Parrot announces new Disco drone, ditches quadrocopter design for wings

http://www.dronethority.com/blog/2016/1/4/parrot-announces-new-disco-drone-ditches-quadrocopter-design-for-wings

by dronethority • 11 years ago

49 27 11 years ago

dronethority.com

monk_e_boy2• 11 years ago

Is it water proof? Does it float?

codezero3• 11 years ago

Just curious – are these important factors?

By that, I mean, is the current Parrot offering water proof, and do they float? If they aren't and do not, I doubt this will deter buyers who would otherwise be buying a quadcopter from Parrot.

Who offers a water proof, floating drone?

elbrownos• 11 years ago

https://www.lily.camera/

monk_e_boy2• 11 years ago

For me yes. For everyone else - I have no idea. The world is full of water, it even falls from the sky.

niels_olson• 11 years ago

At 50 mph, it won't be waterproof after it hits the water, regardless!

nissehulth• 11 years ago

For some reason, I laughed at "pilot tube" (it's "pitot tube". I guess I'm tired.

Interesting concept, though.

RickHull• 11 years ago

Poor copying from the source http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/04/parrots-newest-drone-has-wi... I'm guessing:

The Disco also features a pitot tube, which is typically used on planes to measure airspeed.

dronethority• 11 years ago

Mistake, and corrected. Sorry.

x5n1• 11 years ago

45 minute flight time is awesome! going to be so much fun to fly this around with fpv goggles.

flardinois• 11 years ago

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/04/parrots-newest-drone-has-wi...

yial• 11 years ago

It's cool.. but I'm just not that impressed! People have been making wings that have rather tremendous flight times and top speeds for years... coupled with a Pixhawk or an Eagle Tree vector and you have something that will easily out perform. However this is a nice off the shelf solution.

Qworg• 11 years ago

Off the shelf is exactly why Parrot is so successful. It is harder than it looks to make it work perfectly every time for laypeople.

magic_man• 11 years ago

You won't be able to hover with that type of drone. With quad copter design you have more control on how the drone moves.

mbrameld• 11 years ago

In return you get longer flight times.

Etheryte• 11 years ago

What if I slow down midair, let the nose drop and then go full reverse? Like a helicopter. Sure, it will spin uncontrollably, but I would be hovering.

ultimoo• 11 years ago

Reading another post[1], it appears that the drone will reject maneuvers that could crash it.

"During the flight, the autopilot prevents any false maneuver which could bring the flying wing down."

[1] http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/4/10711178/new-parrot-disco-d...

c54• 11 years ago

Think of it like a propeller plane: the prop is enough to pull the thing forward but it doesn't generate more thrust than the weight of the plane

(thrust generated by the prop + the lift generated by the wings gets the plane in the air)

all of this attempting to have the prop helicopter the plane in the air is called a 'stall

baddox• 11 years ago

This airframe is unlikely to have that capability, but so-called "3D flying" is a very well-established niche in the RC model aircraft hobby.

Start at 5:15 for an exciting transition from fast flight into steady hovering (note that yaw from the propeller can be corrected for): http://youtu.be/DDyRpiv5_ps

I haven't seen this much, but people have put collective pitch propellers on 3D models to support fast thrust reversing: http://youtu.be/6YkkZw9GVaU

Full-scale stunt planes can hover too: http://youtu.be/qvXGATdWhEk

codezero3• 11 years ago

I'm guessing (and really, just guessing) that they did a lot of surveys and found that a majority of their customers were using the flight plans, and moving over distances rather than spending a lot of time hovering. If that's true, a winged model makes all kinds of sense.

mentos• 11 years ago

Trying to figure out a more compelling use case for this drone..

What about a laser tag drone that hooks up to google cardboard? So two kids can have a dogfight in their backyard and maybe you can even go as far as to augment the sky with virtual drones for them to work together to down?

solomatov• 11 years ago

That's thing is definitely not for kids. From the video I see that it might get to quite a high speed and its quite heavy.

lvs• 11 years ago

Second video has a shot of a feature list that says "Linux SDK."

malandrew• 11 years ago

Are there any drones that marry quadcopter with fixed wing so the drone can switch modes? i.e. fixed wing for distance and speed and switch to quadcopter mode for maneuverability and staying in a fixed location.

bri3d• 11 years ago

Google Project Wing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRTNvWcx9Oo

Transition Robotics Quadshot: http://transition-robotics.com/

Animats• 11 years ago

Yes.[1]

The HQ drone takes off as a quadrotor on electric power, then transitions to gasoline-powered airplane mode. The quadrotors stop parallel to the fuselage, for minimum drag. Once airborne, it can stay up for 5-15 hours. This is most useful when you want to launch from a truck or boat and go searching for something.

[1] https://latitudeengineering.com/

PatentTroll• 11 years ago

Back in my day we called fix winged drones "model airplanes" /s

Parrot announces new Disco drone, ditches quadrocopter design for wings

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