I am usually not big on ‘gadgets’, but this thing is so cool the tech nerd in me got giddier than a queer with a wheelbarrow full of butt holes, to paraphrase Larry the Cable Guy.
It’s unlikely to remain interesting for more than 10 minutes, but let’s not let that stop us from drooling over it.
Now I want one that just hovers over my right shoulder all day and listens to spoken commands. One of them should be “attack the guy with the faux bed head and Wayfarers!”
Turns out my fellow Klatergoud writer Robbert-Jan is an even bigger nerd than I am, so if you’re ready to be bored to death, here’s what he wrote about the AR.Drone, at exactly the same time I was posting this:
This is just too cool! An iPhone or iPod touch controlled helicopter!
Via Wi-fi you can control the helicopter with your touchscreen and accelerometer. An onboard camera boasts what’s going on, so you can see on your iPhone or iPod’s display what’s happening. And if that isn’t enough, it also features two augmented reality games and a duel mode. That’s a WOW!
After take off, the helicopter stabilizes itself at a height of 1 meter, thanks to the use of a mix of captors, a wide angle camera, a high speed camera and ‘micro electric mechanical engineering’. This autopilot will also take over during stationary flight and when the Wi-fi signal is lost. Mounting a special hull surrounding the four propellers, enables you to even fly inside!
And parrot is normally associated with standard Bluetooth products (I’ve got one of their hands-free carkits). Can imagine that this product will cause quite a buzz for them!
I’d love to have one of these!
[ Edit 17:19 Welcome to Parrot.com - Sorry, we're over capacity! ] Guess I was right…
Yeah.. I guess some of us are just condemned to love everything with batteries, moving parts and a wifi connection.
Rik is one of the founders of Klatergoud.
He's the marketing director of Intivation, a technology company that develops solar powered consumer devices, and a graduate of Delft University of Technology with degrees in Applied Physics and Strategic Product Design.
He writes about entrepreneurship, design thinking, business models, innovation and marketing.
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