HK1163983B - Device for piloting a drone - Google Patents

Description

Device for piloting a drone

The present invention relates to a device for piloting a drone (drone), in particular a rotorcraft.

The unique advantages of the present invention apply in the field of radio controlled toys that can be used by small children, for example, especially in indoor environments like rooms in houses or apartments.

A drone is a flying machine that is remotely piloted by a control device. Some drones are called rotary-wing drones, which cover all types of proportional models of known helicopters.

WO 2008/056051 a2 (Parrot corporation) describes a game system using remote controlled toys, in particular remote controlled airplanes. The game is executed by driving the drone in place, for example, at the periphery of a virtual line where a line image is superimposed on a real image taken by the camera of the drone. The virtual passing points are defined by the points that the drone has to pass and they are displayed, for example, in the form of virtual rings floating in the air.

It will be appreciated that in such games it is necessary to be able to pilot the drone very accurately. Drones are applied to chase games, where a drone piloted by one player seeks to hit down a stationary or moving object, such as a drone piloted by another player.

Hitherto, a radio control unit for piloting a drone has two movable control levers, of which:

for the first control stick, the first axis controls the pitch of the drone (moving forward in one direction, or backward in the opposite direction), while the second axis controls the pivoting of the drone (tilting the stick to pivot to the left in one direction and to pivot to the right in the opposite direction); and

for the second control stick, the first axis controls the driving power of the drone (increasing power in one direction and decreasing power in the opposite direction), while the second axis controls the roll (moving sideways to one side in one direction and sideways to the opposite side in the other direction).

In particular, learning to use the controls requires a long time and requires many exercises, with the risk of damaging the drone during the learning phase.

As an alternative to those control sticks, or in combination with control sticks, it is also known to use buttons for piloting a drone.

US 2005/0048918 describes a control device for controlling such a drone, in particular a small pilotable balloon, by using a portable telephone type control device. Detecting the depression of a key on the telephone and translating it into a command for flying the airship: accelerating or decelerating the driving thereof to rotate the rudder around the axis, and the like. At the same time, the camera on board the airship picks up an image, which is transmitted to the telephone and displayed on its screen.

The invention results from the observation that none of the above-mentioned control devices is capable of controlling the flight of a drone simply and particularly intuitively.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device that allows a person, such as a small child, inexperienced in driving to steer a drone without having to control too many levers and/or buttons.

In order to do so, the invention first provides for the use of a specific type of drone, i.e. a drone provided with a self-contained stabilizer system for stabilizing the drone in hover flight without any user command.

A remote control aircraft of this type is described, for example, in WO 2009/109711 a2 (parrot gmbh).

This type of drone is particularly suitable for inexperienced persons who have difficulty stabilizing rotary-wing drones by operating the throttle, roll, pitch, and yaw in a more or less synchronous and correlated manner with conventional joystick control. These difficulties are generally more serious when flying radio-controlled proportional models, since the user does not have a forced return and therefore has to manage looking at the machine and estimating its position in three-dimensional space, which requires very good knowledge of the flight physics in order to be able to interpret the position and understand which actions need to be taken in order to reach an equal point.

The above document describes a drone provided with an automatic device for stabilizing the drone in hovering flight, and in particular once the equilibrium point has been reached the automatic device is used to provide the correction required to maintain such a stationary point by "trimming" (trimming) by making many small corrections to the variations in translation due to external influences such as air movements and sensor drift.

When automatically stabilized in hover flight in a self-contained manner, such as a drone, thereby allowing inexperienced persons, particularly small children, to pilot, however, a rotary wing drone can be piloted without requiring direct action on conventional flight controls, but instead benefits from intuitive piloting based on horizontal and vertical movement. The dynamic movement of the drone is thus translated into movement between successive equilibrium points by simple commands such as ascent, descent, left or right turn, forward movement or backward movement, each command being associated with a particular button of the drone housing. When the user releases all the buttons, the drone automatically returns to hover flight in its new position that it has reached.

The starting point of the invention is to adapt the piloting of a remote-controlled aircraft of this type to utilize a remote control comprising a tilt sensor.

Many devices, in particular portable telephones, are known which comprise a tilt sensor. WO 2005/027550a1 (nokia corporation) describes a portable telephone of this kind which is provided with means enabling the inclination of the telephone relative to a horizontal plane to be detected about two orthogonal axes.

WO 01/43473 a1 (telwhether limited) describes how to use a telephone for remote control of various actions, such as moving a cursor over text displayed on a screen.

The invention is based on the observation that including a movement pattern going from one balance point to another is not necessarily the most efficient movement pattern, although it greatly simplifies driving for inexperienced users. This is particularly true when fast movement is required, for example to avoid movement in a chase game, to make a drone pose change quickly when trying to aim at a moving target, etc.

