By Wesley Fenlonon Aug. 20, 2013 at 8:45 a.m.3D Robotics Announces Full

On Monday, 3D Robotics announced a new quadrocopter: the Iris, a $730 autonomous flyer that comes fully assembled out of the box. The Iris is priced in between 3D Robotics other copters--it's an upgrade over the existing $600 quadrotor, but less expensive than the eight- and six-rotor copters. Iris' main selling point is a new 32-bit PX4 autopilot system, which is an open source platform replacing the APM autopilot used in 3D Robotics' previous copters.

Photo credit: Flickr user cmichel67 via Creative Commons

3D Robotics touts the Iris as a consumer-friendly quadrocopter, thanks to a simple all-in-one housing and its autonomous features. The copter's landing feet extend downward from its rotor arms, rather than being separate legs like the RTF Quad's. The autopilot system supports GPS waypoints and flying the copter by setting points on a map. Like 3D Robotics' other copters, Iris can also go into follow mode, loiter, hold its altitude, or turn over manual control responsibility to the user. There's room and lift capacity for a user-mounted GoPro for aerial videography.

3D Robotics' introductory post for Iris points out "GPS waypoints allow for professional-grade mission capabilities, such as: mapping, scripted cinematography, scientific research, and other applications where repeatable flight plans are required." The APM 2.6 autopilot also included GPS functionality, but the shift to the new platform may indicate more sophisticated flight capabilities in the future. One commenter on the site mentions that APM is nearly out of program memory, limiting its expandability, while PX4 has more memory and more room for future capabilities.

3D Robotics will start shipping out the $730 quadrocopters on September 16th. They're already up for pre-order, though 3D Robotics cautions that pre-order units are mainly aimed at pros who are ready to deal with firmware updates and other early adopter issues. Iris is targeted at the mass market, though, which means it should be the company's most user friendly drone yet.

3D Robotics公司發佈自主飛行器Iris

星期一，3D Robotics公司宣佈了一項新的四軸飛行器：虹膜，730美元的自主飛行，是完全組裝的盒子。虹膜是以3D機器人其他直升機之間--這是一個升級到現有的600美元的旋翼，但低於八和六旋翼直升機。虹膜的主要賣點是一個新的32位PX4的自動駕駛係統，它是一個開放源碼的平臺取代用於3D機器人以前的直升機自動駕駛儀的APM。

photo信用：Flickr用戶cmichel67通過Creative Commons

3D機器人吹捧的虹膜為消費者友好的四軸飛行器，由於一個簡單的一體式外殼其自治功能。直升機降落的腳下延伸從轉子臂嚮下，而不是像RTF四的自動駕駛係統支持GPS航點和設置點在地圖上飛行的直升機分開腿。像3D機器人的其他直升機，虹膜也可以進入跟蹤模式，蹭，保持其高度，或移交責任用戶手動控製。那裏的房間和用戶容量安裝高空攝像GoPro電梯。

3D機器人入門後虹膜指出“GPS航點允許專業級的任務的能力，如：地圖、腳本的攝影、科學研究和其他應用程序的可重複的飛行計劃是必需的。”APM 2.6自動駕駛儀還包括GPS功能，但移到新的平臺可能在未來更複雜的飛行能力。一位網友在網站上提到的APM幾乎是從程序存儲器，限製了它的可擴展性，而有更多的內存和PX4未來的能力更大的空間。

3D機器人將開始出貨了730美元quadrocopters 9月16日。他們已經開始預訂，雖然3D機器人提醒預購單位主要是針對職業人準備處理固件更新和其他早期採用者的問題。虹膜是針對大衆市場，但這意味著它應該是該公司的最具用戶友好的無人駕駛飛機尚未。