So it\'s capable of lifting a lot of weight while being quite light itself. Replace the human being with small gasoline motors and... no... still wouldn\'t work outside and there\'s no way to steer the thing.
Beyond being neat I can\'t see any practical applications. Nor can I envision any spinoff technologies that could come from this. But maybe I\'m wrong, feel free to correct me. Sure you could claim this is driving up research on lighter materials but it really isn\'t, there are a million other and bigger things driving up demand for lighter materials. I think this is all about getting some attention for the university. Or maybe it\'s not really for anything.

They need to get a world class sprinter for the pilot. It should not make the craft twice as heavy to make it support two pilots, but that would depend on the rules allowing it.

RE Samantha Renault
They are teaching problem solving, and outside the box thinking. And ultra-lightweight structures translate into ultra-strong structures very well.

How clever on one side and \"primitively unforseing \" are they to try this in such a space restraining area.

DIdn\'t it say it had to go like 10 feet in the air?

Icharyus and DaVinci were right.

For a better power to weight ratio they should use a man. I agree with Slowburn they need a sprinter. Using a cyclist is half right, most have pathetic upper body strength. Yes, you need some endurance but only for 60sec. A wrestler would be better, can get very lean and better upper body strength.

Watts per/kilois what they need...and a woman is far inferior @ that. I was a former track cyclist with over a 20watt/kilo power output. To cover your 60 seconds you need a kilo specialist. A kilo specialist can generate over 1000watts for a 60 sec duration. I wonder if they had an ergometer on the bike.

I think it is way cool I think it is a great attempt. Perhaps they add control in a future version. :)

That design will never achieve controllable lift even with a electric motor attached. The rotor designs are some of the worst I have ever seen, The lag and energy required to overcome the drag, forget it.