This is not a fake. I have been following this mans progress since he invented the Pixel micro heli like 6-7 years ago. I myself have several micro heli's and have seen many even smaller projects!
Check your facts!
Go read the micro-heli forums at www.ezonemag.com instead of spouting unsubstantiated claims.
Lemme guess you think the moon landing was a fake and the earth is flat?
I never have mod points when I need em. Alexander Van de Rostyne pretty much single handedly created the micro r/c heli phenomenon. Really kicked off a whole new wave of ultra light/small electronics.
Check out the forums here for more info on all things R/C.
If you think the only way to travel safely is in several thousand pounds of steel than you are sorely mistaken.
2 well designed 1000 lbs vehicles colliding should have no more, and possibly even less potential for life threatening injuries. Less overall energy involved.
Look at my Virtual Rush HPV http://www.easyracers.com/virtual_rush.htm This is essentially a full body helmet. Carbon, kevlar and nomex. This is a much safer concept than almost any other vehicle on the road.
And yet somehow you are getting the mod points, I guess the general slashdot concensus is we NEED big heavy inefficient vehicles to "feel" safe. New ideas are always ridiculed anyways...
Wassup drinkypoo! Uh anyways, I 100% agree with you. Here'in lies the rub. You will damn near double the cost of such a vehicle by mandating vehicle safety regs similar to what's in place already. "That's right students, you must now crash test a couple of prototypes before they are deemed safe". Cough, cough, what's one of these things cost?
The one and only real answer in my mind.
IMPROVED INFRASTRUCTURE!
We really, really, really need a transportation network developed for alternative vehicles up to say maybe 1000 lbs. I build ultra-effecient light weight vehicles, but they will never share the road with any large vehicles because the turbulence generated by a large vehicle is enough to flip a little one right off the road. We really need something like a souped-up bicycle trail network.
Big vehicles are inefficient, no 2 ways about it. The only way to a sustainable transportation network is small, light and efficient vehicles.
The International Human Powered Vehicle Association maintain a list of records. http://www.ihpva.org/hpva/hpvarech.html Unfortunately they do not distinguish between faired or other types of HPVs. A quick look through the records indicates the every record set since the 70's has been on a recumbent of some sort. I'd love to compare apples to apples, but there are no upright specific records to compare to.
Using a the simulator found here: http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/simul/HPV_S imul.as p and the examples given, 600 watts will get you to 33 mph on an upright and 38 mph on a lowracer. Both would be considered unfaired.
Best test data I've found so far is here: http://www.m5-ligfietsen.com/main.php?sNewP age=Mea suring_power
It's not about hill-climbing dumb-ass. The top speed and hour records for faired HPV's are 81 mph and 52 miles in an hour respectively. Uprights are no competetion in these categories. Yes uprights are better for hill climbing. Your point? Should Top Fuel dragsters be used for F1 racing? No, every vehicle has it's place and closed minded bigots like you only serve to stifle innovation.
I'm really glad you put your money where your mouth is! I have a friend who has a Sparrow and he also loves it. You make two incredibly insightful points.
1. Li-Ion/Li-Poly batteries! Exactly! Convert any existing vehicle and get roughly 3 times the range for even less weight. The laptop/cell phone/model airplane industry has been driving the market for years. They are just now starting to entire usage in people carrying vehicles. I firmly believe they will be in wide spread vehicular use in the next 10-20 years. The technology is here now, it will just take that "economy of scale" thing to make it a reality for the common person.
2. Infrastructure! I build record setting human and electric powered vehicles (check my website), and while I can build a vehicle that will go 100mph on 1 horsepower, there is simply no place to drive such a thing. The wind from an SUV/truck would hurl it off the road. I would love to see a alterative transportation network setup like rails-to-trails that allow for small and quiet vehicles. Maybe a 45 mph speed limit?
Regardless of what anyone says about the Corbin Sparrow, by purchasing one you are helping to pave the way for a cleaner more efficient transportaion system.
You could cover the entire surface with solar cells and it would take several days to a week effect a full charge (depending on conditions). A nice thought but it's just not effective. A much better concept is to have a solar array and power storage at your house so you can still be solar powered but are not limited by the surface area, shape, solar cell design, etc...
