TECHNOLOGY MARCHES... EVEN FASTER THAN I THOUGHT: VIA GLOBAL GUERRILLAS THE 199 DOLLAR DRONE COMBAT PILOT

http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2012/02/mr-drone-and-the-199-universal-dronepilot.html

Mr. Drone and the $199 CombatPilot

IF there is anyone on this earth that has a claim to the title of Mr. Drone, it's Chris Anderson (the only other contender is one of my favorite writers/biologists: E.O. Wilson).
This is one of those increasingly common cases where a person's hobby (expert amateur) becomes much more important than the work they get paid for (which in most cases is typically dull and fits within the category of: we do what we must so we can do what we want...).
In contrast, his love for drone technology in combination with his prodigious skills as a media front man, has radically accelerated the emergence and the democratization of autonomous drone technology.
For example: The ArduPlane.  A conversion kit that, in the language of the promotion, can:

Convert any RC airplane into a fully-autonomous UAV!

Or the ArduCopter, ArduRover...
For all of that, one of the coolest projects he's helping along is the ArduPilotMega.
What is it?  It's a fully functional Universal DronePilot.  It has a triple core autopilot.  A complete motion sensor package that includes precision pressure, GPS, magnetometer, etc.  2 way telemetry.  Mission planning system.  Flash data storage.  And best of all for you scriptkiddies out there: it will soon include Python for acrobatic/maneuver programming.  

vs.