AR Drone – The Flying Video Game

Upon going to work at 7am this morning, I was very much intrigued to find that a giant bubble-gazebo-type structure had been erected* in front of Canary Wharf Underground station. Me being very much late for work, and the strange bubble-tent being very much closed, I carried on my journey, pondering as to what this is.

On my way back however, I found it to be something that will bring out the computer geek / nerd / games addict / Apple lover out in everyone.

Inside, was this thing – or shall I say ‘game’ – called AR Drone.

There were these flying robot-things hovering about inside shooting each other. You may say ‘well I see that in all gadget shops, they are the things that always seem to aim for my head!’.

AR Drone however, was operated by random people’s iPads, iPod Touches and iPhones. By tilting it. Pretty cool huh?

Not only that, but the camera on the flying robot-things relayed it’s ‘vision’ to the i-devices.

This is what I saw:

Some info from the website:

First quadricopter that can be controlled by an iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad

Thanks to its on-board Wi-Fi system, you can control the Parrot AR.Drone using an iPhone®, iPod Touch®, or an iPad®. It was initially designed for the Apple platforms and will be also available on other platforms in the next few months.

Play with other users via a Wi-Fi network

Another major feature is the use of several AR.Drone on a network.
Thanks to its own generated Wi-Fi network, players can create a game party where others players can join and play against each other.

The multiplayer game, named AR.Flying Ace, makes it possible to have a battle between two AR.Drone. Hulls are available in three different colors to easily identify your AR.Drone.

Play inside or outside

The Parrot AR.Drone has been designed for both inside and outside use. You can adapt it to any game situation using the two hulls provided. The full hull shield protects the AR.Drone from impacts that occur during wild battles against enemies hidden in the rooms of the house. The streamlined hull is aerodynamic, allowing greater control outside.

Live video feed on your iPhone screen

Get inside the cockpit of your AR.Drone! Even meters away, keep control with your video remote thanks to a Wi-Fi connection. Two cameras are embedded, one on the front and one underneath facing the ground.

The switch between both cameras is very easy thanks to the button integrated in the application running on the iPod Touch®/iPhone®.

I just found this gadget really interesting. It seems to be the first confident step into ‘reality’ type games that really works. I also didn’t realise that an iPad or whatever could be used in such a way… It makes me wonder what could be next – controlling robot soldiers that shoot each other? Who knows… But what I do know is that you need to have a bloody big living room!

Check out the website: http://ardrone.parrot.com and let me know what you think!

*Tee-hee I wrote ‘erected’