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Jetpack Entrepreneur Creates Iron Man-Style Human Flying Suit (venturebeat.com)

"British aeronautic engineering startup Gravity unveiled a new human flying suit Friday," writes VentureBeat. An anonymous reader quotes their report. It's a six-engine jet-propelled personal flying apparatus that the company says will take regular humans to superhero heights at several hundred miles per hour. At the moment, flights are limited to just a few feet above the ground. The suit includes six miniaturized jet engines, two of which are worn on each of the pilot's arms, and two of which can be mounted on the feet, or, in later incarnations of the suit, low on the pilot's back. Each of the jet engines gets fuel from a backpack...

Gravity says the human body is "the airframe" and that your arms and legs serve to both direct and control thrust... "We've already had a few comparisons to Tony Stark, but this is real-world aeronautical innovation,"Gravity founder Richard Browning said in a statement. "We are serious about building a world-changing technology business. We stand at the very beginning of what human propulsion systems will do."

Browning tells TechCrunch "It's no way as dangerous or crazy as it looks."

51 comments

  1. Itchy nose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can just imagine being caught up in the moment and then instinctively trying to scratch your nose when it gets itchy.

    1. Re: Itchy nose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or nature calls and you instantly regret eating the nacho grande supreme with extra cheese and jalapeños the night before?

    2. Re: Itchy nose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I don't think I'll ever get over nacho grande

    3. Re: Itchy nose by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 2

      As do the people below you :-)

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    4. Re: Itchy nose by BoogieChile · · Score: 1

      Where else did you think they were going to put the afterburner?

  2. slashdot really needs to sync its servers with NTP by dknj · · Score: 0

    11:59PM 4/1/2017 and april fools layout has been removed.

    -dk

  3. Hope he has really strong arms. by outofoptions · · Score: 2

    There is a reason the original jet pack was on the back. He's put a lot of effort and probably money into a design that is questionable at best. The thrusters on the legs present a problem if they start to push him heels over head. Having human joints absorbing the brunt of the forces and relying on them to provide stability in flight is just plain stupid. If there is a problem, using your hands is out. Just so many things wrong.

    1. Re: Hope he has really strong arms. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well he was an Oil Trader.... this is way less risky compare to those he used to take on a daily basis (only that it was other people's money and lives he was screwing with to earn his commissions).

      He is numb to risk.

    2. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by scdeimos · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This must be a late April Fool's thing. TFA's picture shows the gas turbines installed on his hands backwards - the intakes are pointing towards his elbows, the exhausts towards his hands. Unless you're expected to fly backwards and land using hand-stand maneuvres.

    3. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Think Ironman. You point your hands at the ground. You fly with your hands down by your waist. (He actually has lots of video.)

      Now, whether it's April Fools or not...can't say. But he would have had to make a lot of effort to fake that video. ;)

    4. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not meant to be a functional design. It's a copy-cat of a comic.

      BTW...halfway through he ditches the leg thrusters for a butt thruster. Still uses the hands for balance and guidance though.

    5. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by outofoptions · · Score: 1

      If you are talking flight and rockets you need to think functional or die.

    6. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The design just needs refinement and more engines. There should be computer controlled engines to keep the pilot safe in case he loses control. Those engines should be attached to his waist/torso. Also basic hovering should be possible without using muscle force, therefore hovering should also be done using waist/torso engines.

      Arm and leg engines could be smaller because they would mostly be used for steering. The computer would take cues from the arm/leg engine positions and help with the bigger waist/torso engines.

      I'd say it would need about 6-8 engines in total.

    7. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by ls671 · · Score: 1

      I'd say it would need about 6-8 engines in total.

      I am sure nobody will ever need more 640K engines anyway...

      --
      Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
    8. Re: Hope he has really strong arms. by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      You really have to question if this is a farce or real? Seriously?

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    9. Re: Hope he has really strong arms. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yes the bad design is straight from the poor physics of Ironman. Chosen by Hollywood because it looks cool. Chosen by this inventor because he gets a lot more press if he can tie it to Ironman (he no doubt knows it is a poor design)

    10. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by grungeman · · Score: 1

      Did you watch the video? There is a short scene of him doing exercises in a gym. And yes, hes has strong arms, really strong in relation to his body weight.

