KR102104309B1 - One-hand remote control device for controlling drone - Google Patents

Abstract

The one-hand remote control device for controlling the drone includes a body part; A steering unit that is capable of operating horizontally and in-place rotation of the drone by tilting or rotating in place based on a hinge axis formed to protrude on an upper portion of the body; It is formed on the upper surface of the control unit, the input unit is manipulated to enable each vertical movement of the drone; And a control unit transmitting a control signal of the drone based on the variable resistance whose resistance value is changed according to the tilting direction and the rotation direction of the control unit.

Description

ONE-HAND REMOTE CONTROL DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING DRONE

The present invention relates to a one-hand remote control device for controlling a drone.

A drone or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) refers to an air vehicle that is operated by a person without flying on board. Multicopter drones were first developed for military use, but they are widely used for photography in broadcasting, etc. due to the convenience of transportation and storage, and drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) have recently been commercialized.

In particular, drones are used for applications such as aerial photography and low-altitude reconnaissance search due to their light weight, ease of portability, and rapid economic efficiency. In addition, drones are used in a variety of fields, such as taking pictures at locations that are difficult for a person to access with a camera, or carrying objects on a drone and moving them to another place. In addition, many studies have been conducted to use drones in disaster disaster monitoring and logistics transportation.

Recently, drones have been spotlighted as leisure sports such as carrying by the general users and taking aerial photographs using a camera. These drones are lighter, smaller than ever, and are equipped with high-performance compact cameras.

The drone is an unmanned air vehicle that is not boarded by humans, so it is usually operated by receiving signals from the user on the ground. To date, most drones are operated by manual operation that requires human manipulation.

However, it is common for the controller to operate the conventional drone to be operated while the user grasps with both hands. As such, the controller has become a high entry barrier for manipulating drones due to the difficulty of manipulation. For this reason, the types of drones sold are also divided into entry-level, intermediate, and high-end. In addition, drone users have a problem in that they need to invest a lot of time in drone control for skillful control of the drone.

However, as the application field of drones is expanded to leisure sports, etc., the need for a drone controller that can be operated more easily by people who are not trained in drone manipulation and can be operated intuitively is emerging.

Some embodiments of the present invention is to provide a one-hand remote control device for controlling a drone that can be operated in various ways with one hand and has improved control convenience.

However, the technical problems to be achieved by the present embodiment are not limited to the technical problems as described above, and further technical problems may exist.

As a technical means for achieving the above-described technical problem, a one-hand remote control device for controlling a drone according to an aspect of the present invention includes a body portion; A steering unit that is capable of operating horizontally and in-place rotation of the drone by tilting or rotating in place based on a hinge axis formed to protrude on an upper portion of the body; It is formed on the upper surface of the control unit, the input unit is manipulated to enable each vertical movement of the drone; And a control unit transmitting a control signal of the drone based on the variable resistance whose resistance value is changed according to the tilting direction and the rotation direction of the control unit.

According to any one of the above-described problem solving means of the present invention, it is possible to provide a one-hand remote control device capable of various manipulations with one hand and improved convenience of manipulation.

1 is a perspective view of a one-hand remote control device for controlling a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is an exploded view of a one-hand remote control device for controlling a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a view schematically illustrating a hinge axis of a one-hand remote control device for controlling a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 and 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a one-hand remote control device for controlling a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains can easily practice. However, the present invention can be implemented in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. In addition, in order to clearly describe the present invention in the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted, and like reference numerals are assigned to similar parts throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part is "connected" to another part, this includes not only "directly connected" but also "electrically connected" with another element in between. . Also, when a part is said to “include” a certain component, it means that the component may further include other components, not to exclude other components, unless otherwise stated. However, it should be understood that the existence or addition possibilities of numbers, steps, actions, components, parts or combinations thereof are not excluded in advance.

