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Parrot's latest drone includes an immersive cockpit headset
Parrot launched its 4K Anafi drone last year with the view to balancing a decent camera and plenty of features with a price tag that wasn't prohibitively expensive. Its latest model, the Anafi FPV, does the same, but with a heap more fun, focusing on total "flying immersion" via a cockpit glasses headset.
Parrot plans to retire its Mambo and Swing drones
Drone company Parrot, maker of the Anafi 4K folding drone, is reportedly leaving the mini-drone market. This week, Wirecutter confirmed that Parrot is retiring its Mambo and Swing drones, and supposedly, websites like Amazon have been slowly running out of stock.
Parrot's Anafi 4K drone is much more than a flying toy
Drones come in many shapes and sizes. At their most affordable, drones are fun flying toys. And for industrial uses or professional filmmakers, you've got specialist machines that can run well into tens of thousands of dollars. Parrot's new $700 Anafi falls somewhere in between, balancing a decent camera and plenty of features with a price tag that isn't prohibitively expensive.
Parrot's folding 4K drone is ready to take on DJI's Mavic Air
Parrot may have scaled back its drone division and shifted some of its focus toward workers, but that doesn't mean it's downplaying the consumer side of things. If anything, it's ramping things up. The company has unveiled the Anafi, a folding drone that takes some not-so-subtle potshots at DJI's Mavic Air. It's not just the portability -- the Anafi touts a 21-megapixel camera that promises 4K HDR video at 100Mbps, including 2.8X lossless zoom. The camera isn't good as the Mavic Air's in some respects, as it's only using two-axis mechanical stabilization (software and a wide lens handle the third axis). Still, it represents a big improvement over the 1080p video and no-gimbal design of Parrot's Bebop drones.
Parrot app automatically edits your drone videos
Drone videos can be spectacular, but editing them? Not so much -- don't be surprised if you spend hours cutting 10 minutes of footage into something worth watching. Parrot thinks there's a better way. It's adding a Flight Director feature to its FreeFlight Pro mobile app (for Android and iOS) that automatically edits your drone footage. Algorithms study the drone's behavior and produce videos up to 3 minutes in length based on a handful of criteria, including the style (chronological, cinematic or trailer), pre-made themes and other existing footage. The biggest dilemma may be choosing your soundtrack.
Parrot's latest drones are for farmers and firefighters
It's been a tough year for Parrot. The drone maker cut 290 jobs after sub-par sales, and it wasn't shy in admitting that its lineup was both unfocused and (for personal drones) unprofitable. However, it has an idea as to how to recover: by targeting the professional crowd. Its new Bebop-Pro Thermal and Bluegrass drones include equipment tailored to specific needs. The Bebop, as its name implies, includes a thermal imaging camera and matching software alongside the usual video cam. It's meant to help firefighters and rescue crews pinpoint sources of heat, whether it's a blaze or a person trapped under rubble. There's also a long-range remote control in the box to keep pilots well out of harm's way.
Parrot’s Mambo FPV puts you in the mini-cockpit
With its cannon and claw accessories, last year's Mambo drone from Parrot was more a toy than a photography tool. The latest version of the mini drone looks to be at least more fun, if not more useful, than its predecessor. The Mambo FPV comes with a camera attachment and a headset, so you can stream what the tiny flyer is seeing right into your eyes.
Parrot’s Mambo FPV mini quadcopter gives you a drone’s eye view
If you're a fan of racing drones, then you may want to pay attention to Parrot's latest product release. The drone company has announced the Parrot Mambo FPV, a minidrone equipped with a first-person HD camera that allows both live streaming and video recording. The drone can fly up to 18 miles per hour and has three piloting modes, Easy, Racing and Drift, depending on what your goals and experience level are. We're not sure when exactly it will be available, though we know it's sometime this month. It will cost you $180/£159.
Parrot makes first play for commercial drone market
The French dronemaker Parrot is following up on its plans to shift away from consumer drones with a new Pro line rebranding a couple of its existing UAVs for commercial use. The company has refreshed its fixed-wing Disco model for aerial surveillance of farms and agricultural setups, while it's repurposed its quadcopter Bebop drone to capture building footage for later 3D modeling.
Parrot lays off 290 drone division employees
It was a disappointing holiday season for French drone maker Parrot. The company announced Monday that it will lay off about 290 employees -- or more than a third of the employees currently working on drone-related projects -- after it missed fourth quarter sales targets by about 15 percent.
