The iconic speeder bikes from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi may be closer to reality than you thought.
It might look like an early version of the Star Wars speeder bike but this is actually a Hungarian-made tricopter with a real-live human perched on top.
The team behind the “all-electric personal flight device” recently conducted a successful controlled test flight of its flying bike, which it calls the “Flike”
Flike is a six-rotor copters, with pairs of rotors mounted on each side of three prongs. The pilot sits in the middle, two prongs extending forward and one going directly behind, with a control panel in front of them. Movement is controlled by changing the rotation speed of one of the rotors. Flike’s site promises that it is just as easy as learning to ride a bike, though most bikes come with training wheels and also don’t move in three dimensions.
In under a year, the team of flight enthusiasts at Bay Zoltan Nonprofit Ltd., a state-owned applied research institute in Hungary, has taken the concept of a personal flight tricopter from the drawing board to its first manned flight at Miskolc Airfield in northeast Hungary on March 7.
On the manned flight, the Flike (think fly-bike) concept demonstrator had a takeoff weight of 210 kg (463 lb) and only made it off the ground for a few seconds, but took off and landed safely. In a subsequent manned test flight, the Flike fly meters off the ground, and was able to demonstrate hovering and maneuvering capabilities while compensating for wind in a controlled flight lasting one and a half minutes.
The aircraft demonstrator features a Y6 layout, with six rotors paired in a coaxial arrangement that are directly driven by individual electric disc motors. These are powered by lithium polymer batteries, which the team says allow for around 15 to 20 minutes of hover flight or 30 to 40 minutes of cruise flight.
Control is provided by altering the rotation speed of the individual rotors, allowing the Flike to perform in the air like a conventional helicopter, including the ability to hover, roll, bank, drift, yaw, climb, turn, sidle and dive. The team also hints at other flight capabilities that are "yet to be named".
