Without doubt, the most glacially cool thing I have seen in a long time is the Parrot AR Drone Quadricopter. This is a four rotor helicopter toy that has a built in camera at the front, and is piloted through this via an app on a smartphone or tablet. Alternatively a laptop with Linux can run software that allows the device to be piloted with a gamespad. Needless to say, I want one. That is not going to happen anytime soon, not whilst Parrot, the company that makes these wonderful devices is charging an arm and a leg for one. So I have started a low priority saving scheme to eventually buy one.
Now the problem with low priority schemes is they get raided for higher priority schemes. Then I remembered Radar, a character from M*A*S*H. It was a running gag that Corporal Walter “Radar” O’Reilly mailed a Jeep home from the Korean War one component at a time. So into my head popped Operation Walter. All the parts used in an AR Drone are interchangeable with spare parts that are available on line. So instead of buying one big ticket item, I would buy a component every so often.
Except that is a really silly idea. Parrot charge a mark-up on spare parts. A salami-sliced AR Drone, bought one bit at a time would be far more expensive than one bought off the shelf. Whilst I was doing the maths, I was only two thirds of the way through the component check list when I reached the Recommended Retai Price for a shop-bought AR Drone. Also, the salami-sliced AR Drone would not have a manufacture’s guaranty.
However, the idea of building my own AR Drone from components has a strange appeal. It is the simple sort of Engineering/Electronics 101 project I could handle. It really would be my AR Drone, the one I built myself, from scratch. However, it probably will not happen. With Version 2.0 about to be launched, the price of the original version is should plummet.
Tags: Android, AR Drone, iOS, Jeep, M*A*S*H, Parrot AR Drone, quadricopter, Radar, Technotoys