1 is a perspective view of a one-hand remote control device for controlling a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is an exploded view of a one-hand remote control device for controlling a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a view schematically illustrating a hinge axis of a one-hand remote control device for controlling a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 and 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a one-hand remote control device for controlling a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Figure 1, the one-hand remote control device 1 for controlling the drone of the present invention is tilted or rotated in place based on the hinge axis formed to protrude on the upper portion of the body portion 10, the body portion, the drone The control unit 20 and the control unit 20 are formed on the upper surface of the control unit 20 to enable horizontal movement and in-place rotation of the input unit 30 and the control unit 20, respectively, to enable vertical movement of the drone. It includes a control unit (not shown) for transmitting a control signal of the drone, based on the variable resistance whose resistance value changes according to the tilting direction and the rotation direction of the. Due to this, the horizontal and vertical movement of the drone can be controlled with one hand, thereby improving convenience.

Referring to FIG. 2, the body portion 10 is composed of a first housing 11 having an accommodation space and a second housing 12 covering the top of the first housing 11. At this time, in the accommodation space of the first housing 11, a button part 13, a hinge shaft support part 14, a bracket 15, a support 16, a ring member 17, a printed circuit board 18 may be mounted. You can.

Specifically, in the first housing 11, the hinge shaft 24 through the ring member 17, the ring member 17 is located on the upper portion of the hinge shaft 24 to fix the lower end, the hinge shaft (24 ) The hinge shaft support 14 formed to enable tilting, the bracket 15 on which the lower end of the hinge shaft support 14 is mounted, and the support 16 disposed between the bracket 15 and the ring member 17 are accommodated. do.

In addition, the body portion 10 is fixed to one side of the bracket 15, is disposed on the printed circuit board 18, the printed circuit board 18 including one or more interface terminals for transmitting and receiving data with an external device , A button unit 13 for turning on / off the power of the remote control device and one or more communication modules 40 connected to the printed circuit board 18.

Here, the first housing 11 may be provided with a terminal insertion hole to allow external devices to be introduced into the interface terminal on one surface, and a module insertion hole through which the communication module 40 penetrates on the other surface. In addition, a hinge insertion hole 121 through which the hinge shaft 24 penetrates and a button insertion hole through which the button portion 13 protrudes may be formed in the second housing 12. Illustratively, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the button portion 13 includes a first button 131 and a second button 132 formed to protrude on the upper surfaces of both ends, respectively. For example, the user may turn on / off the power of the remote control device by pressing the first button 131, and turn the power of the drone on / off by pressing the second button 132.

First, referring to FIG. 3, the control unit 20 may include a rotation sensor. The rotation sensor is coupled via a first member 241 and a first member 241 and an elastic member (not shown) mounted on the hinge shaft 24, so as to be rotatable relative to the hinge shaft 24, the hinge It includes a second member 221 mounted to the case of the control unit 20 formed to surround the shaft (24). The first member 241 and the second member 242 function as a variable resistor. The resistance value is changed according to the movement of the second member 221 in the clockwise / counterclockwise direction with respect to the first member 241, and based on this, the angle of the rotation direction of the control unit 20 may be recognized. That is, in the case of the rotational direction, it is possible to recognize in which direction the second member 221 rotates based on the first member 241 and recognize whether the control unit 20 rotates clockwise or counterclockwise. In addition, as the resistance value is changed, the voltage value applied to the variable resistor is changed. The rotation angle may be recognized according to the degree of the changed voltage value.

For example, when the control unit 20 is rotated to the right (clockwise) or left (counterclockwise) relative to the hinge axis 24, the control unit controls the first member 241 and the second member 221. After detecting the rotation direction of the control unit 20 according to the variable resistance generated by each of the right or left, it generates a right or left in-situ rotation control command signal and transmits the in-situ rotation control command signal to the drone through the communication module 40. You can. For example, when the second member 221 returns to the initial position by the elastic member, the rotation control command signal for returning to the initial position may be transmitted to the drone rotated in the right or left position or not.