Not that a portable solar array is a bad idea. It will increase your range a little and decrease the load on the batteries for longer life. Good in emergencies as well!
I've done extensive research and I ain't lying. It would have taken two high efficiency 2x4ft solar panels two days to recharge my electric scooter! http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/362.html
As far as the powered accessories go, they are a miniscule i.e. 1% of the overall energy consumption.
I work for Easy Racers, we race streamlined bicycles. In 2001 Reynard, a renowned racing car chassis builder, tried to compete. They had Sydney Olympic Gold Medallist Jason Queally and a $250,000 budget. The result? They failed to go as fast as our record set 15 years ago in our Gold Rush streamliner.
No doubt that if more companies jumped in and threw money at it a similar effect to the F1 cars would occur. But for now, money means nothing...
Yet another dupe. You guys keep posting useless drivel and dupes and have turned down some REAL news stories I have submitted. WTF is wrong with you guys?
Is mostly going into refined small piston engines like the Jabiru http://www.jabiru.co.uk/engndsc.html or small turbines similar to these http://www.amtjets.com
Seriously, WTF? You CANNOT get more energy out of a closed loop system than you put in. EVER! If someone ever managed to do so it would open a rift in our dimension or something equally fucked up. Anyone who buys into this is a fucking crackhead and needs to go back to school. Seriously. WTF is this doing on slashdot? If I claim to make an electric bicycle with a wheel driven generator that recharges the batteries faster than they are drained can I get on slashdot too?
This really brings my opinion of slashdot down, this is enquirer level shit.
When the traffic for whom the light has just changed to green, is speeding? Does the light just flip back and forth allowing only a few cars through each time? Permanently red in both direction?
You seriously neglect one of my key points. If the majority of our power is generated using tidal power you are talking about MILLIONS of these 5MW tidal generators. You can average the power output against the entire ocean, but the truth is that it is extracted in only a small percent of the oceans volume, resulting in DRASTIC environmental effects in those areas.
Of course the whole idea is a bit idealistic, but we gotta start thinking about these things sooner than later.
I do hope everyone realizes what an impact this will have on the environment. This installation will be fairly small, but what if this idea expands? We will permanently alter the currents of the ocean, and no one will be able to predict how.
Even this small installation will extract 5MW from the ocean currents. Energy that would have gone on to do something else.
I'm very concerned about the lack of foresight for supposedly environmentally friendly energy production. Think about it:
Huge windmill power stations will extract their energy from the air. Altering our atmospheres natural flow.
Huge solar plants will abosorb their energy from our sun. That energy would have heated our soil, been absorbed by plants, been reflected back into the atmosphere, etc...
Geothermal generation will cool our planets core faster.
Tidal generators will alter the oceans natural currents, etc...
People don't think about the impact because all of the existing installations of these types are fairly small.
Think about replacing a nuclear power plant with a tidal generator. You are sucking an entire nuclear power stations energy output from the ocean! Don't you think that might have some sort of consequences? And that's just one nuclear power plant. There are dozens!
The only solution is to be more efficient, not to try and generate more power.
This is why I design/build super effecient personal transportation. Check out my website
Sorry folks, energy aint free, we are just robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Is capable of over 130mph. I like a little wind to slow it down for landing. Remember, these drones are "navigated by clicking waypoints on a laptop" they are autonomous and can no doubt handle more than a little turbulence.
Seriously, I have designed and modeled several personal sized jet powered aircraft in X-Plane and they fly great! Given that there are now off-the-shelf model turbines up to 150 lb of thrust it is entirely feasable.
Slashdot Mirror
This is not a fake. I have been following this mans progress since he invented the Pixel micro heli like 6-7 years ago. I myself have several micro heli's and have seen many even smaller projects!
Check your facts!
Go read the micro-heli forums at www.ezonemag.com instead of spouting unsubstantiated claims.
Lemme guess you think the moon landing was a fake and the earth is flat?
I never have mod points when I need em. Alexander Van de Rostyne pretty much single handedly created the micro r/c heli phenomenon. Really kicked off a whole new wave of ultra light/small electronics.
