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AR.Drone uses Augmented Reality to hunt gamers

We've spoken before about the AR.Drone from Parrot - the quadricopter you can control with your smartphone. It's been on the market for a while now, and while the novelty never wears off of flying around the place using wifi, getting a drone's eye view of the world thanks to the camera, Parrot has decided to expand the gadget's gaming abilities, by developing a new, two-person Augmented Reality project: AR.Hunter.

A confrontation between Human and Machine, in Augmented Reality...

So - it's as simple as it looks. To play AR.Hunter, both players need an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. One player uses theirs to control the AR.Drone. The other wears the jaunty orange-and-green cap, and runs away.

Then it's just a game of cat and mouse. The Drone chases the target using the on-board camera and augmented reality to view the area and fire virtual missiles when the target is close enough.

There's a twist though, the target can fire back using the camera and AR capabilities of their smartphone, when the Drone is within range.

AR.Hunter
(Click to enlarge)

Given the remarkable range of the AR.Drone - and the fact the pilot doesn't have to stay still - this could be a pretty awesome experience somewhere with a lot of cover.

The hat, of course, is specifically-coloured to trigger the AR.Drone's detector - if you're a little more fashion conscious, you can play without the cap, but the AR.Drone pilot will not be able to shoot the desired target (the target can still fire at the Drone, however).

While the cap itself will set you back a few bucks, and the AR.Drone's not cheap, the AR.Hunter App is completely free, and hanging out in the App Store right now.

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