Crowdfunding SkySurfer
By Ben Everard. Posted
This article was originally published as part of HackSpace magazine, which has since been incorporated into Raspberry Pi Official Magazine.
It’s 2023, where’s my hoverboard? Here. It’s here. Hunter Kowald is crowdfunding the next phase of what he calls a SkySurfer (From $1698). It’s basically an octocopter that you can stand on.
Now admittedly, it takes a special kind of person to try and stand on what is essentially an upturned blender (OK, eight upturned blenders). It takes an even special-er person to stand on a first-generation crowdfunded version. And an even more special person to buy the first version as a DIY kit and try to build it themselves.
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Is it safe? Maybe. We have no idea, and we don’t have a spare $54,000 to find out ($10,000 of this is a down payment during the crowdfunding campaign, and the rest is due on delivery).
According to the manufacturers, it can carry 500 lbs (227kg), and can go at up to 65mph for 20 minutes. We suspect that it can’t do all three of these at the same time, but that puts the range at somewhere around 20 miles. Even if travelling at this speed cuts the battery life by half, that still means you could get ten miles out of a single charge – that puts this in the commuter range for many people. We suspect that your local aviation authority may have some concerns about letting you do this, but is this the transport of the future, or just a niche product that will swiftly move from futuristic crowdfunder to side note in the history books?
Ben is the Editor of HackSpace magazine. When not wrangling words, he enjoys cycling, gardening, and attempting to identify wild mushrooms.
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