The AR Drone he can away up to 50 metres of its owner

In international fairs of the high-tech products designed in France are not Legion, and is rarely noted. The AR Drone, the Parrot society will market in France from August 18, is an exception. Early January, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the first presentation of this strange object flying earned him dozens of articles in the American press. Repeat there are ten days in Los Angeles for E3, great mass of the video game, where Parrot showed a final hailed by most of the media. In the aftermath, the product was presented Wednesday in London and in Paris yesterday. The chance to try a new toy, on the border of the radio and video game.

The AR Done is a four-blade helicopter: a large central egg of plastic from which four arm completed by propellers. Everything is a little wider than a 33 rpm and weighs barely 400 grams. Inside, the sensors and electronic components that allow it to stabilize itself in the air and facilitate flight: this is for the side "drone" of the aircraft, the term designating a spacecraft flying unmanned and autonomous. The AR Drone, he can away up to 50 metres of its owner.

His other originality is its remote control: it is driver only via an iPhone, an iPad or an iPod Touch, with which it communicates directly through a Wi - Fi. Before the first flight should therefore synchronize two machines and download an application. From there, the craft can take off, and the experience is more fun. On the screen, a button is used to Ascend, descend or rotate the AR Drone, another to lead simply tilting the phone forward, back, left or right. The movement of the iPhone is immediately reproduced by the device. At first use, past one or two minutes of trial and error, it is direct without any difficulty. As soon as one loose commands, the AR Drone stopped in the air, before landing smoothly after a few seconds.

The iPhone screen is also used to display, in real time all that filming the two cameras of the AR Drone: one in the front, the other below. Their goal is not to make a gadget to spy James Bond, but a video game to a new genus, using augmented reality (it is on the side "AR" for "augmented reality"). Placing special markers on his journey, or face two drones, filmed images are modified in real time to reveal targets, missile firing or explosions. You can also use the quadricoptère in a video game scenario, and the see fly on the screen in a virtual 100 setting.

Then, the AR Drone foreshadows the recreation of the future And will it be public Hard to say. Technical prowess is undisputable, but the price is a little high (299 euros or the tariff of a PS3 console). The autonomy of the machine may also disappoint: barely a dozen minutes according to Parrot, then the (removable) battery is about an hour to load. The last limit is imperative need to possess a terminal of Apple to play with... in any case first: a version of the software for the Android phones should follow.