Exploring Drag-and-Drop User Interfaces for Programming Drone Flights

Drones are commonly seen in today’s society, however, applications for drone swarms are still relatively new and emerging. As these applications grow in popularity, it becomes important to research new methods to control drone swarms while providing a better user experience to pilots and safer flights. In this paper, we present the design of a drag-and-drop user interface that allows both novice and experienced pilots to control drone swarms. Among its advantages, this type of interface can be easy-to-use, provide flexibility for flight modes and platforms, constant visual feedback, and accurate control. The user-interface design presented is based on the results of a focus group study conducted with seven participants divided into three sessions. Discussions and common characteristics found in participants’ drawings during the focus group sessions enabled the design of the high-fidelity wireframe presented in this work. Following, the benefits a drag-and-drop interface provides to human-drone interaction and future research directions are discussed.