Boing! Lunavity “gravity reduction”

“Lunavity is a system designed to augment the human capability of jumping. An attachable multi-rotor elevates the user during the movement, enabling them to leap higher and further.”

This looks like it might be fun, but is surely dangerous as all get out.

 

The video looks great, but the really cool stuff is obviously CG, and the footage in the real life lab isn’t actually working at all.  (I think this video was shown as SxSW, which is certainly and imagination-heavy venue.)

I’m a bit skeptical just how much lift those little fans can generate, and whether it would be enough to do anything interesting. I’ll set aside the noise and wind, which wouldn’t be pleasant.  I’ll believe it when I see it.  (And, for reference, check out Mythbusters Episode 32.)

But let’s suppose it did work.  It surely won’t work like the video. Yes, you might jump higher. But you aren’t going to go a long way, or push yourself along waving your feet.  Mostly, you’ll go nowhere—or maybe blow in the wind.

Which is one of the serious hazards.  As soon as your feet leave the ground, you have no control at all.  You can stop. You can’t change direction.  You can keep from being pushed by the wind or any other force.  People are going to crash. People are going to die.

And there are serious psychological dangers.  People are going to think this is an effective parachute, and jump off buildings or down stairwells.  People are going run and leap through traffic, jump over safety barriers, try to do summersaults, etc.

Honestly, I don’t see this product ever passing safety or legal review.

But the video looks cool.

 

 

Robot(?) Wednesday