Research on providing teleoperation to remote users for learning, training, or even as an assistive function has been well explored. Yet, most approaches are unable to provide full directional cues to the user. This includes not just front, back, left, and right, but also up, down, turn left, and turn right. Additionally, assuming direct control become more challenging without such freedom of navigation. To achieve this, we propose HumanCopter, a wearable unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) where a teleoperater can provide six directional cues and 2 rotational cues to the controlled, or avatar user. Our proof-of-concept utilizes an open-source hexacopter drone mounted on the user via a helmet and shoulder supports to accurately navigate users.

Paper link here.