Video game turns iPhone into a remote control
By siliconindia   |   Friday, 08 January 2010, 21:39 IST   |    1 Comments
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Video game turns iPhone into a remote control
Las Vegas: A video game which allows you to turn your iPhone into a remote control that flies a drone around your house, has been dubbed 'the most awesome' use of augmented reality, at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), reports the Telegraph. In this game, users can fly a drone, resembling a hovering UFO, up to 50 meters away, while chasing imaginary monsters or fighter planes on the screen on their iPhone. The game was the big hit at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The AR Drone game comes in two parts. The first is a light drone, or 'quadricopter', powered by four small but powerful sets of blades. The machine weighs just 11 ounces and measures about 18 inches across. On the drone are two mini video cameras, which send the pictures back to the iPhone. The second part is an application that you download to your iPhone or iPod Touch. This turns the mobile phone into not just a remote control - powered by the device's Wi-Fi - but also a video game. Tilting the mobile phone changes the direction and speed of the flying machine. And on the screen of the iPhone one can see the footage of the house or garden filmed by the drone, as well as imaginary monsters or fighter planes that jump out from behind the sofa or tree. It is the invention of Parrot, a French company that up to now has specialized in Bluetooth technology. Augmented reality is the concept of layering digital information and data over moving pictures of your surroundings. It is already in use on iPhones when users look at Google Maps, for instance, and see restaurants or tourist attractions - including pictures or reviews of those places - layered on top of the map. Cristina Sanz, the Vice President of marketing at Parrot said, "Kids spend ages in front of a computer or TV screen playing games and this gets them off their seats and chasing the drone around the backyard or sitting room. On the screen they see the tree or bush that is in the garden, and then suddenly a monster can jump out at them and they have to shoot it." The gadget will go on sale this summer and is expected to cost less than ?320.

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