I've got my own flying drone. I'm basically the CIA and a spaceman all in one civilian package. I'm going to fly a drone, I'm going to get arrested, and I'm going to be a hero." After pulling one of Parrot's AR Drones out of the box and experiencing this understandable reaction, you start to think about what you're really dealing with—a flying robot, controlled by your phone, with a camera that records the world below as if you're sitting in a tiny cockpit.An affordable four-prop remote-controlled drone with an HD camera and a wide-angle lens.Aviation dabblers who want to look over their neighbors' fences.DesignAn insectoid pod, about one square foot, with an orange color scheme near the toy end of the aesthetic spectrum.Using ItThe first minute is magical—with a single button press, your own little drone hops a meter into the air. And just sits there. Next, you fly that fucker right into a wall.The Best PartIt's a flying drone with a built-in camera. You own a drone.Tragic FlawNeither of the cameras—the front facing 720p one or the lower-resolution cam that points straight down—are any sort of magic.

(Think cell phone camera from 5 years ago.)The tilt-to-control flight interface is so instinctive that it is borderline overwhelming. It tilts just like I tilt my phone?Test NotesFlying an AR Drone makes you feel like a robotic Peeping Tom crossed with a cybernetic monk with a splash of soon-to-be-killed Call of Duty side-story operative.buy a drone aircraftI broke the hell out of the Styrofoam indoor hull pretty much as soon as I started screwing around with it.parrot ar drone tech specsYou can buy replacement hulls for about $45—a lot of scratch for something that's almost certainly going to be trashed multiple times, especially by a novice. parrot ar drone tech specs(Good news: glue is still available.)I lost it off the roof of a midtown NYC building.

I let it fly too far away from me and it stopped responding to my commands. It drifted slowly in the breeze until it ran into a building and fell about 20 feet onto a skylight. From there, I was able to get it to respond, and I guided it onto the ground. The claimed outside range of the Wi-Fi connection—200 feet—isn't as far as you might think.Parrot didn't seem very on the ball when it came to actually supporting its product after its launch, as a quick scan of the AR Drone forum will uncover. Not all the features promised in the 2.0 version have been released yet; updated firmware has actually caused drones to "drop altitude abruptly"; developers trying to use the AR Drone API complain of a lack of feedback from Parrot engineers. It didn't engender a lot of confidence in your $300 purchase. (Parrot seems to have improved in the last couple of weeks, having released new firmware.)There are some really interesting hacks—especially ones that turn the AR Drone into a hunter-seeker.

Others can track objects, or even follow you like a pet. Why hasn't Parrot hasn't included those out of the box?If you really want to buy a drone to capture high-quality footage, you'd be better off buying a rig purpose-built for it. Some $1,000+ models now have six-axis DSLR mounts as options (and the horsepower to haul them).The app can save video files to your phone (and even upload them to YouTube), but another option is saving directly to a USB stick that can be nestled inside the flight body. This saves at a higher bitrate, with no potential dropped frames due to Wi-Fi issues. One caveat: finding a USB stick that the AR Drone will recognize. It took me a few before I found one that would record—and I happened to have a hot crash right after plugging it in. Unfortunately, I don't have video of that crash. The hard shut-down disrupted the writing of the file. Sometimes having a record of your big failure can ease the embarrassment.The indoor hull's four Styrofoam hoops, meant protect the rotors, break with very little force.

How about thin loops of wire? Flexible but sturdy plastic ribs?Should You Buy It?As far as drones go, you're not going to get much more accessible or inexpensive as the AR Drone. But it's still three bills—and Parrot's shortcomings on service aren't instilling consumer confidence. Updated software is meant to fix the loss-of-altitude problems that have plagued the first runs. But since my test drone is waiting on replacement gears (due to an unfortunate decision to let an intern attempt to fly it on the High Line in Manhattan), I can't verify if Parrot has worked out all the kinks. Flying a drone is a lot of fun, and you can get some decent video out of the Parrot's camera. Provided you have the disposable income and free time to justify it, the AR.Drone 2.0 is a satisfying purchase. Whatever you do, just be prepared for the inevitable crash—and the possibility of lost footage or additional costs to repair the damage.Drone 2.0 SpecsCamera: 720p 30fps HD Lens: 92-degree diagonal wide angle

Processor: 1 GHz 32-bit ARM Cortex A8 Weight: 380 grams with outdoor hull; 420 grams with Styrofoam indoor hull Motors: 4 brushless 14.5-watt, 28,500 RPM inrunner motors Battery: 3 elements 1,000 mA/hour LiPo rechargeableDrone is a remote controlled flying quadcopter helicopter built by the French company Parrot. The drone is designed to be controlled by mobile or tablet operating systems such as the supported iOS or Android[1] within their respective apps or the unofficial software available for Windows Phone, Samsung BADA and Symbian devices.Drone was revealed at the International CES 2010 in Las Vegas along with demonstration of the iOS applications used to control it. Freeflight, the application designed for free operation of the drone, Parrot also released AR.Race, allowing users take part in solo games, or interact with other drones in combat simulations. The airframe of the AR.Drone, constructed of nylon and carbon fiber parts, measures 57 cm (22 in) across.

[4] Two interchangeable hulls were supplied with the airframe, one designed for indoor and one for external flight. The indoor hull is made from EPP foam, and encases the circumference of the blades for protection. The outdoors use hull is made from lightweight plastic, and allows for increased maneuvrability. In total, the AR.Drone has six degrees of freedom, with a miniaturized inertial measurement unit tracking the pitch, roll and yaw for use in stabilisation. Inside the airframe, a range of sensors assist flight, enabling the interface used by pilots to be simpler, and making advanced flight easier. The onboard computer runs a Linux operating system, and communicates with the pilot through a self-generated Wi-Fi hotspot. The onboard sensors include an ultrasonic altimeter, which is used to provide vertical stabilisation up to 6 m (19 ft 8 in). The rotors are powered by 15 watt, brushless motors powered by an 11.1 Volt lithium polymer battery. This provides approximately 12 minutes of flight time at a speed of 5 m/s (11 mph).

