A Robot Riding a Hoverbike? You Can Own It
Malloy Aeronautics is offering a scale model hoverbike with a robot rider as a backer reward for its Kickstarter campaign.
It's a bird... It's a plane... It's... A piece of technology riding another piece of technology. Huh.
Created by Malloy Aeronautics, the Drone 3 Kickstarter campaign [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134513-Aero-X-is-a-Hoverbike-You-Can-Own-in-2017], which is less than three days away from ending.
Looking to raise 30,000 pounds (~$50,000), creator Chris Malloy presently has just over double that amount in pledges. We first reported on Malloy's prototype hoverbike [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110956-Australian-Unveils-Prototype-Hoverbike] in 2011, back when its design used two large, ducted fans for lift. Now, Malloy has shifted to a quadcopter design with partially overlapping fans. The prototype can fold up along two hinges and fit into a custom backpack.
[gallery=3092]
Malloy's team is in the final construction phases of the latest manned prototype, and flight testing is slated to begin in a few months.
[kickstarter=1524806320/hoverbike]
Malloy is based in Australia; in the US, the FAA has been banning delivery drones [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/135691-Sorry-Amazon-but-the-FAA-is-Still-Banning-Delivery-Drones]. While I would love to have a hoverbike - even a scale-model one - I wonder what kind of nightmare it may be to regulate airspace if such technology becomes common. Do you see a future in which everyone gets to ride a hoverbike?
Source: Popular Science [http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/watch-robot-ride-hovercycle]
[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/science-and-tech/]
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Malloy Aeronautics is offering a scale model hoverbike with a robot rider as a backer reward for its Kickstarter campaign.
It's a bird... It's a plane... It's... A piece of technology riding another piece of technology. Huh.
Created by Malloy Aeronautics, the Drone 3 Kickstarter campaign [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/134513-Aero-X-is-a-Hoverbike-You-Can-Own-in-2017], which is less than three days away from ending.
Looking to raise 30,000 pounds (~$50,000), creator Chris Malloy presently has just over double that amount in pledges. We first reported on Malloy's prototype hoverbike [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110956-Australian-Unveils-Prototype-Hoverbike] in 2011, back when its design used two large, ducted fans for lift. Now, Malloy has shifted to a quadcopter design with partially overlapping fans. The prototype can fold up along two hinges and fit into a custom backpack.
[gallery=3092]
Malloy's team is in the final construction phases of the latest manned prototype, and flight testing is slated to begin in a few months.
[kickstarter=1524806320/hoverbike]
Malloy is based in Australia; in the US, the FAA has been banning delivery drones [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/135691-Sorry-Amazon-but-the-FAA-is-Still-Banning-Delivery-Drones]. While I would love to have a hoverbike - even a scale-model one - I wonder what kind of nightmare it may be to regulate airspace if such technology becomes common. Do you see a future in which everyone gets to ride a hoverbike?
Source: Popular Science [http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/watch-robot-ride-hovercycle]
[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/science-and-tech/]
Permalink