Make Things Fly With Only Our Hands: Using Leap Motion to Control a RC Helicopter

Wave your hand and move a flying object. What a challenge. I took it on.

The goal: Control a tiny flying object with just the movements and gestures of my hand. Sci-Fi movie.

The plan: Use Leap Motion sensor to give me data outlining the 3D model of a hand in real time. Use this to control a remotely operated helicopter.

What I've completed so far: Wrote a piece of code that reads the data of my hand and translates it into yaw, pitch, and roll (which are used by the helicopter for three dimension direction). This code will connect with the Arduino board, and with live data from the Leap Motion, tell the Arduino what the servos/motors should do. My algorithms control sensitive so a hand jitter doesn't crash the helicopter. Also programmed a kill switch for safety.

What's next: Hack the remote control of a helicopter.

Somemore information about the code:

- Javascript

- Used an online resource to help me configure and write it.

- This is the first stage of the program.

- You have to use the Terminal to Run the script.

- Editing Application: Sublime Text2 (Its Free)

Here it is:

/*/////////////////////////////////////////

Johnny Five API: https://github.com/rwaldron/johnny-five/wiki

Helpful website: http://xseignard.github.io/2013/06/25/interfacing-leap-motion-with-arduino-thanks-to-nodejs/

@class This class is the Helicopter Beta 1 class

Servo API:

- Initialize:

var <servoName> = new five.Servo({pin: <pinNumber>, range" [<mim>, <max>], startAt: <startPos>});

- Move:

<servoName>.to(<pos>);

- Stop:

<servoName>.stop();

ESC API:

- Initialize:

var <escName> = new five.ESC({pin: <pinNumber>, range" [<mim>, <max>]});

- Move:

<escName>.to(<value>);

- Stop:

<escName>.stop();

Miles Notes:

- For the Heli: Only going to use: Y value, Pitch, and Yaw.

- For the Y values: Make it less sensitive (division?) && make the Min

- For the Roll: Make it less sensitive (division?) (only for Quadcopters)

- For the Pitch: Make it less sensitive (division?)

- For the Yaw: Don't change the sensitivity.

- If the Servo Output DOESN'T work then try the ESC code.

- the joysticks might need analog inputs. Servo Output is digital.

- LED high = 5 volts.

- Analog write = 0 - 5 volts.

- AnalogRead values go from 0 to 1023, AnalogWrite values from 0 to 255.

Terminal "Run" Command:

- node Desktop/leapArduinoJohnnyFiveQuadServo.js

*//////////////////////////////////// CODE //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

var Leap = require('leapjs');

var five = require('johnny-five');

var controller = new Leap.Controller();

var handPosY = 0;

var roll = 0;

var pitch = 0;

var yaw = 0;

var handOpen = "";

var status = "";

var yPosMin = 25; //start your hand here to begin flight.

var sensitivity = 1; //6 is pretty High (0 - 1024). 1 is Low (400 - 600).

var nuteralSpace = 12; //the amount of nuteral space less than and greater than joyMid

var joyMin = 0;

var joyMax = 180;

var joyMid = Math.round(joyMax / 2);

var board = new five.Board();

var confidence = 0;

/////////////////////////// Leap Connect /////////////////////////////////////

controller.on('connect', function(frame) {

console.log("Leap Connected.");

});

controller.connect();

//////////////////////////// Arduino Board ////////////////////////////////////

board.on('ready', function(){

var led = new five.Led(13);

var servoYvalue = new five.Servo({pin: 9, range: [joyMin, joyMax], startAt: joyMin});

var servoRoll = new five.Servo({pin: 6, range: [joyMin, joyMax], startAt: joyMid});

var servoPitch = new five.Servo({pin: 5, range: [joyMin, joyMax], startAt: joyMid});

var servoYaw = new five.Servo({pin: 3, range: [joyMin, joyMax], startAt: joyMid});

///////////////////////////// Leap Hand (Data Processing) ////////////////////////

controller.on('hand', function(hand) {

handPosY = Math.round(hand.palmPosition[1] /2) - yPosMin;

roll = Math.round(hand.roll() * 50 * (sensitivity +0.5) +joyMid);

pitch = Math.round(hand.pitch() * 50 * (sensitivity +2.5) +joyMid);

yaw = Math.round(hand.yaw() * 50 * (sensitivity +2) +joyMid);

confidence = Math.round(hand.confidence * 100);

//handOpen:

if (hand.grabStrength == 1){

handOpen = "Closed.";

}

else{

handOpen = "Open. ";

}

//roll nuteral space: (462 - 562)

if (roll >= (joyMid - nuteralSpace) && roll <= (joyMid + nuteralSpace)){

roll = joyMid; // makes the quad-roll nuteral.

}

//pitch nuteral space: (462 - 562)

if (pitch >= (joyMid - nuteralSpace) && pitch <= (joyMid + nuteralSpace)){

pitch = joyMid; // makes the quad-pitch nuteral.

}

//yaw nuteral space: (462 - 562)

if (yaw >= (joyMid - nuteralSpace +5) && yaw <= (joyMid + nuteralSpace +5)){

yaw = joyMid; // makes the quad-yaw nuteral.

}

//Data Min and Max configuring:

if (handPosY >= joyMin){

handPosY = handPosY;

} else { handPosY = joyMin; }

if (handPosY <= joyMax){

handPosY = handPosY;

} else { handPosY = joyMax; }

if (roll >= joyMin){

roll = roll;

} else { roll = joyMin; }

if (roll <= joyMax){

roll = roll;

} else { roll = joyMax; }

if (pitch >= joyMin){

pitch = pitch;

} else { pitch = joyMin; }

if (pitch <= joyMax){

pitch = pitch;

} else { pitch = joyMax; }

if (yaw >= joyMin){

yaw = yaw;

} else { yaw = joyMin; }

if (yaw <= joyMax){

pyaw = yaw;

} else { yaw = joyMax; }

//status:

if (hand.grabStrength == 1 || handPosY <= 0){

status = "Quad Off.";

handPosY = 0;

roll = joyMid;

pitch = joyMid;

yaw = joyMid;

}

else{

status = "Quad On. ";

}

});

///////////////////////////// Leap Frame (Execute) ///////////////////////////////

controller.on('frame', function(frame) {

if(frame.hands.length > 0) {

led.on();

servoYvalue.to(handPosY);

servoRoll.to(roll);

servoPitch.to(pitch);

servoYaw.to(yaw);

//Data Print:

if (confidence >= 18){

console.log("Y = " + handPosY + " "

+ "roll = " + roll + " "

+ "pitch = " + pitch + " "

+ "yaw = " + yaw + " "

+ "hand = " + handOpen + " "

+ "Status = " + status + " "

+ "confi. = " + confidence);

}

else{ //try to make the Y-value drcease slowely.

handPosY = handPosY;

roll = joyMid;

pitch = joyMid;

yaw = joyMid;

console.log("Leap Confidence is to LOW." + " "

+ "Y = " + handPosY + " "

+ "roll = " + roll + " "

+ "pitch = " + pitch + " "

+ "yaw = " + yaw );

}

}

else{

led.off();

servoYvalue.to(handPosY);

servoRoll.to(roll);

servoPitch.to(pitch);

servoYaw.to(yaw);

}

});

});

#robotics #sensors #remotecontrol