      --

      Signature deleted by lameness filter.
    11. Re: Hope he has really strong arms. by davester666 · · Score: 2

      well, personally, I think it MIGHT be a bit better idea than having them the other way, as, while it is easier on the muscles to strap the jets to your arms, and then just have the jets pull your arms (and hopefully the rest of you) around, you also wind up with the hot exhaust gases flowing down your arms right into your face. And if one or more of the jets injests something and decides to puke it's guts out the back at high speed, someone then needs to have turbine bits pulled out of their face...assuming you can still see well enough to perform some kind of reasonable landing.

      I'm pretty sure, if this were a real "thing", you would really want some kind of mechanical exoskeleton to control the direction the jets are facing, including when there may be no human input (if say, the occupant becomes incapable of controlling it for some reason). Hopefully they will remember to program it so it doesn't bend your joints in ways they aren't naturally designed to...

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    12. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by vtcodger · · Score: 1

      "There should be computer controlled engines"

      Computer controlled engines -- with ads and a wi-fi connection to the web. No need to tell the advertisers that the customer will very shortly be buried or seriously incapacitated..

      It's no crazier than any other IOT device.

      --
      You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
    13. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So this suit is suitable (ehmm...) only if you have very strong arms...I see an army of couch potatoes as potential customers...

    14. Re: Hope he has really strong arms. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't worry, the "jet engines" are more like 6 cans if beer with long straws.

    15. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      And then you get tired or get a cramp mid-flight, great. I suppose that's why the jets aren't on his back; that's (hopefully) where the parachute will go.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    16. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      TFA's picture shows the gas turbines installed on his hands backwards - the intakes are pointing towards his elbows, the exhausts towards his hands. Unless you're expected to fly backwards and land using hand-stand maneuvres.

      Oh wow. You've never seen Ironman.

    17. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      And the video shows him hovering using them in exactly that way.

      It makes sense - he's only gliding a few feet above the ground at the moment. You don't want to have to hold your arms up over your head the whole time. Or have the hot exhaust blowing back over your arms and into your face.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    18. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by vtcodger · · Score: 1

      Seriously, jetpacks and the like have a long history of leg and knee injuries. Dropping out of the sky with a heavy object strapped to your back will do that. This thing -- if it's not an April 1 joke -- probably just expands that problem to other extremities.

      --
      You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
    19. Re: Hope he has really strong arms. by denzacar · · Score: 1

      Hopefully they will remember to program it so it doesn't bend your joints in ways they aren't naturally designed to...

      Hopefully it all just explodes spectacularly without ever rising from the ground, killing the idiot... I mean the inventor.
      I really don't want idiots who believe that comic books are real to experiment flying above my head just because there are currently no laws or regulations preventing such idiots from doing so and because they posses time, money and mental illnesses which provide them the means for such experimentation.

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
    20. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by denzacar · · Score: 1

      I suppose that's why the jets aren't on his back; that's (hopefully) where the parachute will go.

      I'm sure it will be great fun watching him trying to pull that cord with malfunctioning engines strapped to his arms.
      That is, if he's falling down on some other group of people, not the observer's.

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
    21. Re:Hope he has really strong arms. by Oligonicella · · Score: 2

      Or the video in the article. However, if you watch the video, it's easy to see that this isn't practical. He only uses the boots a couple of times and they obviously interfere with his balance (0:12sec). The rest of the time he's essentially like being on a set of parallel bars, meaning everything's on his arms.

      It's easy to manipulate a human body once it's off the ground. Watch the video again. He has difficulty any time he gets tilted over maybe 15o. Because of the necessary power, he would be a pinwheel if he tried anything remotely like what Iron Man does.

    22. Re: Hope he has really strong arms. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's real. There's a videos showing him training in gym, the guy is in best shape he can be. Have to be really strong to hover like that so your arms don't spread out, also absorbing force it's pretty much holding your weight on supports constantly adjusting muscles to have a degree of control. Obviously unlike comic books this guy can only hover a little off the ground for short periods of time over flat ground.

      Basically what Ironmen's computer systems would control and forces his exo skeleton would absorb, this guy's brain/muscles have to control and absorb. It's not unlike quadrocopter, there's a lot of fast calculations going on between rotors to keep it steady/balanced/controlled. His jets don't compensate automatically, they just produce steady pre-calculated force for his exact weight, his leg and arm placement is how he is attempting to control them.

      It's pretty cool, but just a toy really.

  4. Re:slashdot really needs to sync its servers with by Known+Nutter · · Score: 2

    Not completely.

