Parrot's AR.Drone seeks us out, destroys us as we go hands-on
By Tim Stevens 
posted January 5th 2010 8:01PM
posted January 5th 2010 8:01PM
Wondering what it's like to fly the Parrot AR.Drone we covered earlier this evening? So were we, so we headed straight toward the thing at tonight's Unveiled event. Speaking with representatives with Parrot they were unfortunately tight-lipped when it came to the details, but did at least confirm that the only connection to the device is WiFi. In theory, any device that supports 802.11 can connect to the drone to send controls to it and, interestingly, download video from the camera on the nose. The first such device is the iPhone and while the reps indicated they aren't working on apps for any other platforms, they did promise to release all the control libraries to the world, meaning apps can be more easily written for a number of platforms -- in theory. But what was it like to fly? Click through to read our impressions.
We were given control of the AR.Drone for a few minute demo, but were sad to learn that iPhone app was non-functional. Too many WiFi devices, we were told, so they threw it into a sort of self-flying sentient mode where it locked onto a green and orange can. The camera on the nose picked up the colors and followed it like a hawk, moving left and right and up and down in response to the cone. Take a step forward and it zipped a foot back. Sure, it's not the tower flyby we're hoping to experience, but the stability of the device was impressive -- and we were given a negative on the flyby anyway, told if we pulled that stunt one more time we'd be stuck flying a cargo plane full of rubber novelty toys over somewhere unsavory.
Anyhow, those colored cans are actually how the AR.Drones lock on to each other when flying a combat sortie, when folks who are lucky enough to have two of the things are able to duel. That's a situation we hope to be in very soon, at a place where WiFi interference should be mitigated, and where -- with any luck -- we'll get into a little dogfight action. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the company isn't talking cost or availability, but we'd recommend saving your pennies now.
Update: Florian e-mailed us to let us know that signs could be pointing to a release in the not too distant future. If you take a look at the official Facebook page for the AR.Drone, in the first photo gallery there is a comment from Parrot saying " Parrot AR.Drone, launched on March 5, 2010!" That happens to almost exactly correspond with a certain and very deserving blogger's birthday...
Update: Florian e-mailed us to let us know that signs could be pointing to a release in the not too distant future. If you take a look at the official Facebook page for the AR.Drone, in the first photo gallery there is a comment from Parrot saying " Parrot AR.Drone, launched on March 5, 2010!" That happens to almost exactly correspond with a certain and very deserving blogger's birthday...
I gotta have one of those!
@dand
by the way, if anyone wants the uncensored version its "you'll be flying a cargo plane full of rubber dog shit out of hong kong". I love the movie so much i'm thinking about throwin an mp4 version of that on my tilt2, as well as waynes world the complete epic. all classics.
Get a net, find some place it's flying around, and snap it's yours :)
@dand
It's call "X-UFO" it's a gryo toy, fairly cheap. Nothing new...
@Techie
Way more than that, Techie.
- It has a camera that streams to wifi
- runs linux onboard
- has an open API (open source maybe too, can't remember)
- USB access to update software
- A camera facing down that measures ground speed
- Sonar to measure altitude
- Accelerometers etc to stablise... no gyro actually
- Games on iPhone that use augmented reality. i.e. video + animation + object recognition to have things like dog fights etc.
Check out www.parrot.com They have a full website on the thing.
It's actually pretty amazing. A first class big boys toy.
I may have done a little wee in my pants with excitement.
@timAus
Sorry - Ultrasound altimiter on bottom. Maybe a type of sonar? Can't be sure.
@timAus
And there is a gyroscope... sorry, techie.
@timAus
Might as well change it into a WiMax instead.
@Techie
WiMax means it could get hijacked by Hans Gruber, kill us all.
I can see someone creating a remote using a iPhone or Wiimote on one of these. Let the havoc begin!!