Check out the forums here for more info on all things R/C.
http://www.ezonemag.com
Same as bicycles and motorcycles.
If you think the only way to travel safely is in several thousand pounds of steel than you are sorely mistaken.
2 well designed 1000 lbs vehicles colliding should have no more, and possibly even less potential for life threatening injuries. Less overall energy involved.
Look at my Virtual Rush HPV http://www.easyracers.com/virtual_rush.htm
This is essentially a full body helmet. Carbon, kevlar and nomex. This is a much safer concept than almost any other vehicle on the road.
And yet somehow you are getting the mod points, I guess the general slashdot concensus is we NEED big heavy inefficient vehicles to "feel" safe. New ideas are always ridiculed anyways...
oops!
Wassup drinkypoo! Uh anyways, I 100% agree with you. Here'in lies the rub. You will damn near double the cost of such a vehicle by mandating vehicle safety regs similar to what's in place already. "That's right students, you must now crash test a couple of prototypes before they are deemed safe". Cough, cough, what's one of these things cost?
The one and only real answer in my mind.
IMPROVED INFRASTRUCTURE!
We really, really, really need a transportation network developed for alternative vehicles up to say maybe 1000 lbs. I build ultra-effecient light weight vehicles, but they will never share the road with any large vehicles because the turbulence generated by a large vehicle is enough to flip a little one right off the road. We really need something like a souped-up bicycle trail network.
Big vehicles are inefficient, no 2 ways about it. The only way to a sustainable transportation network is small, light and efficient vehicles.
Check out my racing stuff!
http://www.easyracers.com/racing
Gabriel DeVault
The International Human Powered Vehicle Association maintain a list of records.
S imul.as p
P age=Mea suring_power
http://www.ihpva.org/hpva/hpvarech.html
Unfortunately they do not distinguish between faired or other types of HPVs. A quick look through the records indicates the every record set since the 70's has been on a recumbent of some sort. I'd love to compare apples to apples, but there are no upright specific records to compare to.
Using a the simulator found here:
http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/simul/HPV_
and the examples given, 600 watts will get you to 33 mph on an upright and 38 mph on a lowracer. Both would be considered unfaired.
Best test data I've found so far is here:
http://www.m5-ligfietsen.com/main.php?sNew
It's not about hill-climbing dumb-ass. The top speed and hour records for faired HPV's are 81 mph and 52 miles in an hour respectively. Uprights are no competetion in these categories. Yes uprights are better for hill climbing. Your point? Should Top Fuel dragsters be used for F1 racing? No, every vehicle has it's place and closed minded bigots like you only serve to stifle innovation.
The HPV world speed championships!
http://www.recumbents.com/whpsc2004.htm
Too bad there's not enough interest to really get some money into the development of these things.
Check out my website...
I'm really glad you put your money where your mouth is! I have a friend who has a Sparrow and he also loves it. You make two incredibly insightful points.
1. Li-Ion/Li-Poly batteries! Exactly! Convert any existing vehicle and get roughly 3 times the range for even less weight. The laptop/cell phone/model airplane industry has been driving the market for years. They are just now starting to entire usage in people carrying vehicles. I firmly believe they will be in wide spread vehicular use in the next 10-20 years. The technology is here now, it will just take that "economy of scale" thing to make it a reality for the common person.
2. Infrastructure! I build record setting human and electric powered vehicles (check my website), and while I can build a vehicle that will go 100mph on 1 horsepower, there is simply no place to drive such a thing. The wind from an SUV/truck would hurl it off the road. I would love to see a alterative transportation network setup like rails-to-trails that allow for small and quiet vehicles. Maybe a 45 mph speed limit?
Regardless of what anyone says about the Corbin Sparrow, by purchasing one you are helping to pave the way for a cleaner more efficient transportaion system.
Thanks.
You could cover the entire surface with solar cells and it would take several days to a week effect a full charge (depending on conditions). A nice thought but it's just not effective. A much better concept is to have a solar array and power storage at your house so you can still be solar powered but are not limited by the surface area, shape, solar cell design, etc...
