[CES 2014] Parrot is a company that is known for its robotic products, as we have seen the past with its AR.Drone offering, and it looks like Parrot has no plans of slowing down because at CES 2014, the company has taken the wraps off two new robots in the form of the MiniDrone, which is essentially a smaller version of the AR.Drone, and a Jumping Sumo, which is a robot that can not only roll (thanks to its wheels), but is also capable of jumping up to 80 centimeters high and execute 90-degree turns. Given that it is able to jump, the Jumping Sumo appears to sport a somewhat rugged build that will help absorb some of the impact when it lands.
As it stands the MiniDrone is still a working project and will be powered by a 500MHz processor with 1GB of RAM. The robot will pack a variety of sensors under the hood, such as pressure, ultrasonic, and accelerometer, and a gyroscope, all of which will help to keep the robot afloat, and will also sport a vertical camera. Just like its predecessor, the MiniDrone will be controllable via a smartphone app which pairs with the robot via Bluetooth. Like we said since this is still a work in progress, pricing and availability have yet to be determined. Both are pretty cool products and definitely worth keeping an eye out for, especially for the robot enthusiast.
