Chinese researchers create thought-controlled quadcopter


Developed by researchers at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, a quadcopter can stay airborne by relying on users’ thoughts alone. The newly developed helicopter is specially designed for people with impaired motor abilities. As the Emotiv electroencephalography (EEG) headset converts brain activity into commands for the quadcopter, the flyer gains momentum to be above ground for quite some time.

When connected to a laptop via Bluetooth, the EEG headset keeps sending instructions to the helicopter. As a user thinks ‘right’, the flyer moves forward; when he thinks ‘push’, it flies up; and finally, turns clockwise when the user thinks ‘left’. When a user wants the drone to take off, he needs to think ‘hard left’. Clenched teeth and blinking translates in flyer’s descend or taking a picture or stream a video by using the onboard camera. While watching the video, users may capture a still by blinking four times in succession.

You may see the innovative AR.drone in person at the Ubiquitous Computing Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Via: NewScientist

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