AppleInsider Staff
French UAV maker Parrot on Monday unveiled two new additions to its consumer lineup, taking the wraps off of the Bebop drone — featuring a 14 megapixel camera and 12 minutes of flight time — alongside a physical controller accessory dubbed the Skycontroller.
The Bebop drone comes equipped with a 14 megapixel front-facing camera that Parrot says is specially stabilized using a proprietary 3-axis system and can be rotated up to 180 degrees. Like its predecessor, the AR.Drone 2.0, the Bebop streams its camera feed in realtime back to the pilot's iOS device, which also acts as the primary controller.
While the Bebop sports the usual array of sensors — including an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, pressure sensor, vertical camera, and ultrasound — it weighs just 400 grams fully loaded, 20 grams less than the AR.Drone 2.0. The battery is beefier at 1200 mAh, but Parrot says that flight time remains the same at 12 minutes.
The Bebop also comes with built-in GPS, giving it the ability to fly autonomously and return to its takeoff location on its own if a problem arises.
Parrot's new Skycontroller accessory, meanwhile, acts as a dock for the iPhone, iPad or other device being used to fly the Bebop. The Skycontroller gives users the ability to use physical joysticks for piloting, and a built-in amplified Wi-Fi radio will allow users to control the Bebop from up to 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away.
Users can also plug an Oculus Rift or other virtual reality headset to fly the drone simply by looking around. A complete list of compatible headsets was not announced, though it will likely support the same hardware as the AR.Drone 2.0, including the Epson Moverio and Zeiss Vison Cinemizer OLED glasses.
Parrot says the Bebop and Skycontroller are set to ship in the fourth quarter of 2014, though pricing has yet to be revealed.
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
Charles Martin
William Gallagher
Amber Neely
17 Comments
I had the 2.0 and it wasn't worth the money if there was any wind at all outside. It lost connection constantly and then the worst thing ever happened- it's "autopilot" decided to fly it out over a hill somewhere on a military base where it's now laid to rest with my $300. It's a good idea if they had weight to them but sadly these birds are best used indoors. Good luck to anyone who drops the cash for one.
I had the 2.0 and it wasn't worth the money if there was any wind at all outside. It lost connection constantly and then the worst thing ever happened- it's "autopilot" decided to fly it out over a hill somewhere on a military base where it's now laid to rest with my $300. It's a good idea if they had weight to them but sadly these birds are best used indoors. Good luck to anyone who drops the cash for one.
Not sure any military base would appreciate you flying anywhere near the base, every think they jammed you signal so you could not control it.
Near me there was an RC club who had a lease on a property to fly their planes, they been there for a long time, after 9-11 and the fact there was a jail across the street from where the flew and a few planes over the many yrs buzzes the jail air space and one plane lost radio contract with the controller and crashed landed inside the fence of the jail put an end to their flying planes anywhere near the jail. I not sure if this is true but the authorities claimed that the RC group was flying planes with camera's over and near the jail which was security risk.
I agree, do not even fly kites near a military base. I think its a violation of federal law to operate any flying stuff in their airspace. I have a Parrot AR 2.0, and I love the thing. It certainly is not perfect, but like the original Kinect on XBOX, it is an amazing amalgam of technologies available at hobbyist pricing. I like mine alot.
The Parrot looks terribly unstable. How could one stomach monitoring it via a head mounted display?
Compare it to the stability and range of the Phantom 2 with 3D gimbal mounted GoPro3+ camera--with twice the battery life, too.
[quote name="Cpsro" url="/t/179452/parrot-unveils-new-smaller-bebop-drone-skycontroller-joystick-control-dock-for-ipad#post_2532400"]The Parrot looks terribly unstable. How could one stomach monitoring it via a head mounted display? Compare it to the stability and range of the Phantom 2 with 3D gimbal mounted GoPro3+ camera--with twice the battery life, too. [/quote] Right ... Dramamine not included .... Talking of which, with the obvious problem of radio waves under water taken into account, I would think an underwater drone would be fun and less contentious. A high res camera and lights on a tethered consumer priced underwater drone could be a whole new market.