The recently announced AR.Drone from Parrot may be the coolest toy I’ve ever seen. The AR.Drone quadricopter is controlled by iPhone & iPod Touch via wifi and provides a live video stream from the unit’s ‘cockpit’. It uses a second onboard cam facing downward to measure speed and compensate for turbulence, and in case of signal loss an autopilot control kicks in to handle landing. The unit is billed primarily as an augmented reality system for gaming, but looks like it’d be a ton of fun without any virtual goals. Parrot also offers an SDK for those interested in making applications for use with the AR.Drone. Look forward to seeing what devs come up with!
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