An iPhone-controlled helicopter

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Credit: Parrot
Credit: Parrot

If you think iPhone and iPod Touch games couldn’t get any better, think again.

The AR.Drone, an augmented reality toy helicopter, will be unveiled by Paris-based technology firm Parrot at the Community Electronics Show tomorrow.

The iPhone or the Touch’s Wi-Fi enables users to control the helicopter. With the built-in accelerometers on the device, moving the iPhone directs the helicopter in various directions. Moving the chopper up and down is possible via buttons on the iPhone.

The chopper’s design is pretty cool too. It has four propellers and comes equipped with two one-board video cameras.  The first cam assists in flight while the second cam broadcasts video back on the iPhone.

“For the first time, you can play together with a friend like a flying ace,” Parrot founder Henri Seydoux says. “You pilot your copter and could shoot him in the game, and the video camera makes that connection.”

As of present time, Parrot is already talking to game developers who might want to use this new technology.

“This will bring imagination to the game space,” Seydoux says. “It is a new kind of gaming platform.”

Source: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2010/01/ces-control-this-toy-helicopter-with-your-iphone/1?loc=interstitialskip