@Plazmic Flame it IS originally controlled by an iphone/itouch, they just didn't show it because of "Too many WiFi devices" which sucks and makes no sense to me at all
@Plazmic Flame it will ship with an iPhone/iPod Touch app... although theoretically you could use any wifi enabled device, a netbook might be the best...
@Plazmic Flame
There's already an iPhone app to control it. The article says it was unavailable due to too many wifi devices.
@Plazmic Flame dude read the article... "The first such device is the iPhone"
@decept1on Have you been to CES before? The WiFi networks are pushed to the brink of exploding. If you don't have a Mobile Internet card you're screwed.
I am in no way surprised that they either couldn't or didn't want to demo anything related to WiFi, especially when it is being used to control a flying drone in real time.
@Plazmic Flame - I have a similar setup to this but using a GWS Slow Stick (stick-like plane with a gigantic slow spinning 13" prop and high drag/lift wing).
An iPhone and Wiimote wouldn't be very accurate flying instruments.
What would be a fantastic idea though is to get it working w/ a netbook and Xbox 360 controller (plug-and-play on all comps). That would give you a good size screen and battery life with great ergonomic thumb controls.
damnit i want one!
Nice Top Gun reference...
So much cooler than my little remote control 20 dollar helicopter...
@MTD719
heh, i have one of those too :D
but the great thing about it is that although it crashes A LOT nothing bad ever happens to it. The AR.Drone on the other hand is full of state-of-the-art electronics and if it ever plummeted 2 meters to the ground (which is bound to happen with any flying toy) i'm sure something would break and you'd be a very sad panda
I would have lots of fun with this! :)
Looks like a downward facing camera as well. Want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want, want! Noooooowwwwwwww!
I wonder how it reacts when overing a table? Will it correct itself or just jump up?
@upsfeup Why would it need to correct itself if it's not going to hit the table? It's not like it's walking on legs made of air – it's floating because the rotors are creating low pressure above and high pressure below. Distance to ground is not a factor, air pressure is.
@Stiksi That's interesting.. I wonder If I can build a DIY drone and just play with it!
this thing looks so cool i want one
AWSOME!! I can't wait to get one and set it to chase my dog... That would save so much time not having to walk the dog but just letting it run away from that drone.
Great thing two thumbs up... too bad it's limited to WIFI range tho...
If it was silent and invisible it could be used in the ladies locker room at.....err nevermind.
uuuummmmmm, skynet anyone?
Anyone else notice how little the other people in the room seemed to be concerned with it? Pretty sure if something in the room just started floating in the air all my interest would be focused on it.
Oh, wow, that looks cool.
I'm worried about two things, though, from the website http://www.parrot.com/parrot-ar-drone/en
1) Cost. This thing is surely going to be very expensive for a toy. Just look at the specs on the Parrot website. This isn't your average Toys-R-Us flying toy. I expect this to be in the several-hundreds of dollars range.
2) 90-Minutes charge time for 15-minutes flight time (from the Parrot website). That's surprisingly unbalanced, and will make it tough when showing off to friends, etc. 15 minutes is the minimum time I could see someone playing with it! The battery might be swappable, so that would help (although, "LiPo batteries are more expensive", Parrot says).
Otherwise, the way it creates a local ad-hoc WiFi network is really quite brilliant, and the technical design is stellar.
Im reminded somewhat of the Avatar 'scorpion'.
I'm waiting for someone to buy one and attach some sort of projectile weapon to it.
How much ?, When ? Where, and can I buy online or UK retail.........................
Next on BBC tonight: a woman with a brightly coloured orange and green Hat is badly maimed by a flying robot death machine at CES
yay, it has brushless motors...
Hi, YES this gadget is absolutely incredible and a MUST HAVE, too !!! Feel free to join us at Twitter
http://twitter.com/ARDroneBattles
and / or
Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/ARDrone-Battles/237958626730?ref=ts
We start local (and later nationwide) battles respectively combats ;-) Can't wait for its release!
Plz spread the word and join us...