As a further embodiment, the second member 221 may be returned to the initial position by an elastic member (eg, spring). Although not shown in the drawing, the elastic member may be installed to connect the second member 221 and the first member 241, or may be installed to connect between the case of the control unit 20 and the hinge shaft 24. . Due to the influence of the elastic member, if the user releases the hand holding the control unit 20 after rotating the control unit 20 in place, the control unit 20 may rotate to return to the original position. If the elastic member does not exist, the user cannot accurately recognize and return the reference position (0 ° angular position) before rotating in place, which may cause considerable difficulty in drone control.

In addition, the one-hand remote control device of the present invention may further include a pair of position sensors 25 arranged to be perpendicular to each other on a horizontal plane.

The position sensor 25 senses the front / rear / left / right direction of the hinge shaft 24, and the resistance value for the tilting direction of the control unit 20 may be changed based on the sensing value. As a further embodiment, the position sensor 25 may be a sensor having the same shape or function as the rotation sensor described above.

Specifically, a pair of position sensors 25 may be provided on the body portion 10, where one of the pair of position sensors 25 is spaced apart from the hinge axis 24 based on the distance and the other one The distance spaced based on the hinge axis 24 may be arranged to be the same. Each position sensor 25 may be arranged to have an angle of 90 ° to each other. Each position sensor 25 causes a change in the resistance value by the tilting angle as the hinge shaft 24 is tilted (inclined) in a specific direction, and is applied to the position sensor 25 according to the change in the resistance value The changed voltage value is changed, and the tilting angle can be grasped based on the voltage value at this time. At this time, one position sensor 25 may recognize the angle in the front / rear direction, and the other position sensor 25 may recognize the angle in the left / right direction. Meanwhile, the position sensor 25 may recognize only the tilting direction or even the tilting direction and angle. If the tilting angle is recognized, a horizontal movement control command signal may be generated such that the tilting angle and the movement distance of the drone are proportional.

For example, when the control unit 20 is inclined in at least one of the front / rear / left / right directions, the control unit controls the control unit 20 by two position sensors 25 arranged to be perpendicular to each other. After detecting the tilting direction, a front / rear / left / right horizontal movement control command signal is generated, and a horizontal movement control command signal can be transmitted to the drone through the communication module 40.

For example, when the user rotates the control unit 20 to the right (clockwise) and inclines in the right direction, the control unit generates a right horizontal movement control command signal and a right (clockwise) in-place rotation control command signal to the drone. Can transmit. In this way, the user can control the horizontal movement including the horizontal movement and the in-plane rotation of the drone with only one hand using the control unit 20.

Referring to FIG. 2 again, the control unit 20 is composed of a first half case 21 and a second half case 22 formed to surround the hinge shaft 24, and the first and second half cases ( 21, 22) the upper end of the input unit 30 is inserted, the upper surface of the input unit 30 may be formed to have an opening to be exposed.

Specifically, referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the first half case 21 may include a plurality of insertion holes 211 for fixing to the second half case 22 with screws 23. Similarly, a fixed hole may be formed in the second half case 22 at a position corresponding to the insertion hole 211 of the first half case 21. At this time, the insertion hole 211 may be located at the center of each corner and the upper side of the hinge shaft 24 so that the first and second half cases 21 and 22 are firmly coupled. As illustrated in FIG. 4, among the plurality of insertion holes 211, the depth of the insertion hole 211 located at the center of the upper side of the hinge shaft 24 may be largest.

In the second half case 22, when the user puts the thumb of one hand on the upper surface of the input unit 30 and wraps the side portion of the control unit 20 with the remaining fingers of one hand, the rest of the fingers have a grip feeling. A grip portion 222 protruding in a curved shape toward the outside may be formed.

The input unit 30 is formed with a body 32 formed to be operable in at least two directions according to the rolling motion of the ball 321 rotatably mounted therein, and a hole through which the body 32 passes, the control unit It may include an upper cover 31 formed to cover the opening of (20).

Specifically, the upper portion of the body 32 and the ball 321 mounted therein may be connected via a roller. For example, when the user inputs the upper end of the body 32 to move upward, the ball 321 rotates downward, and when the user inputs to move downward, the ball 321 is configured to rotate upward. You can. However, since such a structure is generally used in other conventional technical fields, a detailed description will be omitted.

