1/12/2024 0 Comments Microsoft parrot drone![]() ![]() They weren't able to demo the camera's AR abilities for us at the show, but they say that they have two companies currently working on AR games for the Drone. The copter can currently carry 100 grams without too much trouble, and the Parrot reps told us that a cargo hook is a no-brainer, but that they'd probably wait for someone else to develop it. They say they want the app to be free, and that they have opened it up to developers to create their own applications and uses. Parrot made a big deal of how open they wanted the functionality to be, but unfortunately most of the specifics are still stuck behind a veil of plans. ![]() ![]() One of the company's reps even waved his hand underneath the camera, and the copter momentarily fluttered until it was able to ID the ground below and level itself back out. If you ever let the accelerometer go (return it to level), the copter's bottom camera will search the ground for a familiar pattern, and as soon as it finds something (the carpet we were flying it over had some clear patterns and shapes that it easily spotted), it will level itself off and hover in the air, waiting for you. When in the air, the button changes, and it'll land automatically as well. There's also a button on the screen marked "Take Off," and if you hit that, the copter will lift itself off the ground, and hover calmly a few feet above the air all on its own. Probably not as much as a full RC plane, but even by the end of our short time with it (about 30 minutes or so - battery life on the copter is currently around 15 minutes), we were only starting to get it going in the right direction.įortunately, the copter can take care of itself, too. If that sounds complicated, you've probably got it right - basically, you've got to keep the iPhone tilted in the right direction, while simultaneously moving your left thumb forward or back to control speed, and moving your right thumb up or down to change the copter's height.įlying it around an empty room is a piece of cake (until you turn the copter around and have to control it backwards), but manipulating it carefully requires practice and dexterity. The copter is controlled with both the touchscreen and the iPhone's accelerometer - you can make the drone propel forwards or backwards by manipulating a virtual joystick with your left thumb, send it lower or higher by pushing your right thumb up and down a green meter, and then turn or tilt it left or right by shifting the iPhone's accelerometer. The iPhone can switch views between the cameras, or even set up a picture-in-picture view. The current interface (we were told that the drone and the app prototypes we saw were about 80% complete) is plain, with just a few green indicators over surprisingly clear video send directly from the two onboard cameras, one facing forward and one facing straight down. There is a breeze coming from the rotors, as you might expect, but once you get about two or three feet below the rotors, it dissipates.Ĭontrolling the thing, however, is easier said than done. When it's actually up in the air, the copter hums about as loud as your old PC - noticeable, but not enough to interrupt a conversation, and easily talked over. The center section reaches four light arms out to four propellers, each with their own variable speed engines and tiny LEDs that glow red and green depending on whatever speed they're spinning to control the copter's roll and pitch. There are two circuit boards inside of a foamlike superstructire that easily handled the bumps and bruises we gave it during our hotel hallway tests. The copter itself is actually very durable for what it is. Read our impressions of the hands-on below, and don't forget to stay tuned - we'll have video of our demonstration later on. We're not sure how ready it actually is for market (or what it'll cost yet), but the AR.Drone does what it says on the not-yet-designed box: Allows you to control a real quadricopter with and through your iPhone. ![]() So what's the verdict? It's not super easy to fly (we crashed it into the walls, the ground, and even their marketing guy), but it's the real thing - the extremely light (3/4 of a pound, as our own Steve Sande estimated with remarkable accuracy) quadricopter is packed with all kinds of fun gadgets, including variable speed rotors, the ability to lift off, hover, and land on its own, and super-sensitive touch controls along with two 640x480 VGA camera feeds running back to the iPhone via 802.11G Wi-Fi. Fortunately Parrot did come by Macworld, and the day before the show, we finally got to see their iPhone-controlled, dual camera-equipped, high tech toy in action. We first heard about the Parrot AR.Drone, an iPhone-controlled RC quadrocopter, back when it made such a big splash at CES, but unfortunately, since we weren't there, we didn't get to see it in person. ![]()
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