CES 2010: Parrot AR.Drone – An iPhone-Controlled Quadricopter
posted January 6th, 2010 3:20 PM EST by Eli Hodapp in Augmented Reality, CES 2010, Upcoming Games, iPhone games, iPod touch games
While we won't be on the floor of CES until tomorrow, the internet is already on fire with buzz surrounding the Parrot AR.Drone remote control quadricopter that is controlled by creating its own WiFi network that either an iPhone or an iPod Touch connects to. The Parrot AR.Drone is then maneuvered using the accelerometers of the iPhone combined with a video feed from the forward facing camera on the drone itself.
A smart piloting system intelligently compensates for wind and other environmental conditions, and utilizing a second camera which faces the ground can perform a flawless stationary flight on its own. If at any point you take your fingers off the iPhone autopilot engages stabilizing the drone, and if you quit the controller app or lose your connection to the Parrot AR.Drone's WiFi network the drone will stabilize itself and land all on its own.
As seen in the following video, the Parrot AR.Drone has two different hulls– A fully enclosed hull that protects the rotors from bumping in to walls and furniture indoors, and a hull for outdoors that sacrifices rotor protection for better maneuverability.
As if being able to fly around a drone using nothing more than your iPhone wasn't cool enough, an additional video on the Parrot AR.Drone web site demonstrates some augmented reality games you can play with the Parrot AR.Drone complete with picture in picture showing what the video feed and in-game HUD looks like. It apparently can even recognize shapes in 3D space to overlay different 3D models, such as the boss fight seen at the end of this video:
On top of all this, Parrot even has a developer zone featuring whitepapers that detail how to develop third party games that use the Parrot AR.Drone via an open API. All of these resources are available for free, and while the games shown in the above video were cool, I can't even imagine the potential if third party development support takes off.
Needless to say, we'll be keeping a close eye on the Parrot AR.Drone, and will post more information as it becomes available.
jaw drops
Awesome!
Simply AMAZING! What creative minds can do……
Any idea how much this thing is going to cost?
My credit card just leapt out of my wallet like a spawning salmon!
Wow! this is amazing i will definitely try to get one of these.
Wow… that is SWEET! Can we get some attachments to that? Like a missile launcher?
At the very least add a couple of slots for holding a Corona…
Sub zero cool
I want, IWANT!!!!! Hope it can work on a 2G iphone, if not looks like I'll be upgrading sooner than I thought…
The iPhone just got 999999% more awesome.
Omg! Clearly have to get this! Unless it costs more than £100. Then I'll just wait…
this will definitely cost more than 400 euro's as it has its own pc , 2 cameras , 4 motors , accelerometers.
those things dont *have* to break the bank. computer on-a-chip, light and cheap image sensor chip based video cameras, and they have radio control helicopters that 8 year olds can fly that probably cost $5 to make in china. Add all that together and boom, you have a killer i-toy that could be made for cheap and charged for C-bills.
this could easiliy cost 500-1000€
I hope it'l has at least a good camera on it
And as for the price, I would guess that this will be pretty expensive.
It has an on board linux computer and 2 video cameras.
I'm guessing about $200 – $300.
And they could also charge money for the app.
i could see it being alot mroe than 300.. which sux
not if they want more than a small subset to buy them. I'm prepared to spend 300 dollars on this toy, and 5 of my friends are too. But there's the whole cost/fun/time/options/lasting appeal values that have to be factored in. If they choose the wrong price, that's the difference between lasting fad or next new craze.
I can't buy a Wii either. I can afford it, sure, but there's no space for one in my life.
Video showing exactly how it works with the iPhone:
htt p://www .youtube. com/ watch?v= GA2Av74pjTY&feature=related
(remove spaces, or go to the 2nd page of the thread in 'other' section.)
One thing that hasn't really been emphasized yet is the fact that it's an augmented reality game, but one that also works on iPod Touch. Pretty much every augmented reality game so far depends on the device having it's own camera, however in this case the camera is on the drone itself, opening itself up to a much larger audience. Good thinking.
Looks frickin' SWEET. Gotta be arm-and-a-leg expensive though, with wifi and all those cameras on board.
"…if you quit the controller app or lose your connection to the Parrot AR.Drone's WiFi network the drone will stabilize itself and land all on its own."
That sentence makes one hope your iPhone doesn't run out of battery while the drone is flying over a lake.
that's what happened to my last RC copter, over a pool =(
I saw a price of $490 after Googling the thing.
true, looks awesome. only that a) it will cost $x00 and b) unlike the videos suggest I fear that with WiFi the range will be rather limited… but very cool none the less.
