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Inventor who built an Iron Man-style flight suit has flown it at TED
- H4CK3RM4N 9y agoI thought the point of Iron Man's suit was that the Arc Reactor allowed for stupidly high powered "repulsor beams", which then allowed for force/heat to the generated. This just seems like another Jetpack style design.
- BenMosher 9y agoI feel like the combo of arm + leg + back thrusters and an exoskeleton are sufficient to warrant the analogy.
- mattmanser 9y agoInteresting that it looks like he ditched the leg thrusters and switched to a back pack, I wonder if trying to control all limbs at once was too complicated.
- joelrunyon 9y agoIf you've flown anything like the flyboard - it's quite a bit like snowboarding where the balance required from your feet quickly wears out your leg muscles. Controlling power from your backpack doesn't wear the body down nearly as much. [1] Flyboard - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Bm3cs9TFo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Bm3cs9TFo
- ralfd 9y agoEven better: Flyboard Air https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deyMNPbaRpA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deyMNPbaRpA It looks insane. Though more Green Goblin than Iron Man.
- greenhatman 9y agoThat really does look insane. I wonder if this type of thing would be practical in the military. I guess it would probably make soldiers too vulnerable for the most part.
- Neliquat 9y agoBut perfect for a 'One man army' movie. Or recruiting film. Cough cough.
- lloeki 9y agoHere's a random thought regarding an active exoskeleton, could help with both leg strain and limb control: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14218746 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14218746
- stronglikedan 9y agoI think he just moved the leg thrusters up to his arms, making two on each arm. At least that's the way it looks from this pic [0], where he has only one thruster on each limb. He may have had the backpack all along, but I'm not sure. [0]http://i.imgur.com/YTz3Kza.png http://i.imgur.com/YTz3Kza.png
- maxerickson 9y agoThat's the movie premise. In the comics, the first flying suit had chemical jets. And the early suits just ran on batteries.
- 1ba9115454 9y agoI can't wait to see my girlfriends face when I land in the back garden wearing one of these.
- MrBuddyCasino 9y agoHackaday discussion: https://hackaday.com/2017/04/13/daedalus-jet-suit-takes-to-the-skies/ https://hackaday.com/2017/04/13/daedalus-jet-suit-takes-to-t... It was noted that at least some shots were most likely fake. I guess this validates it as real?
- Robotbeat 9y agoIt was noted by someone in the comments. I think I disagree. I don't see why this couldn't work, and the jet engines in question do produce sufficient thrust and are cheap enough that you could buy like 6 of them (52lbf thrust each), with a total of 312lbf of thrust, enough for this kind of project, for the price of a new car: http://www.chiefaircraft.com/jc-p200-rx.html http://www.chiefaircraft.com/jc-p200-rx.html How much does a good rigging setup cost plus good professional video editing software to edit out such lines? I suspect it's not even much cheaper than making this work. (Particularly since you need to buy the jet engines anyway.) I always wonder why people think something is fake when the real thing would actually be easier (if more dangerous) and cheaper than faking it.
- MrBuddyCasino 9y agoIf you look at the specific time code mentioned, you can clearly see that the back of his shirt is lifted by something that looks like an invisible cable, and that his movement in the air indeed looks like he's being pulled. But then the astronauts walking on the moon didn't look real to some people either, so we should definitely give him the benefit of the doubt.
- noobiemcfoob 9y agoSomething about combining multiple jet engines firing from four independent control points leads me to think monkeys might not be the best at predicting its movement. "looks like he's being pulled" in comparison to what example of standard flight suit movement?
- saalweachter 9y agoEh, it's always been my understanding that the problem with rocket packs (and by extension, this) was fuel. Wingless flight -- and believe it or not, helicopters are "winged" flight, which is why they can "glide" (autorotate) -- requires insane fuel consumption. Someone figuring out how to strap jet engines to themselves and not instantly die is impressive, but it's not really solving the hard problem. The "10 minutes" claim is probably already based on loading up with the maximum amount of fuel the person can carry - add more and you don't get off the ground without adding another engine, which burns more fuel... So I find the claim totally believable, and impressive for what it is, but it's not the sort of thing that has me reaching for my wallet to throw money at the guy.
- teddyh 9y agoGoing by the video, it’s less of a “flying” suit and more of a “hover” suit.
- Fradow 9y agoQuote from the text: "Mr Browning said it is easily capable of flying at 200mph (321km/h) and an altitude of a few thousand feet. But, for safety reasons, he keeps the altitude and speed low."
