[CES 2014] Parrot shows off its yet-to-launch low-cost Mini Drone & Two-Wheeler

During demo sessions, Parrot’s AR Drone has become a fan favorite, and a leader in the quadcopter space. Able to be piloted by an iPhone, a leap-motion, a Myo, or almost any other controller on the market today, the quadcopters like the AR Drone have been used to shoot live performances at Versailles, to shoot beautiful montages of New York city, or just for the fun of flying a fast-moving quadcopter around the skies.

In Las Vegas this week, the team behind the AR Drone are showing off the flexibility of their technology, demo-ing two new ambitious devices. The first is a Mini-Drone, and works exactly as you would expect. A scaled down version of the AR Drone, the mini-drone packs a mighty punch, as tested out by the guys over at The Verge, and is meant to be just as stable ( & safe) as the larger AR Drone.

The mini-drone will likely be priced under the $299 pricing for the AR Drone, and Parrot hopes to attract adolescent users (& their parents’ credit card) with the scaled down, more affordable version.

Parrot’s second product harkens back to the days of RC cars, reminding me of the old Turbo Flip r/c cars – I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but RC cars certainly haven’t made the transition from consumer electronics to smartphone-adapted toy, so perhaps kids  (& former RC Car-using parents) will get on board. Check out this Video courtesy of The Verge!

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In addition to its smartphone-connected toys, Parrot has a wide range of connected object offerings, such as Parrot Asteroid, a connected car solution, Flower Power, a connected home solution for monitoring plants, and a Zik, a wireless headphone line (as well as other wireless audio solutions). The company has found a certain talent in identifying markets that need hardware innovation and hitting just the right chord in the high-price range market – their product positioning, line & pricing makes them out to be the Apple of the connected objects world. Apple may manufacture the remote, but there’s a good chance someone’s pointing our connecting that remote to a device made by Parrot.

Photo Courtesy of The Verge