From the country of Hungary, by Bay Zoltan Nonprofit Ltd, we have the Flike, what appears to be a tri-copter drone capable of carrying a human being. The design allows for its user to be sitting rather than standing and trying to balance your weight. This seems quite large and hardly in the category of hover board, yet its concept is derived from the hover board challenge. The size expansion is a direct result of the weight it is to carry. In the future perhaps that could change.
Photo courtesy of Flike
This product reminds me more of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars rather than Marty McFly in Back to the Future. From Popular Science....
Flike is a six-rotor copters, with pairs of rotors mounted on each side of three prongs. The pilot sits in the middle, two prongs extending forward and one going directly behind, with a control panel in front of them. Movement is controlled by changing the rotation speed of one of the rotors. Flike’s site promises that it is just as easy as learning to ride a bike, though most bikes come with training wheels and also don’t move in three dimensions.
The New Atlas ....
The aircraft demonstrator features a Y6 layout, with six rotors paired in a coaxial arrangement that are directly driven by individual electric disc motors. These are powered by lithium polymer batteries, which the team says allow for around 15 to 20 minutes of hover flight or 30 to 40 minutes of cruise flight.
Specs according to the company
- 100 kph airspeed
- 30 meter ceiling
- 60 minutes endurance
- max take-off weight, 400 kg
- max person weight, 100 kg (payload)
We can only assume that some sort of pilots license would be required for this devise. The estimated cost is $200,000 in US dollars, which is WOW. I do not see that kind of money flowing towards this item, but I could be wrong. We can only speculate that the devise is functioning as stated. The only video that exists is shown here above and clearly is not the weight of the projected finished product which provides safety around those propellers. I must question sound, and wonder what sitting between 6 copter blades whirling sounds like to the user. While I like the sitting rather than standing concept, I am skittish about these large fan blades.
Again, another product that started out in hover board research has morphed in size and in to a flying bike copter, will time allow for it to morph down again in size? Time will tell.
This is dated material as of September 10, 2016
Sources and References
What is Flike - http://whatisflike.com/
Popular Science - http://www.popsci.com/watch-first-manned-flight-tricopter
The New Atlas - http://newatlas.com/flike-personal-flight-manned-flying-bike/37779/
Tech Times - http://www.techtimes.com/articles/56766/20150531/flike-will-make-every-star-war-fans-wanting-a-personal-skytrike-drool-video.htm
https://steemit.com/news/@jennsky/new-inventions-magazine-8-hover-boards-series-1-zapata-flyboard
https://steemit.com/inventions/@jennsky/new-inventions-magazine-8-series-2-hover-boards-omni-hoverboard
https://steemit.com/news/@jennsky/new-inventions-magazine-8-series-4-hover-boards-the-aerofex
https://steemit.com/inventions/@jennsky/new-inventions-magazine-8-series-5-hover-boards-the-hendo
https://steemit.com/news/@jennsky/new-inventions-magazine-8-series-6-hover-boards-the-arcaboard