Coupled with software on the piloting device, the forward-facing camera allows the drone to build a 3D environment, track objects and drones, and validate shots in augmented reality games.Drone 2.0 in flight with outdoor hullDrone 2.0 in flight with indoor hull The successor to the original drone, the AR.Drone 2.0 was unveiled at CES Las Vegas 2012. Rather than redesigning the product, improvements were made to its functionality, along with developing a larger ecosystem to support pilots. The equipment on board AR.Drone 2.0 was significantly upgraded to improve the drone's function. The camera quality was increased to 720p, and many of the onboard sensors were made more sensitive, allowing for greater control. The ultrasound altimeter was enhanced with the addition of an air pressure sensor, allowing for more stable flight and hovering. The resources available to the onboard computer were also improved, and the Wi-Fi hardware was updated to follow the new 802.11n standard. Other sensor improvements included an upgraded 3-axis gyroscope, along with a 3-axis accelerometer and magnetometer.

At CES 2013, Parrot announced the Flight Recorder add-on for the AR.It adds 4GB of storage to the drone, along with GPS tracking and flight data recording. It will allow pilots to define a flight path by selecting a series of waypoints that the drone will follow. Flight Recorder features can be controlled via mobile phone and desktop applications, with "Director Mode" and "Rescue Mode" included. An extended battery designed to increase flight time by up to 50% was also launched alongside the Flight Recorder. Previously known as AR.Freeflight, provides piloting function for AR.Drones, and the ability to take photos and videos. Drone was launched in 2010 alongside the original drone, and provides piloting capabilities via iOS devices.[8] It allows pilots to record video or capture images from their drone's onboard cameras. When originally launched pilots could control drones by tilting their device, and data from the onboard accelerometer was converted into flight controls.[9] On-screen controls provide joystick-style movement, and other functions that allow pilots to perform aerobatics, play games, or update their drone's firmware.

The app also integrates with AR.Drone Academy, where pilots can map and share flight details with other AR.Drone is available on the Google Play store, where it has kept the name AR.Race is a piloting and multiplayer gaming application for the AR.Using a target included with the drone, pilots can define a race course with a start and finish line. The drone will then detect when it crosses this line, and records the flight time in between these two events. Pilots may invite other AR.Drones to join the race, and scores are aggregated into a leaderboard.[11] The application also integrates with AR.Drone Academy and, when the AR.Freeflight application was removed from the iOS App Store, was updated to include basic piloting controls. Race 2, and its predecessor AR.Race are only available on for iOS devices. A single-player augmented reality application for iOS devices. It uses the target provided with the AR.Drone 2.0 to build a 3D environment in which pilots must perform tasks. The object of the game is to construct a rocket out of pieces that are placed into the physical environment by the drone's software.

Along with these pieces, enemies are generated that must be fought. The drone also records the time it takes to complete this task successfully, and this is recorded in AR.Drone Academy, where a global leaderboard is generated, and videos and images can be shared amongst the community. An augmented, multiplayer game that allows pilots to engage a human target with virtual weapons within a 3D space. Unlike the other multiplayer games made by Parrot, AR.Hunter only requires one AR.Both the pilot and the 'target' have the application installed on iOS devices, and the 'target' uses theirs to fire their virtual weapons at the drone. In order for the drone to recognise and engage the 'target', they must wear a colored cap, purchased separately from Parrot. The game can be played without the cap, but the drone is unable to engage the 'target', and the pilot must instead evade detection or attack. Hunter is not compatible with the AR. Lithium polymer battery for Parrot AR.Drone with JST-XH connector (right) and mini-Tamiya connector (left) [13]

To aid third party developers, Parrot launched the AR.Drone open API game development platform.[14] Due to this open platform, affordability, and wide range of onboard sensory equipment, the AR.Drone is becoming an increasingly popular tool in research and education.[16] It has been used for experiments with visual-based autonomous navigation,[17][18][19] autonomous surveillance,[20] and human-machine interaction.[21] Research in these areas has resulted in third party applications being released, some open source, that extend the official capabilities of the drone. In France, the AR.Drone 2.0 was tested by a Special Operations unit for aerial reconnaissance,[22] whilst other companies have been developing software that allows the drone to track sports activities,[23] and generate training feedback.Drone was used by Tim Pool during the Occupy Wall Street protest, running modified software that allowed it to stream directly to an internet channel. He theorised that a chain of command could be set up, where multiple people could step up and take control should the primary operator be detained by police.

To further this, he began development of a new control system, replacing the existing Wi-Fi hotspot with a 3G chip. This would allow users to control drones via the internet, and potentially from remote locations. An open source framework "Yet another drone", developed by students at University of Hamburg will allow programmers to easily build applications for AR Drone in Java. Since the launch of the original AR.Drone, around half a million units have been sold.[26] It received a 2010 CES Innovations award for Electronic Gaming Hardware.[27] It was awarded Best Smart Product of 2015 according to Wellbots Top 25 Smart Products Ranking of 2015.Drone 2.0 was praised for the relative ease with which pilots could learn how to fly it; the original release required more intense practice. Since its initial release, individuals,[30][31] organizations, and governments have expressed concern over the use of AR.Although the technology required to feed and record live video taken from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) existed prior to the release of the AR.