Parrot’s Disco drone takes paper planes to the next level

The drone has a wingspan of 1 meter, and a length on 50 cm, weighing in at the hard to believe weight of 700 grams.

Most of the non-military drones flying around out there take the from of a sturdy quadcopter, but Parrot’s new Disco is a move to shake it up.

There’s also no sense-and-avoid system, so if you’re headed straight for a wall or tree you’re on your own. All of that kit means the drone can automatically land after 45 minutes of airtime drain the rechargeable battery dry. One of these new products that shows a decent amount of potential is the Parrot Disco remote controlled winged drone.

Besides its design, the drone’s other features are pretty similar to the other drones Parrot has produced.

Speaking of pricing, Parrot gives no hints, but if the controller is $500, you have to assume this will at least be in the same price range as their more popular quadcopter drones, in the $1500 range.

The Parrot Disco works with the company’s Skycontroller and FreeFlight 3 app, that’ll allow the user to record or stream video on the Disco’s onboard camera, you can even use a pair of First Person View glasses to get fully immersed in the experience. “You throw the flying wing, it gains its altitude and turns autonomously, and turns in the sky until you take control of it. During the flight, the autopilot prevents any false manoeuvre which could bring the flying wing down”. Similar to an airplane, Disco also has a pitot tube which is used to measure airspeed. Aside from the cool built and sober colors (black and gray), Disco is potentially more intelligent than its competitors.

We hope to test the Parrot Disco when it is released in the coming months, and then we’ll see just what the video capture of the 14-million pixel sensor is capable of producing.