French company Parrot has announced a new generation of connected, remote-controlled robots is coming in September to Australia and New Zealand.
Thirteen new drones come with features including LEDs for night activities, mic and speaker and cameras to control from smartphones and tablets. The Parrot Minidrones family now covers air, land and water.
The Parrot Minidrones are minature robots piloted with a smartphone or a tablet via the free piloting app FreeFlight 3.
The new family is split into three different classes:
Jumping drones are rovers that can roll, rush, turn at 90 degrees and jump up to 80cm in height and length. These minidrones can transmit video thanks to its wide lens camera while built-in mic and speaker lets the operator communicate with those around it. Jumping drones come in "Night" (with LEDs that can be used at night) and "Race" models (with speeds up to 13km/h).
Airborne drones are quadcopters capable of performing flips and rip through the air at 18km/h. The "Night" model has LEDs so it can be used in dark spots and the "Cargo" model can be used to transport small cargo.
Hydrofoil are flying drones that can be be attached to a hydrofoil boat, which glides on water and reach a speed of 5.4 knots (10km/h).
Battery life depends on which features are use, acrobatics, etc. These new minidrones will be available in Australia and New Zealand from September.