That has to be the coolest thing I've seen in a long time… I so want one
WTF! This android-killer must definitely be presented on january 26th!!
rig it up with tranq darts IMO
This puts the OMG into OMFG!!!!!!!!!!
k…so basically i could also be using this to stalk some girls room!
Dayyyyyum. That is impossibly cool. I've seen the RC quadcopters on their own, but pairing one up with an iPhone and being able to see what it sees — AND play augmented reality games with it is just frickin' awesome. My credit card just whimpered a little.
As an engineer I found this very impressive. Looking on their site and the drone gads I think the cost would be very cheap, cheap enough for mortals, around 150~250$(US Dollars), maybe less than that depending on the hardware, or maybe more if they are handmade
So, when do we get the Android based controller?
hmmm…seems pretty cool, but anything cool comes with a price tag. XD
I CAN'T WAIT TO BUY THIS!!!
Omgomgomfg.
I WAS trying to save money but this is a must have.
Why is this a must have?
It's just nonsense.
This isn't useful, it's just a (crappy looking) toy.
Did the Grinch steal your christmas???
There's supposed to be a child in all of us!
My old man bought me a hovercraft when I was a kid. On paper it really doesn't get more useless than that (lived no-where near water for starters), but it was still my favourite toy.
You're right in that case.
But – spending a few hundred bucks for this thing?
Even if it is fun and brings back childhood memories, at first it will be way too expensive. Just because it is for the iPhone, will this justify a very steep price?
You can already buy dozends of toys like this on Amazon for:
http://www.amazon.de/Silverlit-85612-X-Space-inkl-Ladeger%C3%A4t/dp/B0007A0RD8/ref=pd_sim_toy_6
But maybe this thing – equipped with a good cam, will be just the right toy for voyeurs… :rolleyes:
Linux onboard. Sounds promising. I wonder if it is possible to add there a 3g modem and use an existing 3g network to control it. In that case i would not regret even $1000 for it.
Very cool. I think the test flight videos on youtube are more fun than the promo video, as they show how neat the hover code is.
I'm not sold on the augmented reality bit, seems a bit gimmicky, but that won't keep me from reaching for my card when it comes out…toys are cool
The augmented reality bit is what gives it the potential longevity needed to justify a purchase. Otherwise it's just a very expensive remote controlled helicopter toy, that you will play with a couple of times and then put in a closet.
(of course, the fact that it has the video output does realise boyhood dreams but it needs to be able to output to a device that can capture the video as well)
hah, star wars leads the way again. 30 years ago luke skywalker started his jedi training with a similar concept. (Millenium Falcon scene with OB 1)
just do not understand why they augment on the iPhone as there are a bunch of WiFi enabled devices out there… with g-sensors as well.
Limiting yourself to an iPhone audience is kind if… huh… limiting. =)
Second thought: the videos are like every commercial – giving you an augmented reality… like a car flying around running through the desert… then you buy it and it needs …gas and never flies or transforms!
The article does not give the general data: batteries, how long it can fly, how far? and so on. very major questions…
"limiting yourself to an iPhone audience"!?! Huh? There are over 45 million iPhones in the world and even more iPod Touches. How is that limiting their options. No other phone or media player really caters to mobile games the way the iPhone does. This makes perfect sense.
That's less than 1% of the world's population, you realize? Even if you're looking just at US cell phone owners, it's still less than 5%. And with time, android will likely eclipse the iphone.
I think TA use 'augmented reality' a bit too often. Here it is used correctly though as the video stream is actually analyzed and used to identify objects to make it possible to overlay graphics correctly.
In the iPhone games available today, none (that I know of) actually use augmented reality — they just display graphics on top of the video feed without actually taking the video into account.
The parrot website says that in their tests the Lithium-ion polymer removable (presumably rechargable) batteries last for 15 minutes of fly time – which is pretty good considering it's powering 4 motors, two cameras, a computer and outputting video over it's own wifi network – all while being light enough to hover.
The Telegraph reports the cost to be under £320. Which is too much for me, though still tempting (I might stretch to £200 for a toy this awesome)
Hi, YES this gadget is absolutely incredible and a MUST HAVE, too !!! Feel free to join us at Twitter
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…
OMG, there is a god!
I want it. I don't care how much it is. I want it.
As good as it this technology seems, it really reminds me of skynet. This is how humanity starting to end. lol
this is the ultimate gadget for the iPhone! like it sooo much, can't wait to put my hands on it!
I cant wait for the price.
Saw it on utube.