I wanna fly like an eagle, to the sea, fly like an eagle let my spirit carry me… or in this case a pair of human bird wings!
His name is Jarno Smeets and over a period of approximately 8 months of design and construction, he has just successfully made his first test flight. Taking off from flat ground he managed to achieve some sustained flight of approx 300 yards, gain altitude by flapping, some gliding and a graceful landing to boot! Absolutely jaw-dropping. Jarno Smeets, of the Netherlands used birds of flight to architecture the construction of the wings, as well as his take off and landing techniques. Check out the video above, you’ll find yourself cheering for him, GO JARNO!!
Just after flight, read and feel Jarno’s reaction and live the moment with him via the subtitles, a truly powerful and emotional moment:
“I was running … and … At one moment you see the ground moving away, and then suddenly you’re free, a really intense feeling of freedom… The true feeling of flying. A FF*cking magical moment!… FFF*ck! The best feeling I have had in my Life.”
Taking a very practical and analytical approach to problem, Smeets tackles this the issues of flight with haptic wings. “Haptics is the science of applying tactile sensation to human interaction with computers.” Jarno amplifies his arm movement with high torque electric motors controlled by the wii remotes, lithium ion batteries, 2 HTC wild fire s smartphones, speed controllers, micro controllers, a Seeduino ADK Micro-controller, the programming for the haptic movement and the accelerometers and gyroscopes within the devices to make your modern day real life Condorman, if anyone even remembers that movie. Using carbon fiber to fabricate the wing structure, fiberglass, various wires and connections, battery housing and more, add it all up and what do you get? A pair of Human Bird Wings!
You decide, Is it real or fake? Elaborate Hoax?
See what the Mythbusters have to say about it: Thoughts on the mechanics of assisted human flight
Check out Gizmodo’s interview with Ryan Martin from ILM, Industrial Light & Magic: CGI Experts Say Flying Bird Man Is Fake (Updated)
Check out some of the very interesting videos below of Jarno Smeets design and build process.
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via: Gizmodo Source: humanbirdwings.net , webopedia.com
