Experience of using AR.Drone Parrot

Once the blade touched my iHelicopter'a corner cabinet, a helicopter appeared roll. The toy was virtually useless because of the disruption in the balance transmission mechanism from the motor to the screw.

I was looking for something more stable in flight. Also AR.Drone Parrot other alternatives were not.

AR.Drone Parrot - quadrocopter is controlled with the help of iPhone / iPad. For the first time the novelty appeared at CES 2010 and has since gained a huge following around the world. Craftsmen Self-tuning their instruments, conducting tournaments, the number of home-made modifications exceeded one hundred.

What is so interesting to gadzhetomanov AR.Drone Parrot lovers and remote toys?

First, the helicopter is running Linux OS, which allows the company to a producer Parrot release updated firmware to be loaded into the machine through the native application Free Flight [Free, iTunes link].

Second, enthusiasts produce their images, and software, resulting in the App Store there are plenty of software for the AR.Drone. When bored with the standard set of flight options, you can download the add-on and make a toy manufacture in the air, these pretzels that friends pootvalivayutsya jaw.

More - more. Connoisseurs of augmented reality can create their own worlds where AR.Drone will act as the main character of some arcade games - such as spacecraft. This will require the application AR.Rescue [Free, iTunes link]

Thirdly, AR.Drone difficult to "kill". In the standard a foam cover, which takes any of the pulses from collisions with the environment. In addition, the virtual console has a push button helicopter landing. Harvest - and he gently sits down on the ground. The same thing happens when the signal is lost.

At present my model of a bug: the car suddenly began to spontaneously rise to a height of 10 floors, then lost the signal. In this case, breakdowns fallback landing on the roofs of parked cars in the yard. Bug disappeared after firmware update

Fourthly, the synchronization between the machine and iOS-gadget is through a local Wi-Fi network, which AR.Drone «raises" itself.

Fifthly, AR.Drone has two cameras (vertical and horizontal). This opens up great prospects for the observation above. The video stream is transmitted directly to the phone's screen or tablet.

Before you start, the battery must be recharged AR.Drone for about 90 minutes. That's enough for a continuous 15-minute flight.