For these reasons, it is highly desirable to have greater flexibility in the way that a drone can be piloted according to the background, possibly with a piloting mode that is more reactive in certain situations that require the user to take more direct control of the drone.

For this purpose, the invention provides a device for piloting a drone of the type described above, comprising: a tilt detector for detecting a tilt of the apparatus housing; a touch panel displaying a plurality of touch zones; means for detecting signals emitted by both: emitted by a tilt detector of the housing; and emitted by the touch area; and means for converting said detected signals into a piloting command for transmission to the drone.

In a particular form of the invention, the device further comprises means controlled by one of the touch areas forming the activation/deactivation button to switch the drone piloting mode between the following options: i) an active mode in which the self-contained stabilizer system of the drone is activated, in which the piloting command transmitted to the drone is generated by translating the signals delivered by the touch area; and ii) a deactivated mode in which the drone's self-contained stabilizer system is deactivated, in which the piloting command transmitted to the drone is generated by conversion of the signal emitted by the housing's inclination detector.

Such devices rely on a human/machine interface that completely redefines the control strategy and driving commands.

Some driving strategies of the prior art requiring different actions to be taken by the operator on the control lever or button commands can now be performed in an intuitive way by the operator simply by tilting the inventive device: for example, to control a rotary wing drone to move "forward," it is sufficient for the user to tilt the accelerometer device about the respective pitch axis.

This driving pattern is extremely reactive, but nevertheless it causes a relatively high level of instability in the drone balance and should therefore only be used when necessary (for example when performing fast movements in a pursuit situation).

The advantage of the invention is in particular that this mode can be selectively activated, i.e. only when desired by the user, the movement of the drone then being controlled by commands only for moving the stable point of its equilibrium in three dimensions, in the case where the default piloting mode is an automatic and self-contained stable piloting mode with a drone. This mode of operation is well adapted to slow phases of flight in chase games, surveillance or approach periods, etc.

To go from one mode to another, it is sufficient for the player to press the activation/deactivation button of the touchpad, which can be done completely intuitively without taking the eyes off the image of the scene taken by the camera in the drone and displayed on the screen of the device.

In various sub-embodiments, this has the following advantages:

the device comprises means for reinitializing the reference frame of the device, which are activated each time it switches to the above-mentioned deactivation mode;

the apparatus is a portable multimedia device of the cellular phone and/or multimedia player type;

the touchpad comprises at least four touch zones for controlling basic driving functions activated by contact with the touch zones, said functions being selected from the group comprising: taking off; landing; rising; descending; rotating to the right around the shaft; rotating to the left around a shaft; moving forwards; moving backwards; a right offset; and a left offset;

the device comprises means for causing an automatic emergency landing to occur when the piloting device is turned upside down; and

the device comprises means for displaying on the touch panel an image as taken by a camera onboard the drone.

The invention also provides a method of piloting a drone provided with a self-contained stabilizer system for stabilizing the drone in hover flight without any user command, the method making use of a device as described above and comprising the following steps:

detecting signals emitted by the touch area and by a tilt detector of the housing;

in the activated mode of the self-contained stabilizer system of the drone, the signals emitted by said touch area are converted into piloting commands;

alternatively, in the deactivated mode, in which the self-contained stabilizer system of the drone is deactivated, the signal emitted by the inclination detector of the aforesaid casing is converted into a piloting command;

transmitting said piloting command to the drone;

in the above-described active mode:

stabilizing the drone in hover flight without any piloting commands from the device; and

in the case of a piloting command transmitted to the drone, the drone is moved from one equilibrium point to another in accordance with said piloting command; and

alternatively, in the above-mentioned deactivated mode, the movement of the drone is controlled by the above-mentioned piloting commands transmitted to the drone, these commands corresponding to the basic piloting commands activated by the contact with the above-mentioned touch area.

The basic driving function may in particular be a function selected from the group comprising: taking off; landing; rising; descending; rotating to the right around the shaft; rotating to the left around a shaft; moving forwards; moving backwards; a right offset; and a left offset.

The following is a description of an embodiment of the invention given with reference to the basic drawing, which is a diagrammatic view of a piloting device and a drone suitable for being controlled by tilting the above-mentioned device according to the invention.

As mentioned above, a drone is generally a flying machine of small dimensions, such as a proportional model helicopter, possibly comprising a single rotor with a torque rotor, or a "flying banana" helicopter, with two rotors in tandem, or a "Kamof" helicopter with coaxial rotors rotating in opposite directions, or in fact a 4-rotor machine, also referred to below as a "tetraproplane" 8 (fig. 1).

According to the invention, basic piloting functions are predefined for controlling the flight operations performed by the drone through actuators such as one or more engines, ailerons, etc.

