The A.R. Drone
So many things have changed due to technological advances. From voice commands to intelligent simulations of the real stuff are all seen with modern technology. Before cellular phones that have GPS, mobile TV and wireless internet were unheard of. But now they seem to be the norms. And within short periods more and more innovative designs show better performance and capabilities.
One of the new radio controlled games nowadays is the A.R. Drone. It is a quadricopter or a helicopter that has four propellers at the sides. The quadricopter is generally more balanced than other helicopters but they are harder to control direction wise. Compared to other RC types, it cannot do the fancy aerobatic moves but slowly but surely it is showing signs of being able to do more sophisticated moves through improvements in technology.
The Parrot A.R. Drone is not controlled by hand-held transmitter like the other RC aircrafts. The A.R. Drone was formerly controlled by specific iOS gadgets only like iPhone and iTouch using Wi-Fi connection. But soon it can be piloted through other devices like the bada, Symbian and the Android. Since the controls are done through open source platform, other app developers can make their own app for A.R. Drone.
Flying the Parrot A.R. Drone is very easy to do since the flying robot comes with pre-programmed flight parameters. These pre-programmed flight parameters can be altered accordingly and it will keep flying as long as there is battery. It will stop its flight if it crashes into something else. The A.R. Drone is programmed to shut down once it crashes. This protects the engines and saves it from further damage. It is inexpensive compared with other quadricopters since it is only $300. The Drone also comes with 2 built-in cameras that can send real-time images as it hovers around. It gives 2 views, the front and down. The camera quality is not so good and does not have the capability to take aerial shots or videos. But nonetheless, Parrot A.R. Drone is a worth buy for RC aircraft enthusiasts.