Ever since we played with the original AR drone back at CES a few years ago, we’ve been keeping an eye on them. While we all agree there are better quadcopters out there, the price point for a ready-to-fly quadcopter of this size is really great with these. When the fake video from FPS Russia of the weaponized drone made the rounds earlier this year, we were surprised at how people reacted. Anyone who has messed with quadcopters recognized it as fake right off the bat (not to mention the overly cliche fake russian character). We won’t be adding a full fledged firearm to this. Mainly because it simply can’t lift the weight (There are ones that can, but we couldn’t justify the cost just for that). We do have some ideas though. Lets go over the specs of the AR Drone 2.0 first. The manufacturer is pretty good about sharing information. They have a decent breakdown of the specs as well as a full SDK available for writing apps for the AR drone. *We’re assuming they mean 1Gigabyte of RAM there on the specs.

As you can see, it has decent specs for the $299 price tag. This is partially due to the fact that it uses wi-fi for control. A decent radio system would greatly increase the distance (and probably response), but would have added another $100 to the price tag.ar drone 2 geschwindigkeit This isn’t a full review of the AR Drone. ar drone parrot mercadolibreI didn’t run it through any tough tests, nor compare it to similar sized and outfitted competitors. parrot ar drone zip tie modI just pulled it out of the box, flew it around a bit, and started thinking about how best to make it preposterously dangerous.parrot ar drone pairing

During this time, I found that the Wi-Fi control system works fairly well. There’s not really a discernible lag between motions on the iPhone and motions on the drone. The drone was fairly stable both indoors and out, though it really didn’t like ceiling fans.ar drone parrot solaire I started taping things to it to see how it would respond. ar drone parrot ersatzteileAs you get too much weight on it, you start to see that the stabilization system twitches attempting to keep it level. This happens long before it physically can’t lift things. It shouldn’t be an issue though as I only noticed it while attempting to hover in place. Battery life is greatly reduced though with any additional weight. This is a pain in the butt because the stock battery only offers roughly 8 min of un-weighted flight on a 1.5 hour charge.

There is already a strong community of modders out there for the AR drone. Here are some common mods that I found while researching. I’ve included a few links to examples, but there are many more to be found. I’ve got some ideas. They’re not all very safe sounding, but don’t worry, I’ll take precautions to make sure no one gets hurt. They’re also not very practical, but sound really fun. Let me know your ideas. Keep in mind that if I strip this thing down, I can really only carry 100-150 grams comfortably. Also keep in mind I don’t have the time or resources to carry out massive undertakings (sorry, no AI swarms, etc )Right now, I’d like to be flying and rolling the quite entertaining Parrot MiniDrones around the office, but I can’t. They’re busy getting a recharge. When you’re using the $159, Jumping Sumo or $99 Rolling Spider MiniDrones, it’s easy to forget all the time you’ll spend waiting for them to recharge. Even with a spare battery, 8 minutes of battery life for the Rolling Spider and roughly 10-15 for the Jumping sumo doesn’t add up to the 1.5 hours it takes to charge each battery.

See also: Google-Backed Robot Concierge Accepts Tweets as Tips The problem is especially vexing for both drones since the only way you can charge the batteries is by placing them inside each one and running a USB cable from your computer (or wall charger) to the micro-USB port on each robot. It’s a shame, really, because these robots are fun and they share many positive characteristics like faces with illuminated “eyes” that change color to let you know if the droids are connected and ready to fly or roll (you can add stickers to give them even more personality), the excellent, easy-to-use and free FreeFlight 3 software that runs on your smartphone or tablet (iOS and android) and responsiveness that easily outstrips their larger Parrot AR. There are, of course, far more differences, ones that define the purpose, characteristics and overall quality of each MiniDrone. Parrot’s tiny flying MiniDrone is, in some ways, like a scaled down version of Parrot’s HD-camera-carrying AR.

Like the larger flying robot, Rolling Spider is festooned with sensors that help make flying the quadrocopter child’s play. In fact, Rolling Spider is, like AR.Drone, smart enough to hover in place and, also like the larger drone, it’s controlled by a smartphone app, the aforementioned FreeFlight. It is, however, much easier to connect this tiny drone to the phone. It uses the new low-energy Bluetooth 4.0 (aka Bluetooth Smart), which allows the app and gadget to bypass the old Bluetooth handshake and connect directly through the app as soon as the drone is on and the app is ready. In no time, I had the app installed and Rolling Spider connected to it. Parrot MiniDrone Rolling Spider without wheels.Image: Mashable, Niki WalkerThe Rolling Spider MiniDrone can fly unadorned or you can attach a two large, but very light-weight wheels that cushion the drone if it hits the floor or a wall, but also let you fly/roll along walls and ceilings. This, though, is not as much fun as it sounds and while I left the wheels on, I preferred to fly Rolling Spider freely around the room.

