Hasta La Gadget!

Most people have seen the Parrot AR.Drone at this point. It made a splash at CES earlier this month, and was the star of the show last year; the little iPhone-controlled quad-copter is a combination toy and reconnaissance drone is perfect for fun neighborhood spy missions. However, what if you could control your Parrot AR.Drone with a Microsoft Surface table? 

These French researchers from Winwise have created an app that uses the same commands as the AR.Drone’s iOS app, just laid out on a Microsoft Surface table that you sit in front of to control. They claim the idea came to them when they were thinking of a way to build a cockpit for the drone, and that the Microsoft Surface was a great way to blow up the image from the drone’s camera. 

The controls work well enough, but considering the drone retails for $299.99 and Microsoft’s Surface systems are “ask if you want one” when it comes to price, it’s unlikely we’ll start seeing them show up in living rooms anytime soon.