Parrot has unveiled the AR.Drone, the first quadricopter that can be controlled by iPhone and iPod touch.
Thanks to the accelerometer in the iPhone and iPod touch that’s constantly detecting users’ movements, the AR.Drone is very easy to pilot by leaning the iPhone forward or sideways to corner or change direction. On the iPhone’s Multi-Touch™ screen, command buttons provide rise, down, rotate, back, forward, etc. AR.Drone is designed for flying inside and outside. Features include autopilot, Wi-FI, two cameras, ultrasound sensor and more.
Pilots see the AR.Drone’s camera output in real time on their iPhone and iPod touch screens.
Direct link via YouTube here.
The release date is listed as “2010” and no pricing information is currently available.
More info here.
MacDailyNews Take: The paparazzi are going to have a field day.
” that was way out of WiFi range…”
Not really, creative video angles just made it look that way. The major limitation here is the approximately 100 foot range of WiFi and set govt restrictions on signal strength. Unlike what one of the previous posters says, WiFi is not line-of-sight but will perform better in an open field without interference from walls, wires, or other electronic “noise”. That said, for most fun uses (indoors) I think using an iPhone is much better than the standard dual toggle controller.
@DogGone
The Military has been experimenting with hand launched “RPV’s” (remotely piloted vehicles) since the 90’s. I think they refer to them as “UAV’s” these days. (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) They have a number of small squad deploy-able units they have been working with.
@Just Wonderin
Can you imagine thousands of these dropping bomblets on Christian Fundamentalists at a NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Can’t wait!
Better yet, just one AR.Drone delivering a pie in the face to Texas quarterback Colt McCoy in his post game interview last night!
I want one. That is awesome.
Now can we get OBL. Too small to launch anything big. so do this:
Hit OBL with a knock-out dart. See. And the government thought it was hard to solve this problem. Problem solved.
Wicked cool!
just my $0.02
daugav369pils
You the award for trying to piss off the most people by being a complete asshole.
Congrats
Scale it up!
When that device can carry a pizza and a six pack over a five-mile range, they’ll be rich.
-jcr
@ TowerTone
I kinda liked where he was going with the first part, actually. Sadly, I have no idea who Colt McCoy is.
Sorry, C1.
I guess I forgot about the left’s ‘tolerance’ and distaste for ‘profiling’
@ John C. Randolph:
Brilliant.
Make it work thru a 3g cellular network and you wouldn’t have range issues at all. Only limitation would be battery power. You’d have to lower the res on the camera maybe and the latency might be a higher. But still wicked cool to play with.