It makes the helicopter extremely easy to fly as you can see in this video, which was just featured in Make Magazine’s blog:

Ari is using a Spektrum radio module in a way that the iPhone’s accelerometers and touch screen replace the typical radio you would use to fly something. This works by turning the sensor and touch input information and turning it into an audio stream that goes out the headphone jack.

The signal then goes into a plastic hobby project box that has a single resistor, a 9V battery, and some header pins to plug into the Spektrum radio. Ari is mounting the iPhone to the case using part of a car mount for a snug fit.

Ari has some exciting plans for the Cellbot, which will include flying planes in addition to helicopters. The iPhone app could hold and store custom settings for each craft and might one day even take telemetry data back in to close the feedback loop. He’s also exploring an Android version and using the phone’s serial port instead of the headphone jack.

Check out some more pictures of iPhly on our gallery below and check back often for more updates as our Cellbots begin to take flight.