Users can now control drones with their body

Drones can be fun, but learning to control them might not be. To free people of this difficulty, researchers have created a technology through which drones can easily be controlled by the person’s body.

Researchers from an institute in Switzerland, EPFL, observed body movements and muscular activity in order to come up with the technology to control drones with torso, cutting down the need of joystick control.

A total of 17 people were monitored with each of them having 19 infrared sensors placed all over their upper bodies. They then followed actions of a virtual drone via simulated landscapes as viewed through VR goggles. This helped researchers observe the motion patterns from which they concluded that only four of the markers were actually need for drone controlling through an obstacle course, according to Engadget.

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After a virtual drone, the volunteers, who had no prior experience of flying a drone, were then allowed to fly a real one and were able to fly them well.

Video Courtesy: EPFL

This method turned out to be more reliable and precise than a joystick or controller. Published in the PNAS journal, the study’s lead author, Jenifer Miehlbradt compared the method to flying like a bird calling it ‘intuitive, easy to learn, and immersive’.

Miehlbradt explained, “Our aim was to design a control method which would be easy to learn and therefore require less mental focus from the users so that they can focus on more important issues, like search and rescue. Using your torso really gives you the feeling that you are actually flying. Joysticks, on the other hand, are of simple design but mastering their use to precisely control distant objects can be challenging.”

However, this method still required body markers and external motion detectors to function, thus the researchers aim to make the torso entirely wearable. Yet, the applications are several ranging from ‘flight simulators to piloting drones and even perhaps planes of the future’, since the head, limbs, hands, and feet free to perform other tasks.