Sure, the iPhone does a commendable job with heavy-duty 3D acceleration for intense virtual reality gaming, but funk that noise -- these guys want to bring you the real thing.
Parrot -- better known for its Bluetooth accessories -- has introduced the AR.Drone, a WiFi-enabled remote control helicopter that takes its commands from the iPhone or iPod touch of your choice. The wacky toy has a pair of on-board cameras, one to help steady itself and the other to beam a live bird's-eye view (almost literally, if you pretend for a moment that this is in fact a bird) from the captain's seat onto your phone's screen. Parrot's mainly pushing the hardware here -- it's offering up a host of open source goodies to help developers learn about the product and figure out how to turn it into a must-have toy with replay value, and they'll have plenty of time to do so since it won't be available to consumers until "sometime in 2010." Follow the break for a video of the AR.Drone mercilessly hunting down and destroying all who dare oppose it.
posted Jan 5th 2010 7:00PM
iPhone...yawn...
@yoyodyne iphone yawn maybe, but this is pretty fucking cool.
@Chuck Dugan - compared to using a proper physical thumbstick controller? hardly.
if they made it to work with a wireless Xbox 360/PS3 controller, I would be far more impressed.
@Ducman69 true but this has the camera image on the Iphone. Or have i missed the point?
@Chuck Dugan - Yes, it wouldn't be much of a UAV w/o a screen, but I meant 360 for control on whatever (your TV or laptop).
@Ducman69 So you would be more impressed with a more cumbersome/less portable setup?
Now Apple fans can bomb their PC friends!
In a miniature fashion.
This is going to being our cubicle warfare to en entirely new level!
@TeqPho I can just see my modder buddies rigging this with all types of nerf weaponry.
This looks pretty cool
...on a side note, this Engadget app on my Pre is freakin sweet
@DAATMAN when is the Windows Mobile version coming?
pretty much the only thing that makes it cool is that it has a camera.
i would say the fact that its for (iphone) as a negative.
This should just be for... Smartphone or any device that has wifi/bluetooth or what ever it uses.
@(Unverified)
I would agree with you. I'd love to have one of these for my Pre but I'm guessing that having the iPhone as the controller is just Parrot's way of a having a product that is used with a phone with the most market share.
@(Unverified)
I doubt it will be exclusively for the iPhone. They're just marketing it with the most buzzworthy phone to get people's attention.
I love my iTouch but I'm not sure it will make a good controller for that thing.
I see terrorists using this as a cheap counter UAV by simply hacking a cell radio in place of the wifi radio and streaming the feeds over the Data channel. Hell, I might even get one and do that...
@Palomino
Terrorists? I see a crap ton of boys at coed boarding schools and colleges using this to perve on girls. At least that's what I would have done...
@RyanLN
Would have?
Battery life? I give it 7 minutes per charge max.
@digitalh
No worries. All I need is two.
@digitalh
15 minutes. uses 3 1000 mAh LiPo
VERY COOL, call me when the Android software comes out. I sure hope the thing goes into stationary hover mode when its out of range or else it's suckville.
*smiles and thinks about the girls that sunbath down the street*
Very cool, Extreme mod potential, I want one... I might even have to break down and get myself an iPod Touch.
This is one of those inventions where we get to see if the general public is inherently good or evil.
@MGDdrinker Yeah, like we don't already know.
@MGDdrinker unfortunately evil would be the bet that I would be making based on my experience.
@MGDdrinker We have met Big Brother, and (as I suspected) he is us..
They failed to properly advertise the products most intriguing feature; bird's-eye view from the iPhone!
WANT!
I can see a lot of spying attempts happening with this thing. Not to mention shear terror from people who won't know what it is. Fun!
Yeah I have to admit this is pretty fucking cool.
Bring this in for under a Grand and I'll buy one instantly. This thing has huge potential for mischief...I hear the cops at the door already.
@avstryker Under a grand! Dude it'll be about $60 bucks.
@avstryker I agree with Steve, maybe a bit over a hundred at launch and 60 in 3 months. Just a brilliant idea though.
@petey1111
Considering it has a 468mhz processor, 128mb ddr ram, and is running linux I doubt this will sell for less than $300....Check out their website for specs
all I wanted was an HD2 hardware spec'd phone with Android. I thought a phone like that could last me a few years because the hardware is above and beyond what other people are doing now and Google seems content on updating their older devices.
Now I have to buy an iPhone.
OH! even more sold, it comes with two augmented reality games according to the parrot website!! this is way to awesome!
@petey1111
They're probably games that they use to teach you how to actually fly the thing. My buddy spent $200 on a RC Place/Helicopter simulator. At first I thought for just a simulator and a controller he had been ripped off. Then I realized that it would save him much more when it comes to replacing crashed planes. You think they're easy to fly until it's time to turn them around and fly them back towards you.
Under 100 bucks ... I'll take ten ... this is gonna be an air war!!!
Bring your Phones and I'll bring the Noise.
UAV Online!
I agree. This is a cool product.
I'm 100% positive that with a moderate boost in the powerpack that I could mount a modified .22 pistol to the bottom of this thing and some springwire feet to elevate it for landing.
Crosshairs would have to be a fixed dot on your iphone screen. Assuming that the camera is static making the pistol accurate to 20 yards shouldn't be difficult at all.
@formetopoopon I would really like to think this is humour but for each joke like this you could probably find 100 people who would actually build the thing…
@Stiksi Who's joking? I'm already in the garage messing with servos and long range RF transmitters for the trigger mechanism.
You won't be able to fire it with the iPhone but I'll still be sniping squirrels like crazy from the comfort of my screened in porch.
please make this for Android!
How many rockets can we put on?
a designated remote with a screen would be preferred, obviously with the option of being able to control it through iphone or whatever other phone compatibility they want to add.. strictly iphone control is a no no
@spas528 http://www.parrot.com/parrot-ar-drone/dev/developers
Expect ports/homebrews on pretty much anything
After looking at Parrot's official facebook page, it seems that this baby will be launched on March 5, 2010
awesome :)
but how much does it cost?