For example, when the main body 32 is input to be moved upward by the user, an upper altitude control command is generated, and when the main body 32 is input to be moved downward, a lower altitude movement control command may be generated. have. That is, the control unit detects the lower rotation of the ball 321 to generate an upper altitude movement control command signal, and senses the upper rotation of the ball 321 to generate a lower altitude movement control command signal, thereby generating the communication module 40. Through the drone, the upper / lower altitude movement control command signal can be transmitted. In this way, the user can control the vertical (altitude) movement of the drone with only the thumb of one hand through the input unit 30.

In addition, the input unit 30 may be coupled to have specific inclinations on the upper ends of the first and second half cases 21 and 22. Specifically, the upper surface of the input unit 30 is when the user puts the thumb of one hand on the upper surface of the input unit 30 and wraps the side of the control unit 20 with the rest of the fingers of one hand, the thumb It may be formed with a slope according to the direction in which it is placed. To this end, as illustrated in FIG. 4, a locking portion may be formed in the upper cover 31 of the input unit 30 so as to engage the seating portions formed in the openings of the first and second half cases 21 and 22. In this case, the seating portion formed in the first half case 21 may be formed at a lower height than the seating portion formed in the second half case 22 so that the upper cover 31 is inclined at a specific slope. In addition, as shown in Figure 2, the upper end of the body 32 protrudes through the hole of the upper cover 31, the bottom plate of the body 32 and the insertion formed in a tubular shape on the lower surface of the upper cover 31 The input unit 30 may be assembled by screwing through the hole. Due to this, the user can control the drone in a comfortable position with the thumb of one hand on the upper surface of the input unit 30.

Meanwhile, when the external force is not applied, the control unit 20 may be formed to be restored to an initial state perpendicular to the body unit 10. For example, an elastic part (not shown) made of a material having elasticity such as spring or rubber may be provided at a portion where the control part 20 and the body part 10 are in contact. Due to this, if the control unit 20 does not apply a force after being tilted or rotated in place, the control unit 20 may be restored to an initial state perpendicular to the body unit 10. However, since such a structure is generally used in other conventional technical fields, a detailed description will be omitted.

In a further embodiment, by connecting two one-hand remote control devices of the present invention, one is set to generate a camera motion control signal for controlling the camera's motion, and the other is a drone motion control signal for controlling the motion of the drone. Can be set to occur. In this case, by simply operating a mode selection (for example, simple button operation) provided in each one-hand remote controller, the control signal transmitted to the camera / drone can be set differently.

Specifically, the memory of each one-hand remote control device can store programs for various modes. The mode can be selected in a variety of ways. For example, a mode change may be possible by pressing a button, or, if an additional one-hand remote control device is connected to an existing one-hand remote control device, the connected device may be automatically set to the camera mode later.

And, the two one-hand remote control devices may be connected to each other through wireless communication. It may be set to transmit control signals to the same drone as they are connected to each other through wireless communication.

Control of the control unit 20 of the one-hand remote control device may generate different control signals for each mode. For example, in the case of the drone control mode, the above-described control signal is generated by the above-described operation. In the case of the camera control mode, the front / rear / left / right operation of the control unit 20 is before / after / of the camera. A tilting command signal in the left / right direction may be generated, and an operation in a specific direction of the input unit 30 may generate a zoom in / zoom out command signal of the camera.

Additionally, if a one-hand remote control device that controls the camera and a terminal having a display (for example, a smart phone) are connected to each other, the one-hand remote control device receives a video signal from the camera of the drone to the terminal. By transmitting immediately, the camera image currently being photographed on the terminal may be provided in real time. The user can control the operation of the camera while viewing the camera image in real time.

Therefore, the one-hand remote control device of the present invention is a horizontal and vertical movement of the drone, with the thumb of one of the user's hands placed on the input unit 30 and wrapped around the control unit 20 with the remaining fingers of one hand. Because it can be operated intuitively, anyone can easily control the drone compared to a conventional drone manipulator.

