New Zealand born Chris Malloy has developed a hover bike drone. As seen in several movies including Star Wars, hover bikes appeared to be only possible in a distant future. However as proved by Malloy, hover bikes are quickly becoming a present day reality:
A kickstarter campaign was started with a pledge for $60,000 and ended out making just shy of $120,000. It is evident many people wish to see this project develop quickly.
While the current model is impressive, there is still progress to be made before this machine is able to be flown by people. The current drone is only one third of the size of the hover bike and can only be used to deliver drinks or fly unmanned. Now that Malloy has funding, he could develop the drone further to reach his aim of having the bike fly with maneuverability and safety of a helicopter. He claims that the helicopter is inherently complex while the hover bike is simple.
Even the current design of the drone looks more simple and maneuverable than a helicopter. Malloy claims, “From a complexity issue, the hover bike is safer. And it’s built to be robust and flown in environment that a typical helicopter would have trouble with.”
While no news has been released about full scale hover bikes development, the drone is now available to be pre-ordered.
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/technology/kiwi-develops-real-life-hover-bike-2014082414#ixzz3DNEDQ4Ij