    Front page stories remained collapsed, with ads (I'm sorry, "sponsored content") remaining expanded.

    That's shitty.

    --
    Beware of the Leopard.
  5. Does April Fools end at noon in the UK? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I heard this was a thing while watching the most recent Best of the Worst. Britain's so weird with its driving and "constitutional monarchy", that I'm liable to believe it's true.

  6. Funny thing about that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    When I saw they changed the slogan to "Slacker news," I considered that they were embracing the site's steady exodus of intellectuals.

    1. Re:Funny thing about that... by davester666 · · Score: 2

      what are you talking about? I'm still here!

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  7. Brilliant idea, right here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Put this guy in the hyperloop. No, I mean inside the hyperloop, and let's see how fast he can get to Seattle!

  8. Video by tomxor · · Score: 1

    This must be a late April Fool's thing. TFA's picture shows the gas turbines installed on his hands backwards - the intakes are pointing towards his elbows, the exhausts towards his hands. Unless you're expected to fly backwards and land using hand-stand maneuvres.

    Yes he trained much like a gymnast to make sure he could hold his weight on his arms, you need a lot of core strength, it's in the video...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ05iAuIAlc

    Also he took the jets of his boots after one near backflip, their position makes them rather precarious for control and you would need very strong legs too.

  9. Re:slashdot really needs to sync its servers with by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    And the comments section here has orange headlines, causing me eye cancer :-/

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  10. Safety first by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

    I was thinking that while Gravity says "the human body is 'the airframe'...", gravity says this is a bad idea. But on further reflection I realized that if something goes wrong, it may be better to be alone up there with a parachute already strapped to you, than to be trapped inside an airplane with no 'chute.

    On the other hand, if the suit fails while you're below parachute height but still a couple dozen metres or more in the air, break out the butter, 'cause you're toast. Ironman aside, there is no suit of armor that will save you from the rapid deceleration at the end of such a fall.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    1. Re:Safety first by denzacar · · Score: 1

      Ironman aside, there is no suit of armor that will save you from the rapid deceleration at the end of such a fall.

      But, but, but... Rhodey survived! I saw it with my own two eyes in the theater. I have witnesses!

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  11. Two words: ground effect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    He's getting extra "thrust" from being near the ground. This design can hover, but it can't fly.

    Maybe later he'll add more thrusters, or more powerful ones.

    1. Re:Two words: ground effect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you can strap enough of these to a fat guy then you'll be able to create a hovering Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.

      Bring it on, I think that's way more cool.

  12. My Prediction... by raftpeople · · Score: 1

    a visit to the emergency room.

    1. Re:My Prediction... by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      From fractures or burns?

    2. Re: My Prediction... by GTRacer · · Score: 1

      [Farnsworth] First one, and then the other. [/Farnsworth]

      --
      Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
    3. Re:My Prediction... by Stan92057 · · Score: 1

      No to the morgue lol You could bury the whole suit saving on casket sales lol that would piss of morticians for sure.

      --
      Jack of all trades,master of none
  13. Not just arms, see video by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In the video you see a guy (without contraptions attached) doing push ups standing upside down on his hands, and then doing the flag pole stunt at the gym.
    This mean right there than it's useless for 95% people at least.

    Alternate title : rich kid plays with daddy's money, shows off on youtube.

  14. Engines incredible on experimental aircraft by jlgreer1 · · Score: 1

    Imagine a couple of these engines on a small winged experimental aircraft!

  15. Hearing protection by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I don't think those earplugs are going to cut it when strapping 6 engines (yours for only $24,000) close to your body.

  16. Fuel consumption is key: 725ml/min/turbine by jovetoo · · Score: 4, Informative

    According to JetCat, that turbine uses 725ml/min of fuel... For 6 turbines, that's more than 4 liter per minute... several hundred miles an hour peak speed in very, very short hops...

  17. Invisible Strings by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can do wonders these days.

  18. It's all a lie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In his final videos, he has 3 engines attached to his back. This is what is giving him real thrust.
    The engines attached to his arms are just for show.

  19. This is not Iron Man by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Iron Man is a mechanical exo-skeleton. It's the exo-skeleton that absorbs all the forces and provides the super-human strength.
    This fucking idiot is attaching rockets directly to his arms. There is no exo-skeleton!
    You can't control rocket power with human muscle, that's fucking stupid.