This article was published on May 9, 2011

Finally I’ll be able to fly a helicopter with my iPhone


Finally I’ll be able to fly a helicopter with my iPhone

I’ve been chomping at the bit to see a product like this since the moment that Apple opened up API’s for developers to use external accessories and IR remotes for the iPhone immediately started showing up on the market. I’m a huge model copter freak and this new Kickstarter project has got me all sorts of excited.

The iRemoco is a remote control helicopter set that comes with a controller that you attach to the dock connector of your iPhone or iPad. The controller sends out the IR signals that the helicopter recognizes, allowing you to fly it with on-screen joysticks or with tilt control.

The company is looking to build enough funding to get this heli off the ground now. They’ve had just under a thousand pledged of their $28,000 goal so there’s a long way to go. If you pledge $99 or more then you’re set to receive one of the first units produced.

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The video makes the control look pretty great and the helicopter looks to be a rebranded Syma S7 micro copter. Those are widely known as some of the best in their class that you can get today so that’s a good thing.

I’ve actually purchased 3 S7’s along with a couple of other Syma copters and I think they’re the bees knees. Unless there is some heavy modification done to the ‘copters chassis then you should actually be able to control just about any Syma model with this app and controller.

Head on over to the Kickstarter page if you’d like to see more info and help Andrew Ayres and Tom Sisterson get the iRemoco into production.

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