A UK entrepreneur has built and flown a jet-engine flying suit reminiscent of the system featured in the Iron Man movies.
The so-called Daedalus suit, designed by former royal marine reservist Richard Browning, combines four miniaturised arm-mounted gas turbine engines and two hip-mounted versions to provide enough lift to enable the wearer to fly.
The suit is Wi-Fi enabled and includes a Heads-Up Display, made from Sony SmartEyeglass, that can highlight key safety and performance indicators, including fuel levels and engine operation. It also allows live data streaming from the suit for both ground monitoring and the HUD system.
The Daedalus took 12 months to build and required relentless testing, phased flights and system evolution prior to the technology patent being filed. However, the start-up has already secured hundreds of thousands of pounds of investment.
So far, Browning has only flown the suit a couple of metres above the ground, but he claims that the system will ultimately be able to fly at several hundred miles per hour, and at thousands of feet.
Commenting on his plans for the suit Browning said: “ Daedalus is simply the beginning of a core technology that has endless potential in aviation, commercial and entertainment applications. We’ve already had a few comparisons to Tony Stark, but this is real-world aeronautical innovation. We are serious about building a world-changing technology business.”
Bit early for April 1st! or just Awsome?
It’s not an April fools, it’s genuinely awesome!
I really like this guy’s vision, and where he has got with his concept- to actually having a real, working prototype is awsome. Very impressive results, and I would be seriously proud of this if this was my work.
BUT …
There appears to be a fundamental design flaw in this concept.
Packing powerful jet engines onto the end of a human’s arms presupposes that said human is physically strong enough to maintain any control of this power for any lengthy period of time that would be actually operationally useful!
I very much doubt it!
Being in a fatigued state when you are coming in for a landing and now are WHOLLY dependent on physically strong muscle control – just when you need it most, and have it least – looks like a suicide mission.
This problem could go away if the thrusters were to be mounted onto an exoskeleton.
There’s lots more else to also try with this promising concept. For example, inflatable wings.
There’s a lot of potential in this type of concept – but only if one recognises that one must design dependence on human exertion OUT of the concept – otherwise the real-life consequences of aerial experiments will likely be fatal.
I could fly that. However, after I’d got out of hospital, I would then need a few months of physiotherapy…
It has been done already
http://www.martinjetpack.com
How much fuel could it carry to take you any reasonable distance!