In this example, these functions include pitch, roll, yaw, and varying altitude. As a reminder, these functions are explained below with reference to the axes 18, 21 and 24 of the orthogonal framework defining the basis:

pitch is tilting the drone with respect to a first axis 18 in the plane of the quadraphpter 8. Forward pitch 19 allows the drone to move forward, while rearward pitch 20 causes the drone to move rearward;

roll is tilting the drone around a second axis 21, which is in the plane of the quadropyramid 8 and perpendicular to the first axis 18. The left roll 22 causes the drone 8 to move to its left, while the right roll 23 causes the drone 8 to move to its right;

sideslip is the pivoting of the drone 8 about its vertical axis 24, left pivoting 25 causing the drone 8 to turn to the left, and right pivoting 26 causing the drone 8 to turn to the right; and

changing altitude includes any vertical movement along the axis 24, whether in flight, i.e. ascending or descending, or in order to start or stop flight, i.e. take-off or landing.

In addition to these conventional basic functions, the drone 8 according to the invention can be used for piloting purposes implementing specific basic functions such as emergency forced landing or simulated firing of targets, implementing these new functions as described below.

As a generalization, these functions allow the following to be performed: take-off, landing, emergency landing, ascent, descent, pivoting to the right, pivoting to the left, moving forward, moving backward, offsetting to the right, offsetting to the left, and simulated firing of the target.

To activate at least one of these functions, the device 10 uses a tilt detector 12 connected to a drone control 14.

For transmitting the control signals to the drone 8, the device 14 utilizes a wired or wireless technology, for example of the Bluetooth type (trademark applied by Bluetooth SIG). Also, in another variant, the device 14 communicates with a relay transmitter 15 that relays control signals over the air.

In this embodiment, the basic steering functions controlled by the tilt control device 10 include pitch, roll, emergency descent, and simulated firing.

The pitch axis 18, the side rollers 21, and the vertical movement axis 24 are shown relative to the control device 10, since any tilting of the device 10 relative to these axes is reproduced by the drone.

By way of example, tilting the control device 10 by an angle α relative to the pitch axis 18 causes tilting of the drone 8 by this angle α relative to its own pitch axis 18.

In this case, it is possible to pilot the drone by tilting the control device 10, so that in practice the tilting of the device 10 is equivalent to tilting the virtual flight control stick.

In addition, certain basic functions are controlled in a manner that is characteristic of the present invention. For example, emergency landing of a drone or simulated firing of a target is controlled by turning the control device 10 upside down or by moving the control device 10 horizontally in a jerk manner, respectively.

In the preferred embodiment, the device 10 is a portable multimedia device, such as an iPhone-type cellular telephone or an iPod Touch-type multimedia content player (trademark applied by Apple Inc. in the United states).

Such a device may also be provided with a touch pad 16, which touch pad 16 is then used for activating/deactivating driving by tilting the device and for controlling other basic driving functions by pressing virtual buttons. More precisely, the touchpad 16 displays a button 30 that needs to be contacted (typically from the thumb) in order to activate the drone control by tilting the device.

The activation button is used, inter alia, to ensure that the drone is stable when equipped with a self-contained stabilizer system so that the rotorcraft remains balanced on its own, i.e., hovering, without any user command.

Thus, the user need only lift the thumb from the activation surface 30 so that the automated system stabilizes the drone without any further piloting commands.

In other words, by using commands that depend on measurements from actuators on board the drone, the drone becomes stable in the air, with the following actuators: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, an ultrasonic range finder providing its height and/or a camera allowing it to determine velocity, as explained in the above mentioned WO 2009/109711 a 2.

This makes it possible to learn the piloting faster and more reliably, since the piloting commands are no longer used to stabilize the drone but are used to move the drone from one equilibrium point to another.

Furthermore, the implementation of the command to deactivate the drone by means of the tilt control device makes it possible to eliminate any offset or error of the detector.

In other words, the control framework of reference 20/21 is reinitialized each time a drone command is activated by the tilt control device.

The touch pad display areas 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 and 42 are such that the areas defined by each of these areas are used to control basic driving functions.

In a manner similar to a video game console, the four zones 32, 34, 36, and 38 may be associated with four operations in two complementary pairs, such as raising (zone 32) and lowering (zone 34), or pivoting to the left (zone 36) and pivoting to the right (zone 38).

In this case, the four zones 32, 34, 36 and 38 are grouped together on the touch pad to define control zones typical for video game control sticks.

Further, a single zone 40 may be associated with landing or takeoff operations. Thereby contacting the zone 40 to enable the drone to take off when on the ground or to land when in flight.

Additionally, zone 42 may be associated with an emergency forced landing of a drone that occurs faster than a conventional landing.

It should be observed that the control screen of the device 10 according to the invention presents 5 control buttons for piloting the drone, whereas the video game console requires 8 contacts or control buttons for performing such control.

