Parrot AR.Drone quadricopter gets official launch

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Back in January we got our first glimpse of the AR.Drone, when it was debuted by makers Parrot at CES.

Well the Avatar-esque four-bladed helicopter toy is nearly ready for launch, and will be formally introduced to the world on 15 June, at the E3 games expo in sunny Los Angeles. Parrot will show off the AR.Drone and detail its pricing and release date.

The big deal about this micro chopper is that you can control it with your iPhone or iPod touch via Wi-Fi. You can get an AR.Drone’s-eye-view of the world via a front-facing onboard camera that feeds video to your iPhone, while accelerometers, gyros and stabilisers keep it airborne and make the act of controlling it much easier.

But that’s just the tip of the AR.Drone iceberg – it’s also dipping its blades into the world of augmented reality, and you’ll be able to play games by having the drone overlay graphics on the real camera feed. Then you can blast fictitious aliens – or even other AR.Drones. Exciting stuff – and another reason to look forward to E3.

Via: Engadget

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Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website. Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.