel far more like a bird-man than using joysticks.
That was beautiful, now all it needs is stereoscopic vision to give it some depth, and a means to travel for days at a time at long distances and it might actually replace video games and the internet as my primary means of entertainment.
Maybe some day in the future.
Really nice. In this day and age, I wonder if people seeing one of these planes overhead aren't a bit panicky that it's a mini buzzbomb.
This technology would be good for video surveillance. Let's say a security officer in a building is looking at many screens covering multiple areas. He could switch cameras by keyboard then use the pan/tilt by moving his head...
I need to drag my gay Slow Stick out of the closet. I used to do some aerial photography with it but got bored.
c--b, there was a guy at the aerial forum over at ezonemag.com that did some really cool cross-eyed stereo shots.
Depending on how immersive those goggles are, I can imagine this would get some people (including me) veeeery sick. When your eyes (and thus, your brain) sense movement but your inner ear doesn't, you tend to get nauseous. This is the problem they were having with the next HD format; the images were so large and sharp that people couldn't watch them without feeling sick to their stomach.
Can anyone tell me how he managed to get the remote camera to correspond to his movements?
Anyone know how to buy a set of goggles. Could use them on one of our project wing tips.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvUB654FZyI
I'd rather be able to actually fly like a Blue Heron and deposit white doo doo on all those just washed, clean automobiles below.
Very nice idea, but it would be better with stereovision. I like to see one of those in stores in my country.
lm building an FA18 hornet, its over a metre long, lve been in the aero hobby for about 8 years, never have lo seen such a cool add on, the f18 is up to 7 grand finished oz dollars, but l recon its worth another 2 grand for that set up, immagine the dogfighting video's that you could do, awsome comes to mind, ever seen radio planes crash mid air, unf&*(kenbelievable sight, just awsome, l cant wait for this guys next video, and one does wonder if his alt metre will be operational in the plane cockpit, makes alot of sence, still flying and especially landing would be very hard l expect , l expect the goggles would be lifted for landing, especially if it were mounted on a turbine plane, still just incredible effort by this fellow, he has shown a potential not realised before on an industry that would, l believe love to start useing this feature on mass.
I think that one way to send the movements to the receiver on the plane would be to send the output of the gyros (One for pan and one for tilt) to two auxiliary channels on the transmitter via a buddy cord, the receiver on the plane then routes the position to the servos moving the camera in the desired direction. Since gyros react by moving in the opposite direction, the output would have to be reversed! I wander if the author would share his method to achieve the camera move!
J WANT TO BUY IT!!!
Could someone tell me where I can purchase the virtual reality setup with goggles etc. I gotta get one for my rc airplane. I see everyone talking about them, but dont see a where to buy, and how much do they cost. Thanks Monte
Hi,
I'm really interested in this flying remote control planes with goggle malarky. I want to ask more questions and see if I can get hold of one of these things! Please let me in!
Simon
Hi,
I've found some of this stuff at www.firstpersonview.co.uk - Is this legal in the UK? Has anyone bought from that website? Any experiences to share?
I've just discovered this and I reckon flying a model plane from video goggles might be a very fun way to spend some summer evenings!
Thanks
Simon
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