We are living in such a fast pacing world today where ideas are being transformed into reality at an all time high. The seemingly magical sci fi gadgets like Drones, smartwatches, Virtual Reality Headsets, Self driving cars are a reality now. Another such wide area in limelight is the Augmented Reality concept. It was spurred in action when Microsoft announced their AR Headset HoloLens. Well now a very ambitious drone making company Walkera with Walkera AirBot and Walkera MR Drone is ready to amalgamate AR with Racing Quadcopters, How ? read on to know.
The company has announced two quadcopters AirBot and MR Drone specifically made for AR Gaming. The highlight here being the FPV App of their’s which is capable of turning the real world into an Augmented gaming arena for players. There is so much to describe here so I will try to put in an organised way.
MODES
Both the drones are capable of using mobile phone to land Airbot Go App. You can play virtual flight games in the real world. All you have to do is, just find an open field, start your Walker quadcopter, and its your track and battlefield!
Racing mode: This mode sets up a virtual track in a real scenario, exercise your flight here, and promote your flying skills to a whole new level.
Battle mode: Here a powerful fighter will appear around you, start firing, shooting down your virtual enemy planes to be victorious ruler of the Aerospace. Walkera has promised to add new version that can be multiplayer in the future.
Gold Mode: In this mode simply collect the gold coins in accordance with the designated routes, you will get clearance reward after complete the task. The maps become difficult after some levels and will test your flying skills.
VR Mode : If above wasn’t enough, you also get a complete First Person fully immersive VR mode wherein you can wear your VR headset and divulge into FPV action as if you are sitting in the drone.
DESIGN
AirBot: Design wise both the Drones have their different design languages, the AirBot has Compact, streamlined design, great sense of future technology, flawless smooth white body. Wheelbase of olny 280mm, weighs only about 700 grams, ultimate lightweight & easy to carry.
MR DRONE: The MR Drone has more ripped design, its hardcore quadcopter with all the basic elements of the drone visible and accessible. It has 2 long visible antennas and bright focused LED lights on the front.
HARDWARE
AirBot : It has a Main Rotor Diameter of 280mm, A Satellite positioning module with Dual GPS. Speaking about the transmitter it works at a Frequency : 2.4G, Channel : 4CH, Gyro:6 Axis, Transmitter Battery: 7.4 V 6000mAh Standby time: 48 hours and the maximum effective signal distance is above 2km. The camera is its biggest advantage, the Sensor size is : 1/2.3” and Resolution: 12MP capable of taking stills of resolution : 16M(4640*3480) , 12M(4000*3000), 8M(3264*2448), 5M(2592*1944) Video resolution:
- UHD: 4096x2160p 25 fps, 3840x2160p 30 fps
- FHD: 1920x1080p 60 fps
- HD : 1280x720p 120 fps
Coming towards the FPV It has an FPV control distance of 800m over a Frequency of 5.8G. The drone has a battery of capacity 5200mAh 7.6V Li-Po type giving you a flight time of over 20mins.
MR Drone : Here you get a Receiver of type DEVO-RX717 and ESC : FCS-250(MR Drone) with a Battery of 11V 2200mAh. Talking about the Transmitter it is DEVO F8 measuring 182 x 173 x 79 mm and works at a Frequency : 2.4G, we get a Battery of 6000mAh Lipo 2S and a Standby time of 8 hours with a control distance of 1.5km. You also get a Game Box Model: VCT-02 and Size: 86 x 86 x 80 mm woking on Devices of iOS/Android with the Game APP: MR Drone. The biggest difference between the two quadcopters being the camera, here you have a Camera: 800TVL capable of transmitting clear stable FPV.
Besides the gaming, Augmented reality, racing, FPV features you also get the usual drone features like the one key landing / return. The
Walker AirBot and
Walker MR Drone are priced at $469 and $649 respectively and can be bought
here or
here.
