If you don’t remember those awesome high speed hover bikes from Star Wars I’m going to assume you’ve lived under a rock or something because I’m sure we’ve all seen the Return of the Jedi. Hover bikes were freaking cool and now a company based in California called Aerofex is close to turn ‘em into reality.
They’ve fixed the stability issue of a resurrected hover vehicle and thanks to a new mechanical system with intuitive controls it might allow anyone to fly it without pilot training one day. The original design was abandoned back in 1960s because it had stability and rollover problems but, thanks to two control bars at knee level that allow the vehicle to respond to a pilot’s leaning movements and natural sense of balance, it looks like those problems were solved.
The Aerofex Hover Vehicle probably won’t be able to travel through dense forests like the ‘Jedi’ bike but it could allow people to visit places without roads, without the need for electronics, complicated artificial intelligence or flight software. Sounds pretty damn great, eh?
The sad part is that Aeroflex does not plan to develop and sell a hover bike in the next years. They’ve currently tested human flight to a height of 15 feet and speeds of 30 mph but future versions of the hover vehicle might be able to fly as fast as helicopters.
[via UberGizmo]
Aerofex Hover Vehicle recalls Star Wars hover bike