- mikejb 9y ago"Safety" - he's technically correct, but I believe it is guaranteed death if he'd try it: "The suit can currently fly uninterrupted for around 10 minutes." That leads me to the assumption that if he climbs up to a few thousand feet or goes full throttle to reach that speed, he'll be out of fuel faster than he can break & land.
- the8472 9y agoadding a parachute might help, at least once he's high enough.
- rsl7 9y agoSounds like the next extreme sport. rocket up.. wingsuit/parachute down.
- chinathrow 9y agoYves "Jetman" Rossy does that on the way down. Up with a helo, flying with a wing, propulsion jet engines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNaZCDhvh88 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNaZCDhvh88
- joncrocks 9y agoI can jump over buildings with a single bound. But for safety reasons I only jump a foot or so off the ground. :-)
- jlebrech 9y agocould tethered electric ducted fans raise someone in a wingsuit to a suitable altitude? as an alternative to this.
- ijafri 9y agospoiler: it's not an iron-man style. >TED 2017: UK 'Iron Man' demonstrates flying suit (Original title of the post) Keyword analysis: TED, BBC, Ironman. Conclusion: British Clickbait.
- bhouston 9y agoIt has jets in the rough location of the hands. Very similar to Ironman, just not with the compact form factor that he has.
- noxToken 9y agoI fail to see how this is clickbait. Can you explain how this suit's flight mechanism is dissimilar to Iron Man's Mk III from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-19999). He's obviously not using repulsors for flight, but the thrust for suit is hand mounted just like the Mk III.
- backpropaganda 9y agoI can imagine a sport developing out of it though, even if it's not a full suit. Imagine gymnastics or skateboarding with this suit.
- idiot74 9y ago> He was inspired by his father, an aeronautical engineer and inventor, who killed himself when Mr Browning was a teenager. Was this really necessary? Imagine the reaction of the guy: "Oh cool, there's a bbc article on me.. oh... :(".
- weego 9y agoI don't think it's a spoiler for him at this point in life.
- idiot74 9y agoYeah but it can be unpleasant when other people casually bring up tragedies about your life randomly when the context isn't quite right.
- ralfd 9y agoI also found this sentence bizarre. It doesn't add any important information to the reader and makes it sound he was inspired by the suicide.
- knorker 9y agoYeah. It sounds like his father killed himself, so now this guy is going to do it too, albeit in a more spectacular way.
- dominotw 9y agoPerhaps something to do with Howard Stark's tragic death when tony was young?
- SmellyGeekBoy 9y agoThe phrase "killed himself" seems like a really odd choice. I assumed the author meant in some kind of aeronautical accident, but perhaps it's just a really crass way of saying "committed suicide".
- 9y ago
- bhouston 9y agoA much much better video with a lot more details, accidents, back story, etc.... but it is covered with Red Bull logos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=291&v=JinhIHIF8Eo https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=291&v=JinhIHIF8E...
- joelrunyon 9y agoRed Bull consistently does some of the best advanced extreme sports out there. Awesome to have a company like that backing up their ethos and I'm happy to look at their logo because of the basic fact of how cool the stuff they're doing is. This is content marketing done right.
- manojlds 9y agoThe craziest thing is they have two F1 teams.
- godzillabrennus 9y agoThe only downside is that they are effective at promoting a beverage that is likely to have a negative impact on the health of the consumers who partake.
- joelrunyon 9y agoNot liking the product is different than not appreciating the quality of the marketing.
- lloeki 9y agoInteresting, for now control seems to be extremely raw but I wonder how much an active exoskeleton could help in making this more approachable, both in terms of not needing as much muscle (both strength and endurance) as well as guiding the pilot into more stability.
- Shivetya 9y agothe arm strength that appears necessary seems high, I would hope there is some sort of exo to assist with that or perhaps logic in the motors to shut down if they get into an odd angle
- tener 9y ago> He was inspired by his father, an aeronautical engineer and inventor, who killed himself when Mr Browning was a teenager. Inspired he was; his invention clearly has the potential to kill the user. He may end up doing the same thing his father did, though surely I don't wish him such fate.
- eps 9y agoWho peed in your espresso this morning?
- tener 9y agoThe espresso machine is broken. You can see why I'm upset! Seriously though, there is a long (and sad) tradition of flying machine inventors (or engineers) getting killed by their own inventions. Looking at this particular one it has all the flashy features ('Look! I am the Iron Man!') and none of the safety ones.
- psyc 9y agoParaglider here. Having met many hundreds of flying contraption enthusiasts, I'd say as a population we're much less bothered about maiming and killing ourselves than average.
