QGroundControl and flight recorder bring autonomous flight to AR.Drone

Just like waiting for a bus, not one but two stories about the AR.drone 2.0 come along at once. Using the new 4GB  flight recorder announced last week at CES. A USB GPS and memory in a box device. The AR.Drone 2.0 can now fly predefined paths. According to a video released by Parrot  the ground control station QGroundControl is used to facilitate this.

No word on a price or release date yet. The AR.Drone is turning into the little drone that can. According to Parrot they have sold over 500,000 now should just 1% of those users need autonomous flight that’s 5000 people. Sure it needs to be calm and the camera is not the very best but its a jolly good start for the sub $500 prosumer UA market. Bring on the 3.0….

Cough FAA and 30,000 users in the USA. That sounds more and more like the disputed IBM computer numbers quote

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”