Pict'Earth: iPhone UPDATE

OK, this was lots of fun with the iphone. Today I got together with fellow Pict'Earther Ben Rodriguez and Patrick Egan of RCAPA (http://www.rcapa.net/). Our mission was to get the iPhone up in the sky, and to get it to fire off a photo while up there. Sounds easy, but not only is the iPhone camera application highly limited, but the iPhone touch screen is smart enough to not respond to "non-finger touching".
So, how do you touch the iPhone with a servo to trigger the camera without using a finger in the sky? (a la Walter Sobchak). Well, Ben had the idea that salt might have something to do with it... we were able to touch the screen with a french fry! Well, we had to come up with an RC solution.....so we rigged a qtip on to a servo hat with a dab of saltwater....and......nothing. One more element needed. Patrick came up with adding a "hot" wire with a very low current to the qtip iPhone activation trigger and VOILA, we were ready to fly! Our first iPhone flight was short due to very very hot and windy conditions. However, we got what we were looking for: aerial photography. Patrick is now a fellow Pict'Earther so Head on over to Patrick's photos to see the see the gadgeteering we did today...