Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on October 2011
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Seeing the “augmented reality” quadrocopter hovering in front of you, sussing you out on its front-end camera, gives you one of those “my god the future is here” tingles down your spine. It’s reminiscent of the buzzing seeker robots in Terminator’s vision of the future, and its not hard to imagine these things put to military use.
You might think of it as a remote-control flying vehicle—we do—but Parrot bills their AR. Drone as “The Flying Video Game,” which speaks to the potential they see for its exploitation by all manner of independently created games and applications. Right now, we’re content to use it for its crazy flying and filming capabilities.
On the touchpad of your Android, iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch—and in the future, anything with Wi-Fi capabilities will be made compatible—the feed from the drone’s front-facing and down-facing cameras appears (you can switch between them or view split screen). There are two touch screen buttons for control on the iPhone app. One swivels, elevates and descends. The other accelerates—quite terrifyingly for newbies. The device comes with an aerodynamic hull for outdoor swooping and a four-ring lightweight protector for indoor operations (caveat: don’t use anywhere where a mini windstorm could pose a problem).
Other tremendous uses, seen on thousands of vids already up on YouTube, are multiplayer shooting games and maneuvering competitions where your drone flies around sensor-equipped obstacles. Expect way more in the future, though what disappointed us for now was the impossibility of recording or streaming the video taken by the drone’s cameras. Apparently this is just a limitation of the iPhone 4, and it’s currently possible with the iPad 2—one presumes the iPhone 5 might have something to say about this.
Don’t worry about evolving technology making your drone obsolete, firmware updates are available and can be effected neatly through your smart device.
[+Pros]
- You’ve never seen anything so exciting
- Potential is huge—open development of apps and updateable firmware
- Multiplayer games are sophisticated and will only get better
- Parts are replaceable and a one-year guarantee allays fears of breakage
- Fairly easy to control—after a fashion
[-Cons]
- Price rather proscriptive
- The excitement might fade after a couple of weeks
- You need really big spaces to truly zoom
- Some will not get the hang of the controls
- No streaming or recording of video possibilities on iPhone 4
Parrot AR. Drone, from ¥28,000 from Amazon or Toys R Us and other retail outlets.
Call center. Tel: 03-3585-6609. Email: ardronecenter@parrot.com. Open Mon-Fri 9:30-noon & 1-6:30pm. http://ardrone.parrot.com
