Revolutionary Quadcopter Controlled From Your iPhone
Posted on January 6, 2010 by aaronredbaron
Launched at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas on Jan 5, 2010, wireless company Parrot introduced an amazing new product. While information is very limited right now, here’s what we know. The AR Drone is a quadcopter with many autonomous features such as auto landings and automatic altitude control. Control is via 802.11b, and the included software uses inertial sensors, ultrasound sensors and a vertical video camera on the model for stability augmentation. The ultrasound sensors provide precise vertical stabilization at altitudes up to 6 meters off the ground, and the vertical video camera (64 degree field of view, with 60 fps) provides the on board flight computer with the information it needs to maintain precise speed control and static stability, even in moderate wind conditions. It features an on-board CMOS camera with a 92 degree field of view which encodes and streams the 640×480 video onto the iPhone at 15 fps. All control is managed with the iPhone’s built-in motion sensors and touch screen interface, simply tilt your iPhone (or iTouch) and the craft responds likewise.
While all of the above is truly remarkable and allows out of the box FPV (first person video) flight by virtually any beginner, its really only the tip of the iceberg with this remarkable new product. With a tag line of “When video games become reality” this company is looking to do much more with the AR Drone than just bring an FPV model to the masses, they want to bridge the gap with the video game community. With the AR Drone, not only is FPV flight done through the iPhone, but a video game is integrated in. Called Augmented Reality (that’s where they get the AR in the name) the software super-imposes a video game over the real video image, allowing you to fire imaginary machine guns and missiles at your adversary. Capable of playing alone against the computer, or with a friend over a Wi-Fi network, this system is unlike anything ever seen in the hobby world or video game industry. This product is truly remarkable; I along with every other tech geek or hobby nerd is salivating waiting for its release!
