Intuitive haptic controls for an RC foam airplane

Abstract: In this century robotics and control systems are progressively advancing at a faster and faster pace. Interesting topics in these advancements are how to make controls easier to understand and how to implement a faster learning curve for the user. In this project our goal was to create an intuitive haptic controlled RC plane using an Arduino. This was accomplished by using a glove with a gyroscope to measure the tilt of the hand and then using this information to e_ectively steer the planes aileron angels and ultimately control the planes direction without it being too hard to maneuver. To control the speed of the plane a potentiometer was installed further up the glove on the same hand to easily be able to adjust the speed. For the experiments the airplane was hung in a test rig to prevent crashes. Then volunteers completed a predetermined set of tasks and the time to complete the tasks was measured. The result was to use the hand motion to control how the airplane moved. The tests were executed by having two test groups, one with and one without instruction, and comparing the results. Finally using an anonymous survey the testers user experience were measured.