A Russian drone company posted a video of a man riding the world’s first manned hoverboard last week, and it is enough to bring a Star Wars fan to tears.
The speeder bike-like prototype is called the Scorpion-3. It is powered entirely on electricity, and was inspired by the brilliant idea of combining a quadcopter with a motorcycle. Hoversurf, the company behind the sci-fi machine, says it wants the single-seat aircraft to one day be used as “an extreme sports instrument.”
Seeing a man sit on a drone and get lifted off the ground by blades whipping around his legs may seem somewhat terrifying at first, but the manufacturer has already included a few mechanisms that make the machine safer. For example, the hoverbike uses custom-built software to limit its range and speed so the rider never feels out of control.
The Russian company even claims the flying machine is meant for both amateur and professional navigators.
We’ll let you enjoy the video while you contemplate whether the dangers of riding this contraption outweigh its sheer awesomeness.
H/T the Verge