Drones are everywhere these days. They’re delivering parcels, taking selfies, rescuing disaster victims and winning photography competitions. Soon they will be taking to the waves too.
Drone manufacturer Parrot’s new generation of MiniDrones feature not one but a whole team of specialised smartphone-controlled vehicles. There’s one that can jump, one with LED headlights, one that can carry a little Lego man on its back and, most impressively, one that can power a boat.
The Parrot Hydrofoil works by attaching the mini-drone to the hydrofoil vessel, using the four propellers to drive the boat forward. According to the company, the Hydrofoil can reach a max speed of 5.4 knots (10km/h). Nippy. You can also detach the drone and use it in the air, where it can supposedly reach a speed of 18km/h.
On the ground the Jumping Night and Jumping Race models can both jump 2.5ft in the air, while the Airborne Night can light up the ground with LED headlights. The Airborne Cargo can carry a plastic man and, according to the company website “opens the imagination to plunge the user into stratospheric adventures and futuristic movies”. I’ve no idea what that means, but it sounds exciting.
The MiniDrones cost between £100 and £140, so expect to see plenty of buzzing cameras in the sky and on the local pond come Christmastime.
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