A team of eight
engineering students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have built
a personal flying machine, dubbed ‘Snowstorm’. It could only be
demonstrated by flying it indoors, due to Singapore’s legal requirements for
personal aerial vehicles.
Resembling a giant
drone, ‘Snowstorm’ comprises of motors, propellers and landing gears set within
a hexagonal frame and can be controlled by the person sitting in it, or
remotely.
It’s
environmentally-friendly too, as the three rechargeable lithium batteries get
their energy from solar power.
Joerg Weigl, who came
up with the idea and is one of the supervisors of the project, said he wanted
‘Snowstorm’ to help people realize their dreams of flying.
“Because flying is now
a community. People can now fly with a jetliner, but the feeling of flying got
lost on the way. So ‘Snowstorm’ is our multi-copter where you can get the
feeling of flying back, the feeling of flying to anybody who wants to fly,” he
said.
The team said the
current prototype can technically bear the load of a single person up to 70
kilograms for a flight time of about five minutes and for safety, the seat is
installed with a five-point harness that secures the pilot to the center of the
machine.
However, a dummy, which
is a few times lighter than a human being, was visibly easier to control.
Team member, student
Wang Yuyao admitted that ‘Snowstorm’ is still a work in progress.
“The next step is, from
an electrical standpoint, it’s definitely to have more fail-safes, better
stability and easier control for the pilot, and from the mechanical side of the
staff, it’s definitely more structural stability as well as maybe even more
power. We can always add more motors to lift a heavier person,” he said.
Rather than a mode of
transportation, the team said the flying machine will be more for personal
recreational use. Weigl said he could see
it being commercialized some years down the road.
“As soon as you make it
stable and possible as a fun activity, a fun activity is what people want and
if people want this, it’s a product and as soon as it’s a product, it’s a
commercial market (product). That’s very simple and it’s a commercial market
(product) that doesn’t pollute the environment, so that is a nice thing,” he
said.
The personal flying
machine was built over a one-year period.
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