PowerUp FPV Virtual Reality Plane

Paper airplanes were probably the first experience that you ever had with flying. They are inexpensive, easy to make, but tough to control. PowerUp Toys changes the world of paper planes with the FPV—first-person-view plane that combines virtual reality with the mobility of drone flight. The PowerUp FPV puts you in the cockpit of your own paper plane streaming live video from your plane to your smartphone that is used as a virtual reality device.

The PowerUP FPV flight module is fashioned from ultra-strong carbon fiber and is reinforced with nylon, mounting directly onto a paper airplane of your design, giving you complete control over the plane. In addition to an accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, and Wi-Fi antenna, the propulsion rig also has a nose-mounted camera with microSD card and can be customized for better flight control and aerobatic tricks. Co-designed by Parrot—the creators of the AR drone and the Quadcopter, the flight module is controlled by a smartphone app that functions as a traditional handheld remote control for the plane and the camera. Within Wi-Fi range, the average plane has an effective range of a little over 90 meters.

The virtual reality experience is augmented by a head-mounted display unit that gives you control of your plane with motion-sensing technology. A special cockpit mode allows you to explore the full range of drone functions with simple tilts of your head. The FPV also offers full and assisted autopilot modes that offer a hands-free viewing experience of the rotatable Wi-Fi camera that delivers still images and VGA video at 30 fps. The FPV is powered by a “quick-swap” 550-mAh lithium-polymer battery pack that delivers 10 minutes of continuous flight time and drives twin propellers that give a plane a top speed of 20 mph. Safety features include an assisted takeoff and crash detection.