Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Airborne Video With an R/C helicopter

Posted by Hemos on from the you-can-see-the-world dept.

PerryResearch writes "MacGyver would be jealous - here are the plans for a complete 2.4 ghz wireless video transmission system, mounted on a Mikado Logo 20 R/C helicopter, with realtime video overlay showing wireless signal strength, GPS coordinates, and support for videoglasses. Make sure you check out some of their in-flight videos."

19 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. Should be great for filming sporting events by Wiktor+Kochanowski · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For example, cross country bicycle racing. As a sport - it's fantastic to do it, but extremely boring to watch, because the camera cannot follow riders as it does in road racing. A heli-mounted camera is what this sport is waiting for.

    1. Re:Should be great for filming sporting events by Tall+Rob+Mc · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you watched the Tour De France, they already use helicopters and video cameras to cover the race. Race observers know not to watch the road, but rather the skies, to anticipate the arrival of the pack. I'm not sure how many RC helicopters would have the 200km range necessary to film an entire stage like a full-size helicopter with a cameraman.

    2. Re:Should be great for filming sporting events by henley · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Err... See, the thing about model helicopters is that they're a complete pig to fly. I think the mean-time-before-superglue for learner pilots is about 30 seconds of flight time. It's inherent in the technology: they're very mechanically complex and dynamically unstable.

      So having said all that, do you think it would be a good idea to have a whirling mass of blades teetering close to anything you think as valuable? Such as cyclist's heads, for example?

      --

      --
      I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy
    3. Re:Should be great for filming sporting events by CurlyG · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well, the people developing Autopilot seem to think it's feasible to automate RC heli flight, which would surely make a compelling package - when combined with an onboard camera - for producers of TV sports of all kinds.

      It would have minimal labour costs, and be cheap enough in comparison to hiring a chopper for an hour or two that you could afford to have a few flying even if you lost on now and again...

      --
      You know they call 'em fingers but I've never seen 'em fing. Oh, there they go.
  2. Application in Sporting Events or Biohazzard? by FauxReal · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Lets just hope it doesn't block that winning touchdown pass at the superbowl. Seriously though.. how about outdoor sporting events in rugged terrain. Or maybe to survey the damage at a post nuclear accident or some kind of toxic gas filled area. Then again you could allways fit it with a laser and paint targets for cruise missiles.

    --
    Deltron 3030 - Virus (music video)
    1. Re:Application in Sporting Events or Biohazzard? by Blue+Stone · · Score: 2, Interesting
      How about you use one so you and your mates can watch a sporting event without paying? I wonder how much of a fuss this could cause?

      Heh.

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
  3. Could this be a possbile 3G killer app? by neglige · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Just imagine: build a helicopter with a camera and equip it with a 3G mobile phone.

    Then you can dial in to the helicopter and control it with another phone in your hand while seeing the video streamed live to your device. This could, of course, already work with GPRS or HSCSD, but with 3G its much more l33t.

    And you do not want to receive a call from your mom, which would interrupt your current transmission :/

    --
    My cats ate my karma. They also wrote this comment.
  4. Whatever happened to ... by Alaska+Jack · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Video eyeglasses?

    Seeing this guy wearing his clunky "Video I-glasses" made me wonder why these never caught on.* Three or four years ago I tried on a pair of television eyeglasses, and was sure that within a few years, the technology would improve to the point where these things would become practical, ubiquitous and cheap replacements for computer monitors. So why the total lack of demand? * And no, I don't mean as fashion accessories. Smartass.
    1. Re:Whatever happened to ... by aug24 · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Sony made some things called GlassTrons, which, according to their website, were excellent.

      I actually tried to buy some for use with my laptop while commuting, but all the Sony outlets are franchises and couldn't afford to lay out the cash to Sony to buy (very expensive) unproven stock. So I couldn't find anywhere to actually try them. So I never got a pair.

      In other words, they were successfully manufactured, but badly marketted, and now Sony and others don't seem to think there is a market. Arse.

      Anyway, how come you got modded interesting instead of off-topic?