Furthermore, 5 buttons placed in the following manner were used to optimize the piloting of the drone: the button for activating/deactivating piloting by tilting the device can be reached by the right thumb, while the button for controlling pivoting and vertical movement of the drone can be reached by the left thumb, wherein the central button can be reached by the left or right thumb.

As a generalization, and as mentioned above, the basic driving function in the method according to the invention may be activated by means of a button controlling the basic driving function as follows:

these basic functions are associated with the automatic frequency of take-off and landing.

The "turn left" and "turn right" functions may be implemented by "rotate around shaft to left" plus "counterclockwise double-wheel rotation" and "rotate around shaft to right" plus "clockwise double-wheel rotation", respectively, where the "rotate around shaft" function is applicable when hovering and the "double-wheel rotation" function is applicable when moving in translation.

Of course, any other correspondence may be implemented without exceeding the scope of the invention.

In variant implementations, certain basic driving functions may also be controlled by generating a trajectory on the touchpad with the thumb, for example:

the invention may comprise a number of variations. For example, an automatic emergency forced landing of a drone may be associated with the equipment

The upside down flip is associated with a 180 ° pivoting around the axis 18.

Finally, it should be observed that the piloting of the proportional model by the inclination control device can be implemented not only for flying drone of helicopter or airplane type, but also for proportional models of ships, submarines, or ground vehicles.

In another variant of the invention, the control device is used to display images taken by a camera on board the piloted drone. The touch panel for control purposes may also display images received through remote transmission.

Finally, in another variant, the control device may make use of voice recognition software for activating/deactivating basic driving functions, such as simulated firing of the target.

Claims (8)

1. A device (10) for piloting a drone (8) provided with a self-contained stabilizer system for hovering the drone without any user command, the device being characterized in that it comprises:

-a tilt detector (12) for detecting a tilt of the device housing;

a touch panel (16) displaying a plurality of touch zones (30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42);

means for detecting signals emitted by both:

emitted by the tilt detector (12) of the housing; or

Emitted by the touch area (32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42); and

-means for converting said detected signals into piloting commands for transmitting said piloting commands to said drone;

the device comprises means controlled by a touch area (30) forming an activation/deactivation button, causing the drone piloting mode to switch between:

an active mode in which the self-contained stabilizer system of the drone is activated, in which the piloting command transmitted to the drone is generated by switching the signals delivered by the touch area; and

a deactivation mode in which the autonomous stabilizer system of the drone is deactivated, in which the piloting command transmitted to the drone is generated by conversion of the signal emitted by the inclination detector of the casing.

2. The apparatus (10) of claim 1, comprising means for re-initializing a reference frame of the apparatus, the means being activated each time the apparatus switches to the deactivated mode.

3. The apparatus (10) according to claim 1, characterized in that it is a portable multimedia device of the cellular phone and/or multimedia player type.

4. The device (10) of claim 1, wherein the touchpad comprises at least four touch zones (32, 34, 36, 38) for controlling a basic driving function, the basic driving function being activated by contacting the touch zones (32, 34, 36, 38), the function being selected from the group consisting of: taking off; landing; rising; descending; rotating to the right around the shaft; rotating to the left around a shaft; moving forwards; moving backwards; a right offset; and a left offset.

5. The apparatus (10) according to claim 1, characterized by comprising means for causing an automatic emergency forced landing to occur when said piloting device (10) is turned upside down.

6. Device (10) according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises means for displaying on a touchpad (16) images taken by a camera onboard the drone (8).

7. A method for piloting a drone (8) provided with a self-contained stabilizer system for stabilizing the drone in hovering flight without any user command, the method making use of a device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, provided with a tilt detector (12) for detecting the tilt of the device and a touchpad (16) displaying a plurality of touch zones (32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42), the method being characterized by the following steps:

detecting signals emitted by the touch area and by a tilt detector of the housing;

-in an active mode in which the drone's self-contained stabilizer system is activated, converting the signals emitted by the touch zones (32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42) into piloting commands;

alternatively, in a deactivation mode in which the drone's self-contained stabilizer system is deactivated, the signal emitted by the housing's inclination detector is converted into a piloting command;

transmitting the piloting command to the drone;

in the active mode:

stabilizing the drone in hover flight without any piloting commands from the device; and

in the case of a piloting command transmitted to a drone, moving said drone from one equilibrium point to another in accordance with said piloting command; and

alternatively, in the deactivated mode, the movement of the drone is controlled by the piloting commands transmitted to the drone, these commands corresponding to basic piloting commands activated by contact with the touch area (32, 34, 36, 38).

8. The driving method of claim 7, the basic driving function being selected from the group consisting of: taking off; landing; rising; descending; rotating to the right around the shaft; rotating to the left around a shaft; moving forwards; moving backwards; a right offset; and a left offset.