Australian Unveils Prototype Hoverbike

[tahrey]

I know I've posted this pic before, but if this takes us a bit closer to

then I'm all for it.

(not-quite-posted-yet edit: Fuck me in the ass, those crazy japanese mothers made a working one! Well... it's a cable-towed glider, and it looks a bit too bulky for one person to carry around a la the source material, but given that it's based off something that was entirely made up and mostly sized/shaped for artistic effect and has still flown better than the Wrights' first plane, I'm impressed 85 different ways to sunday and back. Now stick some kind of RC plane turbine in the centre aperture and let the fun times roll!)

Not sure VTOL fans are the way to go, though. It'd be alright for ground effect, but the sheer amount of power you'd need to achieve and maintain flight at 10,000ft would mean any practically-sized fuel tank (say, that of a large motorcycle) would be drained so fast you might not be able to go up that high, fly for a mile in a straight line at top speed, and safely come back down to earth. Batteries and hydrogen cells would have no chance. Some kind of fusion powerplant may be the only practical solution.

Capcha: "men ingame"

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I'd say it's plausible, but probably a very finicky way to transport yourself. If it actually works I'd totally want one although considering where I live I'd have some jealous asshole just run it over with his truck while I was in the store picking up groceries.

GAH SAME HERE.

there are so so so so many ignorant truck owners from where i'm from...they have their "BIG OLE MERICNNNNN TRUUUHHHHCKKK! HURRRR HURRRRRRRR!!!" and fucking do whatever the hell they want on the road.

hell last week i had to slam on my brakes goin 45 down this one street, in which it's a nice open flat street with no trees or anything by it, so you can't bring that into the equation/blame, i was clearly within a good 40 feet or so in the right lane(2 lanes going west, big median between the other lanes so swerving not an option), and not for a good half mile or so was anyone coming so he clearly could have waited an extra 2 seconds, and this guy takes a wide ass right turn taking up the inside lane and my lane with his F-350 (fuckhead weighing 350 lbs of dipshit more like it), in which i slam on the brakes and swerve into the inside lane to barely dodge the side of his truck taking off the top of my honda, and in that process he waves his arm out the window flicking me off while he roars his engine to barely make it to 40 while i blow by him giving him the same courtesy right back.

[gross over generalization, i just hate how much i fucking run into it where i'm from]

 

[The Lugz]

i found a great comparison to this, with explanations experiments and comments from flight experts ( saying things like 'the military scrapped this after pouring millions at it' )

http://www.megavideo.com/?v=Y62E7VJ1

yep, that's right myth-busters

and before you comment on the experiment, that's not the part i'm particularly interested in showing people it's the clips of the military experiments and how machines built by top scientists with literally millions of dollars invested in them simply cant remain as stable as a light helicopter, cant be remotely fuel efficient, would pretty much deafen you.. and have a laundry list of other flaws
'blowing' someone off the ground isn't the hard part, and that's difficult enough the damn near impossible bit is stabilizing the flight, which can be done with difficulty.. using gyroscopes, gps equipment, and a lot of computing power, but the damning point that's pretty-much insurmountable is having enough fuel to go anywhere worth flying
these things are so incredibly fuel inefficient that it boggles the mind
'very good' combustion engines struggle to better 30% efficiency
you are spending 90+ of the power you generate from that holding yourself stationary in the air at ground level

that makes any lateral movement between 3-5% fuel efficient

it's so impractical it's a joke with current technology
give it 30 years, maby
right now? really unlikely.

this guy building his hover-bike on the same technology is either a scam artist looking for pre-orders, or just plain deluded
even if he can stabilize the bike, he cant change the laws of physics and allow efficient flight out of that vehicle
the performance claims are simply off the wall

which is a shame, because i'd love a hover-bike, hover platform, or fan-backpack
but it just isn't happening, not right now and certainly not for the price they claim
be repaired to dish out 1m+ for a device capable of the claims on that webpage
when it's possible, and it is 'when' because mad people are obsessed with it so it'll happen eventually
do yourself a favour and don't pre-order one, just a heads-up

 

[Insomniac55]

I also have major concerns for longitudinal stability considering that the centre of gravity appears to be above the fans, rather than below as in a helicopter, making rollover a near certainty...

...nor do they have a variable angle of attack like on a conventional helicopter (to tilt the rotor disc forward by creating more lift at the rear), so no comparison there either. The only theoretical method for fast forward flight would be to tilt the entire frame into the approaching airflow...

