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Maniac Testing Personal Flying Craft Powered by 54 Rotors

It's called The Swarm, which is what it sounds like in action

By Rain Noe - September 4, 2015

in Cars

Last month we showed you Thorstin Crijn's vision of a flying driver-less Uber service. Crijns has been testing out his multi-rotor vehicle himself in his home country of Holland, and apparently he's not alone in his thinking of aircraft design; over in the UK, this unnamed maniac built a manned aerial vehicle he's calling The Swarm.

Unlike Crijns' 20-rotor creation, The Swarm features freaking 54 of them, enough to lift 164 kilograms (about 360 pounds). At six minutes the video's too monotonous to ask you to sit through the whole thing, but it's worth a scan—and there is one amusing part where the pilot goes too high, causing the cameraman to cry out in abject fear:

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I think my favorite part of this video might be the black socks. And what do you guys reckon the umbrella is for? Purely protection from that famous British sunlight?

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Mark Thomas

9 years ago

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Maybe the umbrella is actually a deflector for errant props. Note the 54 props are precisely inline with the pilot's head!

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Leon Segal

9 years ago

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The umbrella: the collective of small rotors is generating a strong down-draft of wind, and the umbrella creates a relatively calmer environment around the pilot.
Crazy mofo: What a great project!

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- Rain Noe
  
  Leon Segal
  
  9 years ago
  
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  Aha, makes sense. Thanks Leon!
  
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