Hover Bike: Star Wars Technology Brought To Life

Originally posted by EndTheLie.com

Image from www.aerofex.com

California-based firm Aerofex created an aerial vehicle with two ducted rotors instead of wheels, which originates from a design abandoned in the 1960s because of stability and rollover problems.

The aerospace firm managed to fix the stability issue by creating a mechanical system — controlled by two control bars at knee-level — that allows the vehicle to respond to a human pilot’s leaning movements and natural sense of balance, Innovation News daily reports.

“Think of it as lowering the threshold of flight, down to the domain of ATV’s [all-terrain vehicles],” said Mark De Roche, an aerospace engineer and founder of Aerofex.

The hover bike does not require special training and could become a useful tool in agriculture, border control and search-and-rescue operations.

“Imagine personal flight as intuitive as riding a bike,” reads the firm’s website. “Or transporting a small fleet of first-responder craft in the belly of a passenger transport. Think of the advantages of patrolling borders without first constructing roads.”

Aerofex does not plan on initially developing and selling a human version of the hover vehicle and instead plans to use the aerial vehicle as a test platform for unmanned drones.

Source: https://EndtheLie.com/2012/08/22/hover-bike-star-wars-technology-brought-to-life-video