Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Chinese Researchers Develop Mind-Controlled Drone

Zhejiang University researchers have developed a system that allows users to control drones with their thoughts, called FlyingBuddy2.


The researchers aim to give people with mobility disabilities a new avenue for interaction – for example, using the helicopter to take a close-up look at objects which are out of reach.

One of the two quadrotor drones seen here is controlled by thoughts alone. (Photo credit: Zhejiang University, Pervasive Computing Group CCNT Lab)
One of the two quadrotor drones seen here is controlled by thoughts alone.
(Photo credit: Zhejiang University, Pervasive Computing Group CCNT Lab)

Researchers at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, have posted a YouTube video demonstrating a mind-controlled drone. Watch the video below:


The video above shows how the system works. By wearing an Electroencephalography (EEG) headset that interprets brain activity as commands for the quadcopter. The headset uses Bluetooth to connect to a laptop, which then transmits the instructions onwards to the aircraft.

Chinese researchers claim they can pilot a quadcopter by thinking “left hard” to take off or land, “left” to rotate the quadcopter clockwise, “right” to fly forward and “push” to fly up.

The Flying Buddy team will present their work at the Ubicomp Ubiquitous Computing Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this week.

Source: GAATES