I'm likewise skeptical, but not for those reasons. It's entirely possible for an aircraft such as this to be flyable. Control in the pitch direction can be easily achieved by varying the speed of each prop. This principal is used in small rc vehicles called quadcopters: Four fixed pitch, independantly variable-speed rotors provide all lift and control. However, I'm not sure if this would work at the sort of scale as this bike (rapidly adjusting the speed of lightweight plastic propellers is one thing... Adjusting the speed of large props like those on the 'hoverbike' rapidly enough to become stable is another). I'll get to the unwanted torque effects of varying the prop's speeds later.

Control in the roll axis could be achieved by small vanes placed under each prop, to direct some airflow sidewards. Similar control methods have been used in other 'jetpack' devices which rely on ducted fans.

To prevent yaw due to the prop's torque, counter-rotating props would have to be used (as in, the front fan spins clockwise and the rear fan spins counterclockwise) Yaw control could be achieved by varying the speed of each prop, but of course this would also result in unwanted pitching. So the most likely method would be to simply use the same vanes which I suggested for roll control, but acting in opposition to eachother, resulting in yaw. This method of yaw control would also be tied to the pitch control: As varying the relative speeds of the props in order to create pitching movements, would also result in yaw, the vanes would have to counteract this exactly to create independant yaw and pitch control.

Now, such a system is by nature very unstable, just as modern RC quad-copters are naturally unstable. However, the addition of gyroscopic sensors and some (relatively) simple programming can create a very stable craft.


So, this design is possible, but I can't see it being ideal... it just looks too unstable to me. A quad-copter design (with a bit more leverage on roll control) seems much more promising.


Also, forgive me if I misunderstand you, but helicopters don't fly fowards by simply tilting the rotor disk. The swashplate causes the blades to rapidly vary their pitch as they complete each revolution, resulting in more lift at a certain point in the rotor disk. This pitches the whole heli forwards, which results in forward flight.

 

[Firehound]

Once they get it to work, I'll want.

 

[Naturality]

If building a hoverbike was as simple as sticking a few fans to a seat, it would have been done decades ago during the '60s when people were messing around with hovercrafts and the like.

 

[squidbuddy99]

Why the hell did it take so long for us to make this?! Are scientists too busy making 3D watches to make the stuff we thought we'd have by now 40 years ago? Forget about cancer research, where the hell is my goddamn holodeck??

 

[RootbeerJello]

We've had them for a while now [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hovercraft]

Hovercraft do not go as fast or as high as this. According to the claims, the hoverbike can do 170 MPH at 10,000 feet. I guess that could be possible, but I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Finally an invention we can be proud of!

Apart from the Black box
and the Hills hoist
and wire-guided torpedoes.

 

[Alon Shechter]

First Japan with their hovering sphere of awesome, now Australia?! We can NOT let America be beaten in the hover technology race! Someone build a hover tank! FAST!

No, man.
A Hover PLANE!
...Wait...

 

[kidd25]

MUST STEA' i mean buy...yeah buy it... what¡?

 

[boag]

I love the fact that this machine might actually exist and work, but I am also deadly afraid of mutilations, lacerations and possible decapitations.

Although riding at 120 on a 2 ton steel vehicle shouldnt make me feel safe either, perhaps it is an unconcious fear taht will fade once I see it working.

 

[standokan]

I´m feeling that the next Tron movie´ll involve kangaroos... mate

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Nice design.

Anyway, assuming this is real and it really does work, I still don't want one. Can you guess what happens when a big bug or a bird hits one of those fans? Yeah, no thanks, my feet are staying firmly on the ground.

I would assume they'd be clever enough to install a protective grate.

 

[AvoJez]

...but helicopters don't fly fowards by simply tilting the rotor disk. The swashplate causes the blades to rapidly vary their pitch as they complete each revolution, resulting in more lift at a certain point in the rotor disk. This pitches the whole heli forwards, which results in forward flight.

More or less, I think we're both talking about the same thing. The swashplate causes the AoA to increase as the rotor is passing through the aft portion of its rotation and this has the effect of tilting the disc (somewhat), which in turn pitches the aircraft. To generate forward speed, a helicopter will need pitch down and collective-up, but the initial pitch is cause by some rotor disc tilt, generated by increased lift aft of the rotor hub.

The result to an observer outside the aircraft is that the entire aircraft pitches as a solid object, however the view from inside is that the rotor disc does tilt. You're a probably more correct, though, as more speed will be generated as a result of pitching the entire aircraft rather than just tilting the disc. A good example where disc-tilt can be demonstrated is a wheeled helicopter taxing, such as an S-70 Blackhawk. Because it is on the ground the airframe cannot pitch, though it can still taxi forwards under its own power.

I like your theories on stable flight for the hover bike, however the hardware you mention doesn't appear evident in the photos, hence my scepticism. Not to mention his outlandish claims on the performance envelope!