The picture above is the new video game controller from valve, you can read more about it here. Note that there are no thumb sticks just trackpads and a touchscreen. Are rc controllers lagging behind the times by using analog components (potentiometers) and bulky mechanical gimbals?
I realize that there is a good argument for sticks and switches you can operate just by feel if your flying fpv. But it would be nice to have a thin. light. high resolution digital rc controller with fewer moving parts.
Please comment with your thoughts on ditching gimbals.
Comments
Maybe this 3D motion controller is more interesting for FPV with Oculus Rift support.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/576456616/imotion-3d-motion-con...
The very first RC radio controls used switches and turn knobs. Obviously this was not a good solution and they where quickly replaced by gimbal sticks. The gimbal sticks has since been used by every radio brand with little or no change at all. This tells you that the system works, if not then there would have been innovation.
Kinda like the light switch. There are 100 different ways you could use electronics to turn on and off a light with sliders or fancy gestures and so on, but the simple mechanical lever switch just works.
It's very helpful to feel by touch, we're very used to do it that way, like to know were the throttle stick is.
I can't Imagine driving a car with a joystick like airplanes do.
Or a pilot driving a fighter jet with just a Pad below their finger tips.
There is a fair point that current joystick feedback is not as good as it could be. There's a large body of evidence that shows that human interfaces are more effective when they have force or pressure feedback, rather than blind position.
This is why race car drivers prefer the brake pedal to be rock hard, such that braking force is felt and controlled by pressure, rather than position. Similarly, very "communicative" steering is preferred. The more direct the connection is between the contact patches of the tires, to the steering feedback, the easier the car is to drive on the limit.
The trailer brake controller I use on my truck has a pressure sensitive manual over-ride rather than a slider as most do, and I find it very easy to operate.
"Addressing the argument about feedback, the sticks on my radio doesn't have feedback."
Feed back= knowing the position of stick when finger tip touches it without need to see it(and taking off your eyes away from the flying airframe!!
Mine is 300$ radio bought many years ago & and it feeds back as mentioned above. Good enough for me ;)
BTW I like the look of the trackpads, may be there is future for it some where( guess inside GCS station flying IFR )
First I'll play devils advocate. Well I didn't mention these two points because there sort of vague in the press release from valve, but the trackpads are "high resolution' and have haptic feedback. Its hard to say what constitutes high resolution but for the video game controller to a viable product it would need to come close to current monitor resolutions(2560x1600). And thats at least a high as as the best digital servos (2048) and defiantly higher than most digital servos at 1024. Addressing the argument about feedback, the sticks on my radio doesn't have feedback. And yours don't ether unless you are flying a $1200 OSRC radio. But the controller from valve dose imagine if you could feel the data coming back from the accelerator, you could feel hooking a thermal or hitting turbulence.
I have used an ar drone and flown a small heil with a phone and both times I was disappointed. The resolution of the on screen joystick seamed vary course and the response was vary slow. But I haven't used either of the mission planners for android.
Ultamently my oppinion falls in with most of the commentates, it could be good but its hard to saw until I get my hands on one
Ever tried flying any Flight sim with keyboard ? If yes than you know what I am talking abt.
Thats what I feel about this. I or rather my fingers want to know where the sticks are at any time.
R_Lefebvre +1.
You can have my joysticks when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers. :D
The "mouse" for drones is a PC Joystick from a flightsim.
In my opinion radio to drone is like a kayboard to PC. The "mouse" for drones is not yet invented. Maybe this is the right way, to control drones with controllers people already know. Or maybe there will be something more revolutionary.
Yes, I almost always fly Andropilot now by just using the tablet...
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next