Not all drones are scary. Parrot, the French company specializing in wireless devices for mobile phones, has once again made its way into the ever-expanding drone market. The AR Drone 2.0, introduced at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, is designed for those interested in high-altitude video capture with app-assisted controls all stemming from the palm of your hand. Now you can fulfill your dreams of owning a drone and being a spy all-in-one.
The most recent iteration, the Parrot AR Drone 2.0, comes equipped with a 15-Watt brushless motor and lithium polymer battery pack to get the carbon fiber construction off the ground and flying. Once in the air, the drone is stabilized by making use of its 3-axis gyroscope (2000 degs/s), 3-axis magnetometer (6 degree precision), and 3-axis accelerometer (+/- 50 mg accuracy). A pressure sensor (+/- 10 Pa) and ultrasound sensor provide added monitoring so that you are always aware of the conditions your drone is facing. So how does it capture video, you ask? Using its integrated 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 CPU and an 800 MHz DSP, the Parrot drone’s front facing HD 720p camera takes in light at 30 frames a second; or if you are in the mood for snooping on the neighbors down below, its vertically oriented QVGA camera captures footage at 60 fps. Not the best quality, but it gets the job done.
The features do not end there: the AR Drone is controlled through Wi-Fi, with the added bonus of direct upload to YouTube. So, now you can quickly upload whatever mischievous acts you set out to capture directly to the online masses. The drone even comes equipped with a Director mode, allowing the user to program specific movements and image captures (such as crane shots, pans, etc) for the cinematography enthusiasts.
The new gadget sounds promising, though there have been several reports of Parrot’s lack of service upgrades. Luckily, a recent firmware release has fixed a loss-of-altitude problem faced by the early drone adopters. So if you’re willing to fork over the $300 for the AR Done this early on, you will have a well-armed spy ready to perform reconnaissance missions for you straight from your Android or iOS device.
Cabe