First Person View (or First Person Video) in RC refers to piloting a remote-controlled vehicle or aircraft via a video link, and while serious racers will mount the camera in whatever way offers the best advantage, it’s always fun to mount the camera where a miniature pilot’s head would be, and therefore obtain a more immersive view of the action. [SupermotoXL] is clearly a fan of this approach, and shared downloadable designs for 3D printed cockpit kits for a few models of RC cars, including a more generic assembly for use with other vehicles. The models provide a dash, steering wheel, and even allow for using a small servo to make the steering wheel’s motions match the actual control signals sent. The whole effect is improved further by adding another servo to allow the viewer to pan the camera around.
Check out the video embedded below to see it in action. There are more videos on the project’s page, and check out the project’s photo gallery for more detailed images of the builds.
This project uses the control signals to have the steering wheel reflect the actual steering action, which is nice to look at but is just for show. A more functional application of the concept is tilting an aircraft’s FPV antenna during banks to optimize its orientation.
I was expecting the steering wheel in his arms to move too.
It does move, but only a few degrees and since the camera is moving too, it’s hard to see in the video.
Must… fight… urge… to increase… project backlog…
This is awesome, I love that the steering wheel moves too.
Yep, that’s awesome.
agreed. fun awesomeness
Yep, that’s awesome
Maybe just add physical connection between steering wheel and steering controls or suspension to make it moves more realistic. Nice done, I’m wondering if it makes driving more safe, since it’s more immersive?
I love this application of FPV!!
I have an Oculus VR setup and my favorite games are car racing games. One of the issues with VR is the queasiness factor, which doesn’t affect me, except for when I run into a barrier in a VR racing game like Project Cars. My body registers that something serious has happened (virtually) with such a force that instinctively I am compelled to be VERY careful not to crash again. I’m wondering if this happens when people operate one of these RC cars from FPV perspective.
Probably just a few years away from significant adoption of this technology for operating earth moving equipment in remote places. Sure, you still need a team of human onsite for fueling & repairing equipment, but significant overhead can be reduced by remote staffing simple earthmovers like rock trucks and bulldozers. Obviously, it’s an intermediary step before automated control of these vehicles, but could be achieved right now without huge implementation costs. Check out the Discover show, Gold Rush, and you’ll see the difficulty of maintaining head count under those working conditions.
Now imagine this with 1/4 scale RC buggies that have pan/tilt stereo cameras, where each of the eight buggies (running on a motocross track/monster truck track) is driven by someone wearing a VR headset and sitting in a full motion cockpit. How much you would pay to be part of THAT race?
Or full size banger racing, where no human is around, nothing to hold the (remote) drivers back.
As a kid, this is how we assumed all RC Toys worked: Fully operational cockpit and steering mechanism least anyone be accidentally shrunk and need a quick getaway