The word "drone" at this point probably conjures up images of unmanned aerial vehicles conducting military airstrikes or multirotor aircraft for aerial photography or delivering packages. Parrot's MiniDrone Jumping Sumo, which sells for $160 (AU$220, £140), is strictly for the ground and although you might not consider it a drone (or an unmanned ground vehicle), it is more than a simple radio-controlled vehicle you pilot with your smartphone or tablet. Similar to WowWee's MiP robot, you can use your iOS or Android (and eventually Windows 8.1) mobile device to steer the two-wheeled Jumping Sumo through its environment. It can also be programmed to follow a Road Plan or complete pre-programmed tricks. And then there's the jumping. Though you can have the Sumo balance on its wheels like a Segway when driving it around, it will spend most of its time resting on its rear leg. With a tap on your screen that leg will retract, compressing its two springs and then releasing them, launching itself either forward or straight up 80cm (2.6 feet).

You can also have the Sumo flip itself over and use the leg to kick a ball or irritate friends and family by kicking their feet. Like Parrot's larger AR.Drone quadcopters and MiniDrone Rolling Spider , the Jumping Sumo is completely controlled with an app on your smartphone or tablet. The FreeFlight 3.0 app is available for iOS, Android, and, in October, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices; I did all my testing with a Galaxy S4 and an iPhone 5S . The Jumping Sumo connects to your mobile device via Wi-Fi. Turn on the Sumo and it will appear as a network in your Wi-Fi settings. Select it and launch the FreeFlight app. Once the app is open, it should automatically connect to the Sumo. However, in my testing the connection wouldn't always happen immediately and occasionally would never happen at all, forcing me to shut down both the Sumo and the app and start the process over again. To be fair, it happened mainly when I was using it in areas with a ton of wireless networks. In the app you can change to Manual mode and choose a less-crowded channel, as well as connect over 5GHz or 2.4GHz.

Once you are connected, you'll see a first-person view streamed from the Sumo's camera. Slide the virtual stick on the left forward and back to move those directions and tilt your device left or right to turn. On the right is another pad to do quick 90- and 180-degree turns by swiping up, down, left, or right. For navigating in tight areas, the wheels can be pushed in. If stability and speed is your priority, pull the wheels out for a wider base. You can drive the Sumo indoors or outside, but the tires are made from a spongy foam, so too much riding on rough terrain will shred them. A new set will set you back $15.Welcome to the Parrot community! Join to share projects and receive help.AR.DroneCapture HD photos and videos Amazing footage streamed and recorded directly to your smartphone using the inbuilt 720p HD camera. Fly high, fly safe The cutting-edge EPP design of the AR. Pilot like a proDrone 2.0 to take-off, land, hover and flip! All projects Trending Any difficulty Any type 7 This project allows you to control an AR Parrot Drone with Java software.

AR Drone with a little Java Full instructionsThe selfie-drone that's controlled with your hand gestures.google agrees to buy drone maker titanDrones have become an essential surveillance tool for the military, and in recent years the technology has filtered down to the consumer who wants to either build something that can fly, capture aerial shots or just really annoy the neighbours.parrot ar drone agricultureThere are various drones on the market, all vying for your hard-earned cash. ar drone 2 preisWe've decided to round up some of the best for a variety of different budgets and applications, to save you the hassle...parrot ar drone won't take off

Version 2.0 of the Parrot AR Drone is a great Wi-Fi-enabled quadcopter drone. parrot ar drone won't take offIt packs 4GB of flash memory and a 720p HD camera, which captures footage at 30 frames per second. parrot drone 2 cenaBetter still, it has a USB flash drive for recording if you run out of internal memory. Drone control is done by the free AR.Freeflight app and is relatively straightforward. Large, noisy and a lot of fun.A combination of carbon propellers and new, 9g lighter motors have improved the Storm Drone 4 over its Drone FF predecessor. For filming duty this is one stable quadcopter, capable of hovering itself and a GoPro camera with ease (a Hero 3 is recommended). Piloting is done using a proper remote control as opposed to a phone app. A series of LEDs adds an element of fun and makes it visible at night.If the Parrot AR Drone 2.0 is too big, there's always the option of the MiniDrone Rolling Spider, which has just gone on the market.

