Dual-joystick controllers have been the go-to control system for drones for as long as the flying machines have been around. Thing is, this isn’t necessarily because two joysticks are the best way to control drones — it’s more because the two-stick layout was popular with the RC aircraft community, and when RC aircraft evolved autonomous capabilities, it made sense to stick with a controller layout that people were already familiar with. The only problem, of course, is that because most drones are equipped with cameras, pilots now have much more than just two joysticks to worry about. In addition to flying, there’s now a slew of buttons, knobs, and other inputs to worry about.
FT Aviator is an attempt to alleviate this issue. Thanks to its clever design, it allows drone pilots to fully control their crafts with just one hand. Whereas dual-stick controllers assign pitch/roll to one stick and yaw/acceleration to the other, FT Aviator assigns pitch/roll to the main joystick, and yaw to the twisting motion of that joystick, while allowing you to control acclereation/deceleration with your thumb. Essentially, this frees up your other hand and allows you to use it exclusively for camera control. In theory, this should make it easier to control panning/tilting/zooming functions while you fly. Pretty neat, right?