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公司发布自主飞行器Iris

星期一，3D Robotics公司宣布了一项新的四轴飞行器：虹膜，730美元的自主飞行，是完全组装的盒子。虹膜是以3D机器人其他直升机之间--这是一个升级到现有的600美元的旋翼，但低于八和六旋翼直升机。虹膜的主要卖点是一个新的32位PX4的自动驾驶系统，它是一个开放源码的平台取代用于3D机器人以前的直升机自动驾驶仪的APM。

photo信用：Flickr用户cmichel67通过Creative Commons

3D机器人吹捧的虹膜为消费者友好的四轴飞行器，由于一个简单的一体式外壳其自治功能。直升机降落的脚下延伸从转子臂向下，而不是像RTF四的自动驾驶系统支持GPS航点和设置点在地图上飞行的直升机分开腿。像3D机器人的其他直升机，虹膜也可以进入跟踪模式，蹭，保持其高度，或移交责任用户手动控制。那里的房间和用户容量安装高空摄像GoPro电梯。

3D机器人入门后虹膜指出“GPS航点允许专业级的任务的能力，如：地图、脚本的摄影、科学研究和其他应用程序的可重复的飞行计划是必需的。”APM 2.6自动驾驶仪还包括GPS功能，但移到新的平台可能在未来更复杂的飞行能力。一位网友在网站上提到的APM几乎是从程序存储器，限制了它的可扩展性，而有更多的内存和PX4未来的能力更大的空间。

3D机器人将开始出货了730美元quadrocopters 9月16日。他们已经开始预订，虽然3D机器人提醒预购单位主要是针对职业人准备处理固件更新和其他早期采用者的问题。虹膜是针对大众市场，但这意味着它应该是该公司的最具用户友好的无人驾驶飞机尚未。