I have been thinking quite a while now about what would make the ultimate UAV flight controller. Reading through a CES highlight story I saw the NVidia Sheild project that basically combines an Android Jellybean touchscreen tablet with a game controller. Of course this device is "vaporware" and is designed for gaming, but it doesn't take much of a stretch of imagination to run the Mission Planner for Android software currently under development, plugging a USB telemetry link into the port on the back, and flying/driving the UAV of choice. Closing the lid it appears to be quite portable. It will be interesting to see what the price will be, whether the display will be readable outdoors, and when will it be available.
See more at the web page http://shield.nvidia.com
With the advent of cheap cellphone processors I'm just surprised that the RC Transmitter manufacturers haven't made a transmitter that would be compatible with running a ground station software. The mating of a cheap tlablet technology with RC transmitter seems like a good idea.
Comments
Hi Scott,
Thanks for the link to the Moga controller- I'm going to keep my eyes out to find one. If it would clamp onto a 7" tablet it would be nearly ideal. I would be worried about the price of the Shield and having a tablet that can be used for other things and just connected to a controller is easier to cost justify.
One of the best features of the "Sheild" is the concept of the closing lid- the device creates its' own mini case like a laptop and folds out to be a very functional UAV or controller interface with joystics and other input devices relevant to UAV/Robot control. Very handy for transporting the ground station controller.
I' happy to see that I'm not the only one that have these ideas :)
Looks very intersting