The Parrot Disco drone might be the fastest consumer drone around; it's also very smart

Parrot, famous for their AR.Drone series of consumer drones, has added yet another drone to their lineup. This one’s called the Disco, and unlike regular quad-rotor drones, this one’s based on a fixed-wing design.  The Disco features a flying wing design akin to the B2 bomber. There’s a single motor at the rear, a camera module in the front and winglets at the tips of the wings double as vertical stabilisers. [caption id=“attachment_331680” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Stealthy, silent and sinister, here’s the B2 ‘Spirit’ bomber.[/caption] The design is more conducive to fast, forward flight, as is evident from Parrot’s claims that the drone can hit speeds of 80km/h while offering a flight time of 45 minutes. Only the best quad-rotor drones can even hit 60km/h and few offer battery life over 20-25 minutes.

The Parrot Disco drone weighs a mere 725g (that’s about 200g less than a MacBook) with a wingspan of 45 inches. The length is limited to 22 inches. Parrot claims that the drone is made from expanded polypropylene (a kind of plastic foam) with reinforced carbon tubes to reinforce the frame. While it may look like a fancy aircraft on the surface, setting the Parrot apart from most other drones is C.H.U.C.K. (Control Hub and Universal Computer Kit). Chuck is the brains of the Parrot Disco. It does things like automate take-off and landing, abide by geofencing rules and offer assisted piloting.  A slew of sensors, including an altimeter, air-speed indicator, ultrasonic sensor and vertical camera provide Chuck with all the information it needs. The drone also uses an inertial navigation system and has full support for GPS and GLONASS. The engine is also said to use a thrust-reversal system to control speed. [caption id=“attachment_331674” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Parrot Cockpitglass[/caption] The automatic takeoff and landing system simplifies take-offs and landings by, well, automating them. You simply power up the drone and fling it into the air; it’ll automatically gain altitude till it reaches 50m and then begin circling you till you give an input. The automatic landing system will bring the drone down below 5.7m before slowing it down enough to glide to a stop. [caption id=“attachment_331675” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Parrot Skycontroller 2[/caption] The assisted piloting system will do its best to prevent you from stalling the drone, among other things. In terms of accessories, you can get yourself a Parrot Cockpitglass system — it’s like Samsung’s Gear VR — which offers a first-person view of the world from the Disco’s front camera. The remote is a new generation design and is called Parrot Skycontroller 2. Parrot claims a range of 1.9km for the device. A compatible app on Android and iOS will also let you stream video to said devices. Parrot also offers 32GB of onboard storage for recording video when you can’t stream. The Parrot Disco drone is expected to retail for $1,299 (around Rs 87,000) and will include the Skycontroller 2 and Cockpitglass system.