The above description of the present invention is for illustration only, and a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains can understand that it can be easily modified into other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features of the present invention. will be. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are illustrative in all respects and not restrictive. For example, each component described as a single type may be implemented in a distributed manner, and similarly, components described as distributed may be implemented in a combined form.

The scope of the present invention is indicated by the following claims rather than the above detailed description, and it should be interpreted that all changes or modified forms derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and equivalent concepts thereof are included in the scope of the present invention. do.

10: body portion 11: first housing
12: second housing 13: button
131: first button 132: second button
14: hinge shaft support 15: bracket
16: Support 17: Ring member
18: Printed circuit board 20: Control panel
21: first half case 211: insertion hole
22: second half case 221: second member
222: grip 23: screw
24: hinge axis 25: position sensor
241: first member 30: input
31: upper cover 32: main body
321: ball 40: communication module

Claims (9)

In the one-hand remote control to control the drone,
Body part;
A control unit which is capable of operating horizontally and in-place rotation of the drone, respectively, by tilting or rotating in place based on a hinge axis formed to protrude above the body portion;
It is formed on the upper surface of the control unit, the input unit for each of the vertical movement of the drone is possible to operate; And
On the basis of the variable resistance whose resistance value changes according to the tilting direction and the rotation direction of the control unit, a control unit for transmitting a control signal of the drone,
The body portion
It consists of a first housing having a receiving space and a second housing covering the top of the first housing,
In the first housing,
A ring member through which the hinge shaft passes;
A hinge shaft support portion positioned at an upper portion of the ring member to fix the lower end of the hinge shaft, and configured to enable tilting of the hinge shaft;
A bracket to which the lower end of the hinge shaft support is mounted; And
The support disposed between the bracket and the ring member is accommodated,
The control unit
A first member mounted on the hinge shaft; And
It is coupled to the first member and the elastic member as a medium, including a second member mounted to the case of the control unit formed to surround the hinge shaft so as to be rotatable relative to the hinge shaft,
The resistance value with respect to the rotation direction of the control unit is changed according to the movement of the second member clockwise / counterclockwise with respect to the first member,
Comprised of a first half case and a second half case formed to surround the hinge axis, the upper ends of the first and second half cases are formed to have openings such that the lower end of the input unit is inserted and the upper surface of the input unit is exposed. One-hand remote control. delete According to claim 1,
The body portion
A printed circuit board fixed to one side of the bracket and including one or more interface terminals for transmitting and receiving data to and from an external device;
A button unit disposed on the printed circuit board to turn on / off the power of the remote control device; And
It includes at least one communication module connected to the printed circuit board,
On the first housing, a terminal insertion hole is formed on one surface to allow the external device to enter the interface terminal, and a module insertion hole through which the communication module penetrates is formed on the other surface.
In the second housing, a hinge insertion hole through which the hinge shaft penetrates and a button insertion hole through which the button portion protrudes are formed. According to claim 1,
Further comprising a pair of position sensors arranged to be perpendicular to each other on a horizontal plane,
The distance between one of the pair of position sensors based on the hinge axis and the other distance between the hinge axis are the same,
The position sensor senses the front, rear, left and right directions of the hinge axis, and the resistance value for the tilting direction of the control unit is changed based on the sensing value. delete delete According to claim 1,
The second half case
When the user puts the thumb of one hand on the upper surface of the input unit and wraps the side portion of the control unit with the remaining fingers of the one hand, the grip portion protrudes in a curved shape toward the outside so that the remaining fingers have a grip feeling One-hand remote control device. According to claim 1,
The input unit
A body formed to be operable in at least two directions according to the rolling motion of the ball rotatably mounted therein; And
A hole through which the main body passes is formed in the middle, and includes an upper cover formed to cover the opening of the control unit, one-hand remote control device. The method of claim 8,
The control unit
One-hand remote control device for generating an altitude change command signal according to the input position for the user's front / rear direction input to the input unit and transmits them to the drone, respectively.

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