Gesture Controlled Drone #1 : Introduction

24 May 2021

Introduction

The term “drone” usually refers to any unpiloted aircraft. Sometimes referred to as “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" (UAVs), these crafts can carry out an impressive range of tasks, ranging from military operations to package delivery. Drones can be as large as an aircraft or as small as the palm of your hand. Originally developed for the military and aerospace industries, drones have found their way into the mainstream because of the enhanced levels of safety and efficiency they bring. These robotic UAVs operate without a pilot on board and with different levels of autonomy. A drone’s autonomy level can range from remotely piloted (a human controls its movements) to advanced autonomy, which means that it relies on a system of sensors and detectors to calculate its movement.

Because drones can be controlled remotely and can be flown at varying distances and heights, they make the perfect candidates for taking on some of the toughest jobs in the world. They can be found assisting in a search for survivors after a hurricane, giving law enforcement and the military an eye-in-the-sky during terrorist situations, and advancing scientific research in some of the most extreme climates on the planet. Drones have even made their way into our homes and serve as entertainment for hobbyists and a vital tool for photographers.

Drones are used for various purposes:

Military
Delivery
Emergency Rescue
Outer Space
Wildlife and Historical Conservation
Medicine
Photography etc.

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References: google, wikipedia

Motivation

The main motivation behind this project is my curiosity to explore the various control schemes for small-scale drones. The paper "Design and Development of Voice Control System for Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" talks about various drone control methodologies such as Radio, GCS, Gesture, Voice, Joystick, PC, FPV, and Autonomous. It is observed that situational awareness is at a medium level for Radio and Gesture UAV control methods, whereas situational awareness is high for the voice control method. In this project, we will work on gesture controlling, and later we will go up to voice control and also other advanced controls.

The motivation for this project also raised from the need to implement these different control methods in a low-cost portable and scalable embedded platform with computation at the edge, without relying on external resources for its working.

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