- SmellyGeekBoy 9y agoIndeed. YOLO.
- nsxwolf 9y agoFrom "The World's Fastest Indian" Tom: Aren't you scared you'll kill yourself if you crash? Burt Munro: No... You live more in five minutes on a bike like this going flat out than some people live in a lifetime.
- Neliquat 9y agoMy grandfather was an EAA builder and the most overly cautious man I have ever known. He got out of his car to look behind it every time he reversed, and then went and did insane aerobatics in something him and his buddies built in a garage. We all have our own level of risk we accept. That man died at 96, tired of living. Do something worth living for while you can, we all die.
- tsaprailis 9y agoMy question when I first saw this was where do you get such jet engines? They look small enough to be from any kind of plane/UAV, but also quite large for any small model aircraft. I wonder how easy it is to get one, do you by any chance need any sort of special license to operate them?
- sanswork 9y agoLook for model jet engines they get to be surprisingly big. I haven't looked them up in a number of years but I wanted to build a jet powered bike in a previous life and if I remember right the only thing stopping me was price. Also runtime sucked for them all.
- Robotbeat 9y agoFor between about $2500 and $4500 (depending on thrust), you can get a small model jet engine: http://www.chiefaircraft.com/radio-control/turbine-engines/jetcat.html http://www.chiefaircraft.com/radio-control/turbine-engines/j... I love these things. I love enabling gadgets that enable hobbyists and garage entrepreneurs to do crazy things like this that would normally require a military program to fund.
- buckie 9y agoI'm pretty sure they are JetCat RC engines (based on the purple cowling): http://www.dreamworksrc.com/catalog/Jetcat-Engines http://www.dreamworksrc.com/catalog/Jetcat-Engines
- lumberjack 9y agoThey could also be suspenders for motor-gliders. Like these from the Netherlands: http://www.amtjets.com/ http://www.amtjets.com/
- 1024core 9y agoGet this puppy: http://www.amtjets.com/pdf/Nike_specification.pdf http://www.amtjets.com/pdf/Nike_specification.pdf or this bad boy: http://www.amtjets.com/lynx.php http://www.amtjets.com/lynx.php
- technotarek 9y agohttp://i.imgur.com/fFyJYtq.gif http://i.imgur.com/fFyJYtq.gif
- accountyaccount 9y agoSeems like an easy way to become a double amputee.
- agumonkey 9y agoGreat, now we can have real live incarnation of Iron Man vs Green Goblin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQLAUFhIxm4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQLAUFhIxm4
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- apaprocki 9y agoThis seems like the latest April 4th, 2017 flight test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hT__fdxWig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hT__fdxWig
- aphextron 9y agoI'm far more interested in what these guys are working on with the Flyboard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wObBrd9wB6M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wObBrd9wB6M). Way more controllable and practical, and equally mind blowing.
- jhpankow 9y agoI just wish he was wearing a wing suit and had transitioned to horizontal flight.
- antoniuschan99 9y agoFlyboard Air is so cool. In terms of innovation, what do you think of their execution strategy? The founder has extensive experience with Jet Skis, created an innovative hovering contraption using water jets and a business around it, then used some of that money to fund this next innovation - Flyboard Air. Also, I've read that the engines are repurposed Jet Ski engines. Is this true?
- sandworm101 9y agoJetpacks are officially dead. The advantages of not lifting your own o2, of burning fuel using air, means that systems based on rockets are now done.
- rm445 9y agoThen perhaps your first sentence should have read, "Rocket packs are officially dead". I think that the terms have historically been used interchangeably, but the distinction should be made. It's awfully nice not to need to carry oxidiser for your propellant.
- sandworm101 9y agoA rocket is something with only an exhaust. A jet also has an intake. And it goes a little further than just not lifting the 02. Any unburnt gas (air) becomes a 'working fluid' that can be pushed. A rocket moves by throwing gas away at speed. Jets also grab gas from the air and accelerate it along with exhaust products. That's why a jet or turbofan can have a high specific impulse with such a low exhaust velocity, higher (>8k) than even an ion thruster in vacuum.
- joshu 9y agoHere is my own video of him flying. https://youtu.be/xSHDK1Ja8x8 https://youtu.be/xSHDK1Ja8x8
- ChuckMcM 9y agoFun, it seems there are two versions he's been trying; one with leg thrusters on his calf and one where those thrusters are on the backpack. Watching the video I imagine holding the harm thrusters down to feel a bit like you're holding your self up on parallel bars.