Parrot's quirky toy drones are slowly growing up
There was a time when Parrot was the name in consumer drones. That's partly because, way back in 2010 when it launched the AR.Drone, the DJI Phantom was still some years away. Today, the landscape is a little different: DJI now dominates the skies, while its competitors can't seem to catch a break. Except Parrot. The French company remains unfazed by the large industry that has grown around it and continues to do what it's always done: make fun, accessible products.
Parrot brings fancy follow-me features to its Bebop 2 drone
With a price tag of $550/£440, Parrot's Bebop 2 drone is aimed at budding pilots who want more than a toy, but can't justify spending four figures and up on a flying camera. The problem with getting something in between, though, is you can't expect all the features of more expensive drones. There are a couple of third-party mobile apps floating about that add auto-follow features to the Bebop 2, but today Parrot is updating its official FreeFlight Pro app with what it claims is the "most accurate and reliable" implementation around.
Drone flies as both biplane and helicopter using one propeller
There are helicopter drones and fixed-wing drones, but creating a hybrid of both is tricky. Even Parrot's Swing, as clever as it is, needs four propellers and elaborate wings to pull off its stunt. However, TU Delft (with backing from Parrot) has a far more elegant solution. Its DelftAcopter drone doubles as both a fixed-wing aircraft and a helicopter using only one propeller -- its tailless biplane design lets it take off and hover vertically, but gracefully turn into a fast-moving airplane (up to 62MPH) at a moment's notice. It's an incredibly simple design that makes you wonder why someone hadn't considered it for drones before.
Parrot's latest project is a dev kit to help drones navigate indoors
French drone company Parrot has just announced the Parrot S.L.A.M.dunk, a special development kit meant to aid drones and other robots avoid obstacles while indoors.
Parrot's hybrid drone looks ready to blast a Death Star
Remember when drones used to be fun toys, not a serious business regulated by the Feds? Parrot does, judging by its two latest models, the Mambo and Swing. The $139 Swing looks a lot like an X-Wing fighter, but the wings aren't just for show. After a regular vertical takeoff, you can make like a V22 Osprey and transition to horizontal flight, hitting speeds of up to 18 mph. It then does high-speed aerobatics including turns, U-turns, half-flips and loops, "all with amazing fluidity and stability," Parrot says.
You can buy Parrot's fixed-wing Disco drone in September
Parrot's beginner-friendly drone is finally ready to take to the skies, after we first saw a prototype at CES this year. The Disco eschews the more common quadcopter format for a fixed-wing system that makes taking off as easy as throwing the device in the air. It will be available next month for $1,299.
Drone makers form their own political lobbying group
Big drone makers aren't satisfied with existing efforts to get in the US government's good books, apparently. DJI, 3D Robotics, GoPro and Parrot have forged the Drone Manufacturers Alliance to lobby for a "carefully balanced regulatory framework" that makes sure drones are "safely integrated" into American skies. In plainer language, they want to make sure that regulation doesn't run counter to their interests -- they don't want their business to fizzle out because of a future law.
What goes down at a Vegas drone rodeo?
The Mandalay Bay hotel and conference center sits toward the south end of the Las Vegas strip. Inside it, past all the smokey slot machines and brightly lit restaurants, you'll find sharks rubbing shoulders with Michael Jackson. It is the very essence of Vegas. It's also the pick up point for this year's drone rodeo -- a spin off event from CES proper out in the desert, away from the hustle and bustle of the show floor.
Parrot's Disco drone takes flight as a fixed-wing ultralight
The latest in Parrot's stable of drones ditches the popular quadcopter format, opting for a fixed-wing design instead. The Disco -- in keeping with Parrot's musical naming theme -- is still in the prototype stage, with pricing and release date still up in the air, but aims to provide an approachable interface for beginners and casual users. Simply give the Disco a little shake to get the motor moving, then throw it into the air, where it will automatically take flight and adopt a circular holding pattern until you're ready to take control.
Flying a drone is easier when the battery doesn't die right away
It just kept going until it was barely a speck in the sky. I was sure I had lost the Bebop 2 review unit Parrot had sent Engadget. The fact that the company's latest mid-level drone flies longer and faster than its predecessor popped into my mind along side the concern that it would just keep going and going. The onboard 14-megapixel 1080p camera would capture the entire flight. Of course that would be a moot point if it continued on its westward path and eventually lost power and splashed down in the Pacific. I squinted as the sun made it difficult to see the Bebop finally take a quick right turn along its pre-programmed path around San Francisco's Sutro Tower. My concern wasn't completely unfounded: Minutes earlier I had difficulty with the drone's WiFi connection with my phone after powering up. But at the end of the day, the Bebop 2 delivers on its extended battery life and speed even if it takes time to get it up in the air.