Not that a portable solar array is a bad idea. It will increase your range a little and decrease the load on the batteries for longer life. Good in emergencies as well!
I've done extensive research and I ain't lying. It would have taken two high efficiency 2x4ft solar panels two days to recharge my electric scooter! http://www.austinev.org/evalbum/362.html
As far as the powered accessories go, they are a miniscule i.e. 1% of the overall energy consumption.
I work for Easy Racers, we race streamlined bicycles. In 2001 Reynard, a renowned racing car chassis builder, tried to compete. They had Sydney Olympic Gold Medallist Jason Queally and a $250,000 budget. The result? They failed to go as fast as our record set 15 years ago in our Gold Rush streamliner.
No doubt that if more companies jumped in and threw money at it a similar effect to the F1 cars would occur. But for now, money means nothing...
Gabe
Yet another dupe. You guys keep posting useless drivel and dupes and have turned down some REAL news stories I have submitted. WTF is wrong with you guys?
Mod me up, mod me down, I don't give a fuck.
I design recumbents on my computer for Easy Racers and Sun Bicycles! How's that for geekness!
http://www.easyracers.com/
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/
Because it's open source and being developed/supported by one of the bigger distibuters of video content on the web!
Is mostly going into refined small piston engines like the Jabiru http://www.jabiru.co.uk/engndsc.html or small turbines similar to these
http://www.amtjets.com
Want to buy some dehydrated water? Or how 'bout my nifty self charging electric bicycle?
Go back to school, seriously.
Seriously, WTF? You CANNOT get more energy out of a closed loop system than you put in. EVER! If someone ever managed to do so it would open a rift in our dimension or something equally fucked up. Anyone who buys into this is a fucking crackhead and needs to go back to school. Seriously. WTF is this doing on slashdot? If I claim to make an electric bicycle with a wheel driven generator that recharges the batteries faster than they are drained can I get on slashdot too?
This really brings my opinion of slashdot down, this is enquirer level shit.
When the traffic for whom the light has just changed to green, is speeding? Does the light just flip back and forth allowing only a few cars through each time? Permanently red in both direction?
Um, WTF?
You seriously neglect one of my key points. If the majority of our power is generated using tidal power you are talking about MILLIONS of these 5MW tidal generators. You can average the power output against the entire ocean, but the truth is that it is extracted in only a small percent of the oceans volume, resulting in DRASTIC environmental effects in those areas.
Of course the whole idea is a bit idealistic, but we gotta start thinking about these things sooner than later.
I do hope everyone realizes what an impact this will have on the environment. This installation will be fairly small, but what if this idea expands? We will permanently alter the currents of the ocean, and no one will be able to predict how.
Even this small installation will extract 5MW from the ocean currents. Energy that would have gone on to do something else.
I'm very concerned about the lack of foresight for supposedly environmentally friendly energy production. Think about it:
Huge windmill power stations will extract their energy from the air. Altering our atmospheres natural flow.
Huge solar plants will abosorb their energy from our sun. That energy would have heated our soil, been absorbed by plants, been reflected back into the atmosphere, etc...
Geothermal generation will cool our planets core faster.
Tidal generators will alter the oceans natural currents, etc...
People don't think about the impact because all of the existing installations of these types are fairly small.
Think about replacing a nuclear power plant with a tidal generator. You are sucking an entire nuclear power stations energy output from the ocean! Don't you think that might have some sort of consequences? And that's just one nuclear power plant. There are dozens!
The only solution is to be more efficient, not to try and generate more power.
This is why I design/build super effecient personal transportation. Check out my website
Sorry folks, energy aint free, we are just robbing Peter to pay Paul.
And unfortunately Peter is our children...
Whatever it is wants in?
Is capable of over 130mph. I like a little wind to slow it down for landing. Remember, these drones are "navigated by clicking waypoints on a laptop" they are autonomous and can no doubt handle more than a little turbulence.
I use them for my registrations and have never had an issue. I might consider a switch to godaddy if there was a compelling reason.
Seriously, I have designed and modeled several personal sized jet powered aircraft in X-Plane and they fly great! Given that there are now off-the-shelf model turbines up to 150 lb of thrust it is entirely feasable.