Flying drone controlled with mind power & an RC car and a quadcopter

Flying drone controlled with mind power

 

Researchers in China have produced a system to control a quad-rotor drone with the mind
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Researchers based at Zhejiang University in China have produced a system for controlling a quad-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle with the mind. Dubbed "Flying Buddy 2", the system uses a standard, commercially-available Electroencephalogram (EEG) headset, a computer and a Parrot AR Drone. The computer processes the data received from the EEG and converts it into control commands which are beamed to the drone via a Wi-Fi connection. Judging by the video, the latency of the setup appears to be relatively low.

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Controlling an airborne vehicle with the mind requires that one first learn some commands. For example, in order to make the drone take off or land, the user must think left hard, while rotating can be achieved by thinking left lightly - the drone was also configured to take pictures if the user blinked. This all sounds rather demanding, but like other mind-control systems we've seen such as the EEG-controlled wheelchair-mounted robotic arm, mastering the controls no doubt becomes much easier with practice.

Various demonstrations of the Flying Buddy 2 technology were thought up by the scientists, including a "boxing match" which pitted a mind-controlled drone against one piloted with a typical remote setup. Each controller was tasked with pushing the opposing device out of the allotted area.
The mind-controlled drone research is aimed toward enabling the disabled to interact with their environment in new ways, however it does not take too big a stretch to imagine a more mature implementation of the tech being attractive to those in the consumer, transport, industry and defense sectors.
The Zhejiang University video below shows the research in further detail.
Via: New Scientist

A car and a quadcopter

B is a combination RC car and quadcopter, which can be driven or flown
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Quadcopters are becoming more and more popular with radio-controlled model enthusiasts, but sometimes ... sometimes you still just want to remotely-control a car. If that’s the case with you, then UK-based product designer Witold Mielniczek has got you covered. His prototype vehicle, known simply as B, functions as both a quadcopter and an off-road racer.

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The rear wheel-drive vehicle has a tough polycarbonate body, and four wheels referred to as driving rings. Each ring is driven not by a center-mounted axle, but instead by cog mechanisms at the bottom of the rim. This leaves the center of the rings clear for four 7-inch propellers, which allow the vehicle to get airborne on the fly (no pun intended).
The driving rings are flexible and removable, so they won’t snap every time B makes a hard landing. The propellers are also flexibly-mounted, adding to the vehicle’s crash-worthiness.
Power is provided by an 11.1-volt lithium-polymer battery, which reportedly provides up to 15 minutes of combined driving and flying per charge. Additionally, an onboard 720p video camera can record point-of-view footage to a Micro SD card.

Mielniczek has a working prototype, and now hopes to add features such as full waterproofing (allowing it to also serve as a sort of boat), the ability to suck itself onto walls, and a smartphone control app. Eventually, he might even look into the possibility of building a full-sized passenger-carrying vehicle based on the technology, that could be used for humanitarian purposes.
Before any of that can happen, however, he needs to raise production funds, so he’s turned to a Kickstarter campaign. A pledge of £320 (US$484) will get you a ready-to-assemble B, when and if the funding goal is met. If you don’t want to supply your own transmitter and would like to get a fully-assembled model, you’ll need to pledge £400 ($605).
B can be seen in action in the campaign video below.
Source: Kickstarter