      J.

      --
      You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
  5. Re:Old news or not, it'll get slashdotted. by hoofie · · Score: 3, Interesting

    No its not crap - have you ever flown one ? At least have the bottle to say it winout being an anonymous coward.
    The Piccolo is indoors only or else on a day with zero breeze.

    The main posters comments are spot on - I used to fly .30 rc helis for a while and they are very hard to fly - even with gyroscope stabilisation and computerised transmitters.

    The best advice is don't buy one unless you are serious about learning to fly one - its expensive and you will bend it on numerous occasions, although everything is repairable.

    Also, safety first - even a little .30 copter has a lot of inertia in its rotor blades at full power and could cause some serious damage to someone.

    Having said all this, when you eventually manage to get it into a stable hover for as long as you want, its a real feeling of accomplishment.

  6. Re:Old news or not, it'll get slashdotted. by Chazmati · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Do you think it would be easier to fly if you had real-time video feedback from the helicopter's point of view? Maybe not as good as balance feedback from your inner ear, but to the uninitiated (me) it seems like the hard part of flying an R/C heli would be visually picking up the subtle changes in orientation and correcting through the controller.

  7. other examples by jsailor · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This has been done for some time with RC planes. Examples are here
    [kitesplus.com], here
    [k8xg.com], and here
    [zagicam.com].

  8. Been done. by Phreakiture · · Score: 2, Interesting

    At the 2003 Rochester Hamfest, some folks were demonstrating a lower-tech, longer-range, lower-cost concept. They were using the 220MHz band to control a blimp (which has a lower energy cost than a chopper, and is also less noisy), and the 440MHz band to send back NTSC video. This setup has been used in previous years, also.

    Of course, it required a license, but the license is easy to get these days, and every geek should have one, because it also makes higher-powered 802.11 legal.

    --
    www.wavefront-av.com
  9. Why is it so friking hard to fly these things by Sodade · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You'd think that it would be possible to abstract the control scheme and build a controller that was more natural. That RC mission in Vice City sucked 'cause it was way to hard to grok the controls.

  10. Definitely a biohazard by sakusha · · Score: 2, Interesting

    RC Copters are popular with Japanese farmers, they use them to spray pesticides on a small scale. Aum Shinrikyo used this idea, they bought 3 mini copters with the intention of spraying botulism toxin over Tokyo. But they crashed all 3 copters while learning how to fly them. End of plan.
    On a related note, here's a story from yesterday's Mainichi Daily News, "Farmer's radio-controlled chopper cuts off his leg"

    http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/archive/200307/30 /2 0030730p2a00m0dm024000c.html

  11. UAV by punish3r · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm suprised no one else has mentioned this yet. If you are 'all-thumbs' and can't learn how to fly a R/C chopper, why not buy/build a system that flies itself based on GPS waypoints. This bad boy has been on my "When I Win Powerball" list for about 3 months now: http://www.nationalinfrared.com/x20/shop/pshow.php ?SKU=UAV-E2&id_category=17 3 Hour flight time... TI camera... Even has a target tracking mode! And it literally flies itself. The only shortcoming is that you lose the stationary flight capibility of a chopper. But really, all this does is preclude you from getting arrested for being a Peeping Tom. Check out the movies, they do an impressive job of showing the capibilities of the system.

  12. How about a Sony Clie on an RC Airplane? by jbarr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yup...Someone strapped a Sony Clie to the bottom of an RC plain to film the "experience"! Check it out here

    --
    My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
  13. Aerial Robotics by pergamon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sorry, but that really isn't impressive at all compared to the Aerial Robotics Competition. They fly themselves!

  14. robot chppers by savuporo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/chopper/www /heli_project.html
    Carnegie Mellon's autonomous helicopter model. AFAIC, flew with on-board laser mapping system. Of course, development time and budget are of another league, compared to my fellow countryman Risto here. Restecp for such achievements.
    Funny that our local news outlets, including ./ wannabe minut.ee have never mentioned it

    --
    http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slashdot.org Errors found while checking this document as HTML5!