12. Better Remote Control with FPV

Making Things Complicated

In one of the previous posts, we explained the initial version of the remote control system, implemented for our robot. It was based on a simple protocol and used RoboRemo application as a remote control user interface.

The simplicity of the solution posed some limits on the functions. At some point, we decided to make a step forward and implement a more complicated remote control version.

Mainly - we were looking for:

• FPV (First Person View) - the possibility to see the real-time video from the camera installed at the robot
• Usage of joystick or steering wheel to control the robot
• Having a big dashboard with many small controls which can operate numerous features of the robot and indicate on the screen the real status which is based on telemetry
• Possibility to see all the traffic between the robot and the remote control application, having the possibility to type commands manually

We could not find anything ready to use, so we decided to build own application from scratch.

1. Dive into Electronics

Required Knowledge

Nowadays the entry barrier for robotics is not high. To start building some simple robots it is sufficient to know the very basic electricity principles, have the preliminary idea about how to use a computer, how to browse the Internet and work with documents.

You won't even need any soldering skills!

Still - any kind of extra knowledge will be extremely helpful for you. If you are keen to take your robotics hobby seriously but feel the lack of the core knowledge - consider participating in the basic online training like this one: Khan Academy: Electrical Engineering. The foundation Programming training can also be helpful.