http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/ Engadget Comments for Parrot's AR.Drone seeks us out, destroys us as we go hands-on http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 8:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/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. ]]>Jan 5th 2010 8:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/]]>Jan 5th 2010 9:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/
It's call "X-UFO" it's a gryo toy, fairly cheap. Nothing new...]]>Jan 5th 2010 9:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/
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.]]>Jan 5th 2010 10:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/
Sorry - Ultrasound altimiter on bottom. Maybe a type of sonar? Can't be sure.]]>Jan 5th 2010 10:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/
And there is a gyroscope... sorry, techie.]]>Jan 5th 2010 10:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/
Might as well change it into a WiMax instead.]]>Jan 5th 2010 11:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/
WiMax means it could get hijacked by Hans Gruber, kill us all.]]>Jan 6th 2010 7:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 8:08PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 8:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 8:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/
There's already an iPhone app to control it. The article says it was unavailable due to too many wifi devices.]]>Jan 5th 2010 8:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 8:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/
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.]]>Jan 5th 2010 8:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/
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.]]>Jan 5th 2010 8:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 8:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/]]>Jan 5th 2010 8:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 8:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/
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]]>Jan 6th 2010 5:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 8:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 8:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 8:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 9:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 11:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 8:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/
Great thing two thumbs up... too bad it's limited to WIFI range tho...]]>Jan 5th 2010 8:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 9:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 9:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 5th 2010 11:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/
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.]]>Jan 6th 2010 1:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 6th 2010 3:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 6th 2010 4:01AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 6th 2010 4:33AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 6th 2010 7:28AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/Jan 6th 2010 3:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/parrots-ar-drone-seeks-us-out-destroys-us-as-we-go-hands-on/
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... ]]>Jan 14th 2010 1:44PM