Model Helicopter Control Using Body-Mounted Vibro-Tactile Transducers

Rui Zhou¹, Merhran Mehrandezh², Raman Paranjape¹

¹Electronic Systems Program, Faculty of Engineering, University of Regina, Regina, Canada.
²Industrial Systems Program, Faculty of Engineering, University of Regina, Regina, Canada.

DOI: 10.4236/wjet.2014.24034                

Abstract

The sense of touch as a man-machine communication channel can be as acute as the sense of sight and sound. In some scenarios such as those seen in aerobatics, stunt flying, and combat flights, tactile sensors can even outperform the conventional non-contact sensors in terms of situation awareness. Fusion of tactile sensory information with those obtained via sight and sound can avoid diverting the user’s attention away from the operational task at hand as well. In this study, the performance of an operator, to servo control the motion of a 2-dof model helicopter with pitch/yaw maneuverability, subjected to an intuitive body-referenced arrangement of a cluster of vibro-tactile sensors is investigated. A blindfolded operator will then control the helicopter to a safe attraction zone via a joystick based on this tactile sensory information. A fine-tuned local controller would take over for the end-of-motion precise homing. This study can pave the way towards a systematic integration and characterization of tactile sensors in high performance weapon platforms with improved situation awareness in visually awkward maneuvers such as those seen in aerial combat scenarios.

Keywords

Haptics, Flight Control, Linear Quadratic Regulators (LQR), Tactile Immersive Control, 2-Dof Model Helicopter, Mechatronics, Real-Time Control

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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