The smaller quadcopter is capable of hovering in remarkably stable fashion, even if piloting error smacks it into an obstacle. A free app is used for controlling the Rolling Spider, and unlike most drones, it has wheels that allow it to roll along - be that on the floor, walls or ceiling. By: Tara Tiger Brown and Sean Bonner This should go without saying, but by hacking these off the shelf devices you are voiding all warranties. This is important because if you kill your drone by cutting it up you have to know ahead of time that you won’t be able to call anyone at the company to help you troubleshoot. Same goes for the Dropcam - it’s intended for indoor use in a controlled environment not to be flown all over the place outside strapped to a drone. So just know going into this you are on your own. Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Quadcopter @ $299 Dropcam WiFi HD Camera @ $149 (use this option for wifi/live web streaming) or HackHD Camera @ $160 (use this option to record to SD card and view later)

Monoprice 50ft 14AWG Enhanced Loud Oxygen-Free Copper Speaker Wire Cable @ $21 4 x Deans Connectors @ $0.95 ea few small zip ties Power Supply (we used a power supply from a PC, which requires two 4 pin Molex Connectors @ $0.95 each, but anything that supplies 12v at around/up to 8A should work.) 5v Power Regulator @ $1.25 or 3.3v Power Regulator if using HackHD instead of Dropcam Heat Sync plus Mounting Parts (Screw, Nut, Locknut) @ $0.95 ea Thermal Tape @ $3.95 Micro USB cable that you are willing to cut up (to power the Dropcam) Soldering Iron/Station - we prefer variable temp but there are lots of options that should work. Lead solder (easier to de-solder if you need to) Knife (xacto or similar) Hot Glue Gun and Glue All project photos are here Project Video #1 is here Project Video #2 is here Part 1 - Preppin' the Parrot Setup Dropcam Account here. Make sure it can connect properly and you can access it.

Decide if you want the feed to be private or public. Install one of the Parrot AR Drone apps on your smartphone of choice. Ensure your drone works and you can fly it around. Say goodbye to all that mobility and fancy handling Part 1 - Parrot (Teardown reference on iFixit) Take off the top hull (the piece with the blue and orange stickers). You won’t need it and getting rid of it gives you more lift. Parrot without the hull and battery Peel off the plastic plate on the bottom of the drone from the back, but not all the way. You’ll see that there’s a rather large cavity in the drone, you’ll be shoving your camera in there. Cut a circle hole in that plastic cover large enough for your camera lens to pop out, but small enough to hold the rest of the camera guts inside. Note that we didn’t glue the dropcam into the hull, it’s just kind of in there. Parrot with the Dropcam inside the hull and a piece cut out for the cable. Cut about a half inch notch in the side hull, to allow cables to get to your camera.

Mod the power connector to use Deans connectors - this way you’ll be able to use the battery or the power tether. Soldering to the Deans connectors can take some time and lots of heat, so be patient and persistent. We used a male (M) connector on the drone, however this is very dangerous. If the male leads come into contact with anything conductive, you can short that battery and cause a fire. Don’t do what Donny Don’t does, and always connect the famle end to any battery or other power source! Also, be sure to not solder on two of the same ends. Nothing worse than finishing up and finding both ends of the wire you are trying to connect are female. Parrot power connector modded with the Dean’s connector Part 2 - Connector for Tethered Power Connectors, voltage regulator and speaker wire ready to be soldered This is the piece that will connect your Parrot and Cam to the single line of power running up the tether. Remember what we said earlier about the Deans connectors, make sure you keep that in mind here.

Make sure you have: Deans connector to connect to power connector on the Parrot (F) Deans connector to connect to the speaker wire/power cable (M) Speaker wire - Cut two lengths - 6” and 4” should be good Mini USB - Cut at about 5” See photos 4a/b for clear explanation, but the flow here will be from the power cord to split (from M Deans connector) with A side (6” wire) going to the Parrot (F Deans Connector), and B side (4” wire) going to the power regulator then mini USB to the cam. Remember to watch polarity when soldering! ProTip: Speaker wire usually has a marker/indicator to show the + line. When soldering the Mini USB, you only need to solder the RED (power) and BLACK (ground) lines, since there’s no data being transferred over that cable thanks to the built in wifi on the Dropcam, or SD card on the HackHD. Part 3 - Powerline (Tether) With 18 AWG speaker wire we were able to get a tether of 10’ and fly indefinitely. We tested 30’ with 14 AWG and were able to stay in-flight for about 10 minutes.

More testing to do! Create a 2nd short connector piece that has a (F) Deans connector on end, and an adapter to connect to whatever power source on the other. For our purposes that meant 2x Molex connectors to snap onto 2 power leads from the PC power source. You can use whatever you want here so long as enough voltage. The value to doing this is that you can keep changing the length of the tether without soldering new cables every time. Speaker wire, Molex and Dean’s connectors Soldered connector with hot glue Measure out length of 14 AWG speaker wire for tether, solder (F) Deans connector to one end (to connect to Parrot) and (M) Deans connector to the other (to connect to power). Computer power source with the new connector Remember to watch polarity when soldering! Sean soldering a Dean’s connector and very frustrated! Part 4 - Fire It Up! We found that hot gluing the solder connections made them a bit stronger, and gluing the wires to the hull ensured nothing got stuck in the propellers, but YMMV