Aerofex Hover Bike Is The Coolest Vehicle Ever

When I was a kid, I was a cub scout and the only thing I remember that was cool from the experience was the magazine that came with the membership. The coolest thing about that magazine wasn't the articles or puzzles. The cool part was the ads in the back for things like x-ray glasses and this awesome DIY hover vehicle powered by a vacuum cleaner motor. Sadly, my mother would never let me take her vacuum apart to build one, but if Aerofex is successful with its hover vehicle, I won't need a vacuum.

The Aerofex hover vehicle looks similar to the hover bike we talked about last year. The main difference is rather than one geek working on the project, Aerofex is a company that hopes to commercialize the technology. One of the most interesting parts is that Aerofex has solved some of the instability issues plaguing similar earlier designs and says operation of the vehicle is so simple no pilot training is required.

Rather than having wheels like a normal motorcycle, the Aerofex vehicle has a pair of ducted rotors. The company has addressed stability issues in the design using a mechanical system with two control bars located at the rider's knee level. Those control bars allow the vehicle to respond to the pilots leaning movements and natural sense of balance.

Control of the bike is handled mechanically with no electronics or artificial intelligence flight software required. That should make the bike more robust, cheaper to purchase and operate, and safer. Aerofex has crushed my dreams somewhat because the company doesn't plan to develop and sell versions design for people to ride to start with. The company envisions the vehicle as a test platform for new unmanned drones.

[via Space.com]