One co-worker described it as buzzing like a bee. Another said Rolling Spider sounded like a swarm of killer bees. Parrot Mini Drone Rolling SpiderImage: Mashable, Niki WalkerRolling Spider can hold still or respond to the slightest movement of my left thumb on the direction and altitude joystick stick and right thumb on thrust in the FreeFlight 3 app. It takes a bit of practice to learn how to use these controls in tandem. The direction joystick is sort of an absolute control while the thrust also controls direction based on the tilt of your phone. FreeFlight 3 app in Rolling Spider mode. You use both thumbs and tilt the phone to maneuver.Image: Parrot, screenshotThere are some boilerplate tricks like in-air forward and back flips and even a dive move that you really need some space – and height – to execute. While flying, I can capture some super low-resolution photos from a camera set into the base of the drone. They’re stored on board and I was able to download them by connecting the drone to my computer.

Rolling Spider ran out of juice after a little less than 10 minutes of flying. As far as I’m concerned, that’s not enough flying time. It certainly won't get much further than your living room or backyard. Still, I understand Parrot’s dilemma. It takes a lot of power to run those four high-speed and highly responsive propellers. As it is, more than 50% of the body is battery, so I’m not sure what else Parrot can do here. While my officemates were intrigued by Rolling Spider, they were fascinated by the quirky Jumping Sumo. This robot doesn’t fly, but it’s definitely smarter, more maneuverable, and trickier than Rolling Spider. Jumping Sumo is equipped with two large wheels that can sit close to the body for high maneuverability and be pulled out for greater stability. It has an onboard webcam, which transmits VGA-quality live video back to the FreeFlight 3 app. That video, though, means Jumping Sumo has higher bandwidth needs than Rolling Spider. As a result, it connects to your phone via Wi-Fi, instead of Bluetooth.

It has, essentially, the same setup as the AR.Drone: an ad hoc Wi-Fi connection, which means that, if your phone was using Wi-Fi to connect to the outside world, it will have to switch back to mobile broadband when you’re playing with Jumping Sumo. It’s a bit more of a pain to connect this way, but mostly a minor annoyance. Image: Mashable, Niki WalkerOnce you’re connected, the smartphone screen turns into a live video feed from Jumping Sumo’s point of view — the camera points out of the front. Forward, reverse, speed and all other controls are overlaid onto of the feed. To control Jumping Sumo, I just placed my left thumb on the main control. If I held it in the center and tilted the phone around, I controlled direction, pulling my thumb forward and back controlled speed and forward and reverse. That ad hoc connection holds strong to about 25 feet, but starts to degrade after that. The MiniDrone was most responsive when I stood within 10-15 feet of it. The FreeFlight 3 app in Jumping Sumo mode.

You see what it sees.Image: Parrot, screenshotJumping Sumo can be quite fast and I was soon zipping around the office and performing mini stunts like spins, tumbles and hair-pin turns. Thanks to a retractable, spring-loaded “foot,” jumping is this MiniDrone’s biggest trick. Jumping Sumo can pop roughly 2 ft. in the air. It can also jump forward an almost equal distance. You control which jump the drone will perform through the app. Unless you look closely, you might miss the physical indication that this MiniDrone can make that kind of leap. I had some fun rolling up to co-workers who would stare in wonder at Jumping Sumo and then scream in shock when it jumped. It seemed none of them expected it to perform that trick. The idea with the jump is that you can make Jumping Sumo surmount obstacles and even jump atop tables and chairs. However, with plastic and Styrofoam wheels, Jumping Sumo is almost too bouncy to land and stay. If I managed to hit the center of the chair, the MiniDrone would stick the landing.

Otherwise, though, it would often end up back on the floor. The MiniDrone also includes a collection of boilerplate tricks, called "Animations" in the app, like a super fast spin, spin and jump and wiggle. All good for a laugh. Jumping Sumo beats Rolling Spider in the battery life category but only by a few minutes. It has, however, another frustration. While the MiniDrone is capable of recording video (there’s a button for it right in the app), it only has on-board storage for photos. To capture video you have to attach external memory. That would not be a big deal, except for the fact that Jumping Sumo only offers a mini USB port. How many mini-USB memory sticks do you have lying around? At least Parrot’s AR.Drone has a full-size USB port and offers the option of recording lower-quality video over the ad hoc Wi-Fi connection and directly onto your smartphone or tablet. I’m also not a fan of the battery compartment. To put in the battery, you have to jam it under some of the Jumping Sumo’s flexible plastic.

It’s way too easy to incorrectly insert the battery. You see FreeFlight 3's low battery message far too often.Are these MiniDrones fun? Battery life is the biggest frustration, but having two charged batteries could be 20 minutes of flight for the Rolling Spider and almost half an hour of cam-driven Jumping Sumo fun. The devices are built to last. I crashed Rolling spider repeatedly and Jumping Sumo took its share of hard knocks, but both kept on working. I know that Jumping Sumo is more sophisticated than Rolling Spider, but I wish both were $99. Even so, as gifts for your nerdy friends or adventurous children (or yourself), I still think these MiniDrones are a pretty good bet. Parrot MiniDrones: Rolling Spider and Jumping Sumo Easy to set up • Great software • Fun to fly and drive Battery life is too short • Jumping Sumo’s video storage solution is problematic These MiniDrones are mostly worth the price of admission and will, if you can stand the battery-life frustration, provide a lot of fun and entertainment.