Parrot, like many tech vendors, decided to put on a show for CES attendees. And its was in the form of an orchestrated air show, with eight AR Drone 2.0s all moving in unison to music.The latest AR Drone is hardly new. The 2.0 model was introduced last year - in May 2012 to be exact. But Parrot - maker of the radio controlled flying quadrotor helicopter - did reveal that it's been working on a few things.The Parrot representative told TechRadar multiple times that they're not products, but simply "projects".First is forthcoming GPS integration, via the AR Drone 2.0 Black Box. It allows one to geolocate one's AR Drone via the GPS device.Not only does it keep track of its position, but all that information can be used to create 3D models of every movement, via the AR Drone Academy (part of the AR Drone iOS app), which previously only detailed flight information in 2D.AR Drone 2.0 Black Box can also store videos directly. With its 4GB of built-in flash memory, it can hold more than hours of HD video.

Next is a 1500mAh high-density battery. Currently, the AR Drone 2.0 is only capable of five to 10 minutes of flight, even after a full charge. ar drone 2 nvidia shieldBut the new battery will provide 50 per cent additional power, around 18-20 minutes, according to the Parrot representative.parrot ar drone 1 batteryIt's unknown if it will replace the one that currently ships with all AR Drone 2.0s or become a stand-alone product for existing owners.parrot drone helicopter reviewAnd Parrot's final project is Director Mode, which is a set of pre-canned instructions that can handle particularly tricky shots. buy mq-27 dragonfire drone

Everything from pans, crane shots, slow downs, and more, which can all be difficult to execute manually, are now all possible with just a button press.ar drone 2 spare partsIt's even conceivable that these shots can be linked, one after another, for a particularly impressive action sequence, and in real time. parrot ar drone facebookIt also includes a stabilization system and post-processing tricks to get super clean and smooth shots.rc parrot drone for saleWhen asked, the Parrot rep was not able to indicate if Director Mode would be a stand-alone app, or if it would be built into the aforementioned iOS app.Furthermore, Parrot may also charge for this additional functionality (the current app is free). Again, Parrot is simply in the testing phase for everything mentioned above.

What is a hands on review? 'Hands on reviews' are a journalist's first impressions of a piece of kit based on spending some time with it. It may be just a few moments, or a few hours. The important thing is we have been able to play with it ourselves and can give you some sense of what it's like to use, even if it's only an embryonic view. For more information, see TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee.Assembling a drone and getting it off the ground is a pretty complicated process. However , assembling a drone, connecting it to the Flyver SDK, making it programmable and letting it perform autonomous functions is nigh impossible without some help, so we decide to create this nifty guide for the enthusiasts and developers out there who want to start creating and using drone apps. There are several possible configurations that work with the Flyver SDK. Depending on what equipment you already have and how much tinkering you’re willing to do, you should decide which one is best for you:

This is probably the best option for anyone who wants to start using the Flyver SDK immediately with minimal setup. The kit consists of a DJI Flamewheel F440 ARF Kit, a IOIO OTG Board and a case to attach your phone to the drone. The kit comes at a relatively low cost and you just need to connect all the parts in order to get your SmartDrone off the ground and ready to run apps. Here is a detailed article on how to set up the Flyver Devkit to work with the SDK. If you already own a quadcopter and you don’t feel like investing in another one, just to work with drone apps, you’re in luck . Because radio controlled copters have a common base, we decided to benefit from that and create an easily hackable solution for building a software independent layer with the SDK. Any copter that has the following elements is compatible with the SDK: If all those elements are present, you can use the following guide to FlyverHack your copter. Note: for this configuration you will need a IOIO OTG Board which you can purchase on Sparkfun or Aliexpress.

These configurations use an android phone as the autopilot that runs all the drone’s apps. The requirement for the phone on which the Flyver SDK runs are as follows: Some things to keep track of when using the phone with the drone: is well attached to the drone points at the right forward direction Does not run other intensive applications or services on background Does not allow calls, push notifications and other disturbing services Is NOT in debug mode In the current state of the Flyver SDK these are the only available configurations, but in the future an external autopilot such as Pixhawk as well as a proprietary SDK configuration will be supported. The setup is extremely easy. All the instructions could be found in Flyver’s github Once you have the drone and SDK set up it’s time to start writing apps, field testing them and teaching your drone to perform autonomous functions. There are many factors to keep in mind when using your drone, however arguably the most important one is legislation.

Each country has its own specific set of laws regarding UAV use and its important to know them. Drones already have a bad image in the media, so let’s not make it worse by creating newsworthy accidents. Flyver already has this nifty guide to UAV laws and regulations in the USA, UK and Canada. Additionlly, a quick Google search about the UAV laws in your country will usually yield satisfying results. Keep in mind however that drone laws are a shifting landscape and have to be kept track of as they undergo major changes relatively often. For the US-based pilots and developers, here is this convenient map of all the no-fly zones in the country.We can’t stress this enough. With all these fast moving parts and the relative difficulty in operating them, drones can create a real danger. When testing apps, you don’t even have that much direct control over the drone, so please whatever you do, make sure that there is no chance of anyone being harmed in the process. Too often we see cases of people with too much enthusiasm and too little information and skill causing serious accidents with their drones.