Parrot AR Drone
With the AR Drone, you can fly and maneuver your aircraft with ease and with their continuous video interface with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you’re guaranteed to have a blast no matter what your age.
Controlling the Drone couldn’t be easier. The app connects to your i-device with Wi-Fi and you fly it around by tilting your device which has now become your controller. The action comes naturally and the video that shows up on the screen from the Drone’s camera makes it seem like a video game. Two virtual joysticks allow you to turn and ascend/descend and an automatic takeoff/landing button minimizes the possibility for damage to your device until you are used to the manual controls. Several different apps are available to control the aircraft so you have different options when looking for the one that suits you best. There’s even an app that lets you dogfight with another AR Drone user.
The AR Drone has lots of autonomous capability. Preprogrammed flight parameters, which can be modified, help prevent new users from making mistakes and damaging the aircraft. Sensors on the craft help it to determine altitude, orientation, and position. It also has two cameras that face front and down helping to maintain control over farther distances and during the landing process.
Range and flight time were fairly good with the Drone. I could easily get over 150 feet range outdoors and had no problems indoors in between floors. This increases if there is less interference present from objects and other radio waves. The batteries lasted for around 10 minutes of flight time so if you want to increase your play time, you’ll need to buy spare battery packs for the aircraft.
The AR Drone makes flying easy. I’m sure a lot of people have experience with remote controlled aircraft and have gone through the difficulties of getting used to the controls and have had their share of crashes. My experience with the AR Drone is much simpler and the stress over controlling the aircraft was minimized, allowing more time for average RC Aircraft pilots to have fun.