Parrot Announces A Bug-Inspired 4G Drone - IEEE Spectrum
( June 30, 2021; IEEE Spectrum )
With it's "inspired by nature" design, the drone features a high quality camera, and communications anywhere that a 4G cellular signal is available. It's two obstacle avoidance cameras are able to swivel by 311 degrees, providing the drone with the ability to avoid obstacles in all directions (but not "all directions at once"). It also features autonomous flight and open source software.
Parrot released the Anafi drone almost exactly four years ago. I’m still a fan of the little consumer drone—the design is elegant, it’s exceptionally portable, the camera is great, and it’s easy to fly. But the biggest problem with the Anafi (especially four years later) is that it’s very much not the cleverest of drones, without any of the onboard obstacle avoidance that’s now become the standard. Today, Parrot is announcing the Anafi AI, a butt-forward redesign of the Anafi for pros that adds obstacle avoidance, an enormous camera, and 4G connectivity that allows the drone to be flown to anywhere (and behind any object) where you can get a reliable 4G signal.
Interesting quote on the technical documentation page: "In the animal kingdom, there is no known species that has optical sensors distributed around its body. No insect, bird, fish, or mammal has developed a 'visual perception system' of sensors, despite each species needing to detect obstacles or predators in all directions in order to survive."
Read the rest from IEEE Spectrum: Parrot Announces A Bug-Inspired 4G Drone
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The whole concept is very much innovative and aesthetically alluring. But I think the 4G connectivity feature will limit the global patronization of the product, especially in Africa. 4G internet and perhaps 5G are common in first world countries, yet over here in African and Middle Eastern countries as well as other locations, achieving a stable 4G internet connection is still a huge problem. So I think we might be seeing such products in the cities only- hopefully.
The device does not currently have a commercial version, at the moment it is only aimed at the business market.
It is important to note that if this drone does not have a 4G connection, a traditional Wi-Fi connection can be operated.