Smartphone-controlled crowdsourcing app AstroDrone is now activating a French mini drone through an iOS device which could improve space travel in the future.
Developed by scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA), virtual spacecraft missions to the International Space Station (ISS) are made possible via crowd-sourced data.
With the objective to improve artificial intelligence on future missions, the simulation of ISS dockings is performed by the French-constructed Parrot AR via iPhones or iPads.
Leopold Summerer, head of the Advance Concepts Team, said: “For the ESA, this development opens up completely new ways of involving the public in scientific experiments.”
The virtualisation of the toy drone owned by 500,000 users through AstroDrone is a first since the tasks are only performed by astronauts traditionally.
The app user engages with the mission to line the drone up with the virtual ISS docking port with the use of green crosshairs which produces a skill-based score.
The free app thus allows the physical drone, valued at €300 (US$390), to be controlled on a screen basis through phone tilts and finger swipes.
Offering the user to step into the experience of an astronaut, the ‘game’ offers the opportunity to control a craft similar to the Russian Soyoz, both in speed and in measure.
Guido de Croon, project leader of research at the ESA’s Advance Concepts Team, said: “Playing this game turns you into a real astronaut – it feels like you are in space.”
While an Android app is under development, the research team hopes to gather information through already operating ‘missions’ to train robots in detecting danger without human help.
