Fly an AR Drone with an Xbox controller and JavaScript I always found the controls on the AR Drone mobile application not accurate enough for easy manoeuvring. I wanted something a bit more precise so I thought my USB Xbox controller would be perfect for the job. I used JavaScript to both read the gamepad data and to send control messages to the drone. The Xbox controller in Node.js There are ways to read the Xbox controller (and all other USB game controllers) straight in the browser using the JavaScript Gamepad API. I used this method in my Arduino RC Car project. But it’s much easier to use a Node.js library and do everything on the local server. We will have to run the server anyway for connecting to the drone. The Node Xbox Controller library let’s you do just that and it’s really easy to setup. Install the library then run this example app to see if everything is working fine. You might have to install the gamepad drivers first: Lion/Snow Leopard, Yosemite

var XboxController = require('xbox-controller'); var xbox = new XboxController; xbox.on('a:press', function (key) { console.log(key + ' press'); xbox.on('b:release', function (key) { console.log('Xbox controller could not be found'); Luckily for this project we don’t have to use two separate libraries for reading the gamepad and driving the drone because the Xbox-Parrot library does everything for us. The AR Drone connected to Node.js and the Xbox controller Once the default app is running in your terminal the drone is ready to take off. Here’s the basic controller layout: Front/Back => Forward / Backward Left/Right => Strafe Left / Strafe Right Front/Back => Up / Down Left/Right => Rotate Counter Clockwise / Rotate Clockwise X => Reset Emergency I also got the camera image streaming through to the browser for flying the drone in first person view, like if it was a simulator game. For this I used the AR Drone webflight library.

This project is just the beginning. As we can now control the Drone from Node.js with JavaScript you can use it in conjunction with other tools like the WebSpeech API. It would be fun to give voice commands to the drone. Or control it by sending Tweets?A true piloting experience “You, in a sense, "become" the drone with pitch, tilt, and pan functions all controlled by moving your head around. “The big deal is video—the Bebop has a new full-HD camera that can shoot impressively detailed video, and when combined with the optional Skycontroller, the footage being shot can be viewed in real time on a phone, tablet, HDTV or virtual reality headset for a drone’s eye view.”parrot ar drone noise 2. Mouse (FPV navigation)parrot ar drone en mexico 3. High precision joystick leftparrot ar drone broken

4. Back (FPV navigation) 5. Home (FPV navigation) 6. Record Full HD video 7. Record & Wi-Fi® signal 9. Batteries levels (Bebop Drone & Skycontroller) 11. Take off / Landing 12. GPS auto return home 13. High precision joystick right 14. Take a picture (push) & Digital tilt control of the camera 15. Steerable, high power, dual band 2.4 & 5GHz Wi-Fi® MIMO antenna, max range: 2km 16. Adjustable dock for smartphones and tablets up to 10.6” (not included)ar drone parrot tricks A true piloting experiencear drone parrot portugal Dock and connect your smartphone or tablet, and sync with your Bebop Drone over Wi-Fi on FreeFlight 3 app. ar drone autopilot softwareOr use Skycontroller as a standalone remote control.

High precision joysticks & pads Take control of the drone via two ultra-precise joysticks Top right stick lets you control the angle the camera in a 180° field Top left stick enables you to navigate the app in FPV mode Skycontroller benefits from a doubled WiFi connection. Optimized for a perfect connection and latency reduction, Skycontroller is safer and adapted for long distance flights. You enjoy a robust Wi-Fi link specially designed for Bebop, hence long distance as well as a short distance Wi-Fi connection that maximizes interoperability with tablet or smartphone. Bebop Drone's range is extended to 2 km* as a result! 4 new ways to pilot your Parrot Bebop Drone with Skycontroller! 1.Pilot Bebop Drone with Skycontroller only and benefit from long range Wi-Fi 2.Pilot Bebop Drone with Skycontroller and a smartphone or tablet (not included) and enjoy more controls over short range dedicated Wi-Fi 3. Pilot Bebop Drone with Skycontroller and FPV glasses (not included) and benefit from FPV on your glasses via HDMI port for Bebop Drone camera video streaming with telemetry (distance, altitude, cape, horizon management, battery level and more)

4. Pilot Bebop Drone with Skycontroller, FPV glasses (not included) and a smartphone or tablet (not included) and enjoy even more immersive FPV flights. Add more fun by live sharing drone's view video stream with your friends through the smartphone or tablet! A new and immersive flying experience Our goal is to provide pilots with a comprehensive FPV experience. For now FreeFlight 3 App and Skycontroller is compatible with FPV glasses fitted with HDMI input, for instance Zeiss Cinemizer and Sony Personal Viewer. And many more soon! Watch through drone's eyes With Skycontroller, pilot Bebop Drone with 2 ultra-precise joysticks and control the orientation of the fisheye (180°) camera with one dedicated pad to change the viewing angle. Foldable sunshade cover, neck strap and more The included foldable sunshade cover: - Embodies a first step into immersive piloting - Eliminates the sun reflections on your piloting device - Enables you to access your tablet easily without dismantling the cover

- Is portable, you can take it with you for all your sessions - Is foldable, you carry your tablet inside if you decide to move fast to another spot - Fits with all tablet sizes (phablet adapter included) and can be used without Skycontroller The packaging includes a high quality neck strap, that insures a good balance of the Skycontroller over your shoulders, resulting in fewer efforts to concentrate even more on piloting. To extend the experience, 3 batteries and 1 dedicated charger are also part of the packaging as well as a plastic adapter to fit more tablets. State of the art GPS functions During flight, user gets real time data, a great help for a more accurate piloting. These never seen before flight data are crucial to make most of the quality of the image of Bebop Drone, thanks to its 3-axes unique stabilization. User not only gets sound alerts, the piloting HUD that also displays all relevant information makes it easier to pilot Bebop Drone.

They include: Where is my Bebop Drone, at which distance it is located and at which altitude it is flying, horizon management. Thanks to its embedded GPS, Bebop Drone comes back to the pilot automatically or upon push on a dedicated and easily accessible button. GPS enables to locate your Bebop Drone even more precisely. You can focus on flying. Skycontroller is an Android-powered device and FreeFlight 3 app is installed by default. Parrot software will be open-source enabling developers to extend functionalities of the Skycontroller. Plug any USB device to enhance piloting possibilities. You can plug different kind of Wi-Fi antennas for instance and personalize your flying experience! All smartphones and tablets running FreeFlight 3 app are compatible with Skycontroller. 4:3 Tablets up to 10.6 inches and up to 20 cm height for 16:9 ones can be plugged thanks to the adjustable dock FPV glasses using HDMI interface are compatible, such as:- Sony FPV- Zeiss CinemizerAnd more to come!