AR.Drone : Brings Video Games Into Real World

Digilifes News - Drones have become synonymous with US military strikes in hot spots like Afghanistan. But now a French firm has built a mini version piloted by an iPhone that brings video games to the streets.

The flying saucer-like AR.Drone – AR stands for augmented reality – caused a sensation when it was revealed to an unsuspecting world at a trend-setting consumer electronics show in Las Vegas last week.

The machine’s four propellers whirred quietly as it moved through the air, continually streaming live video from two cameras, via wi-fi, to the pilot’s phone. The drone moves at 18 kilometers per hour, can stay airborne for 15 minutes after a 60-minute battery charge, has a maximum range of 50 meters and weighs just over 300 grams, or half a pound.

Its automatic flight stabilization makes it far superior to any other fying toys currently on the market, the company boasts. The AR.Drone is fun to pilot and would probably be a huge hit if it did nothing else but fly around and astonish onlookers.
This is the augmented reality aspect – merging the physical world with the virtual world. The prospect of augmented reality robot battles is causing a hubbub of excitement in the gaming world. Gaming web sites have been awash with comment since the AR.Drone hovered over the heads of awed visitors to the Las Vegas tech show. The Games Blog of The Guardian newspaper in Britain said its prediction was coming true that gamers will be indulging in real-world death matches, commanding robotic slaves into battle on the streets of our towns and cities, as they control the carnage via their computers.

Augmented reality applications already exist in the fields of medicine, defense, navigation, education and in gaming. But many observers are touting the AR.Drone as heralding the next big thing in the world of video games, which in 2009 was worth more than $50 billion worldwide, according to industry figures. AR.Drone will go on sale this year with a price about $500.

Source: Jakarta Globe