0
A mini-drone that can be piloted using an iPhone promises to revolutionise the video game industry after it was unveiled last week. The flying saucer-like AR.Drone - AR stands for augmented reality - caused a sensation when it received its public debut at a consumer electronics show in Las Vegas.
It has been developed by a French firm which plans to capitalise on its capabilities by literally bringing computer games to the streets. Its creators gave a demonstration near their company's offices on the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, where the 'quadricopter' perplexed and impressed passers-by on a cold winter afternoon.
One of the ten engineers who has spent four years developing the drone tapped a button on his iPhone to lift it off the ground and make it hover near the dark waters of the canal. Then he tilted the phone forward or sideways to make it manoeuvre around nearby trees and park benches.
The machine's four propellers whirred quietly as it moved through the air, its camera streaming live video from two cameras, via Wi-fi, to the pilot's phone. The drone moves at 11 miles per hour, can stay airborne for 15 minutes after a 60-minute battery charge, has a maximum range of 50 metres, and weighs just over 300 grams. It is said to cost just £300.
Its automatic flight stabilisation makes it far superior to any other flying toys currently on the market, the company boasts.
'We used very sophisticated technology to develop it - technology that is used in military and commercial drones,' said Henry Seydoux, the founder of Parrot, the company that makes the toy.
Source
