The jetpack could be best used in the construction industry

A Hollywood robotics expert and an ex-commander in the British Royal Navy have formed a company to develop a jetpack that anyone can easily use thanks to built-in automation.

As for Maverick Aviation’s personal transport vehicle, it is worth mentioning at the outset that it is still in the works, and its most important task, getting a person in the air, will not be attempted until sometime next year, but the goal is ambitious: to build a jetpack that is easy to pilot, so that virtually anyone can use it without any training.

To achieve this, they have not only changed the structure but also the way it works: the parts are 3D printed in ultra-lightweight aluminium, carbon fibre and titanium, the engines, which, according to Antony Quinn, the company’s CEO, are the same as those found in passenger aircraft, are the size of a rugby ball and are controlled by an autopilot system and servo motors mounted on the turbines, allowing very precise manoeuvrability.

“It’s so instinctive to fly that the training costs can be very low, so professionals will be able to work in the most inaccessible environments safely and quickly.”- said Quinn.

It is envisaged that in places that were previously only accessible by helicopter or laborious work, the jetpack will be the alternative, as it will be the easiest way to get to the site and carry out repairs or maintenance. Increasingly, inspection tasks are being outsourced to robots, such as Boston Dynamics’ Spot, or drones, but the company says there may be situations where remote monitoring is not enough, and a human presence is needed. That’s where this new form of personal transport comes in, with the potential for greater mobility than ever before, but its dangerous operation and difficulty to control are currently standing in the way of its uptake.

At training centres such as Jetpack Aviation’s school, applicants are first secured by a tether while hovering near the ground, with full, tether-free freedom only gained after the many hours of flight time required to complete the 50 hours of training needed to obtain pilot status, according to the Robb Report. Previous flying experience is not a requirement, but at least three ‘training sessions’ a day, each lasting 6-10 minutes, must be attended. The daily fee is $4950, so in exchange for the training, participants receive their flight suit to take home after the training. The price is therefore extremely high, especially when you consider that the participants are learning to use a tool that most people are unlikely to buy for their own use at home, something that Maverick Aviation is trying to change and bring down the cost.

Control will remain more or less in the pilot’s hands all the time, but if the computer program does most of the work, more complex manoeuvring will not be so much of a problem and in fact, with a minimum of practice, anyone can take the jetpack aloft when they need to. The plan is. The automatic system will first need to be refined, but later it will be possible to have the jetpack fly itself to its destination while the wearer, who can control the plane with a joystick, has nothing to do but concentrate on the task at hand, such as inspecting a wind turbine, Matt Denton, co-founder of the company, told IEEE Spectrum.

The company’s representatives envision applications for the self-guiding rocket backpack primarily in the construction industry, in hard-to-reach, high-altitude locations. However, before the airways are full of flying engineers, the first manned flight tests will have to be carried out, which will not take place until next summer, and the first use for the technology may not be so much for routine maintenance work as for more urgent tasks such as search and rescue missions in emergencies.

A Hollywood robotics expert and an ex-commander in the British Royal Navy have formed a company to develop a jetpack that anyone can easily use thanks to built-in automation.

As for Maverick Aviation’s personal transport vehicle, it is worth mentioning at the outset that it is still in the works, and its most important task, getting a person in the air, will not be attempted until sometime next year, but the goal is ambitious: to build a jetpack that is easy to pilot, so that virtually anyone can use it without any training.

To achieve this, they have not only changed the structure but also the way it works: the parts are 3D printed in ultra-lightweight aluminium, carbon fibre and titanium, the engines, which, according to Antony Quinn, the company’s CEO, are the same as those found in passenger aircraft, are the size of a rugby ball and are controlled by an autopilot system and servo motors mounted on the turbines, allowing very precise manoeuvrability.

“It’s so instinctive to fly that the training costs can be very low, so professionals will be able to work in the most inaccessible environments safely and quickly.”- said Quinn.

It is envisaged that in places that were previously only accessible by helicopter or laborious work, the jetpack will be the alternative, as it will be the easiest way to get to the site and carry out repairs or maintenance. Increasingly, inspection tasks are being outsourced to robots, such as Boston Dynamics’ Spot, or drones, but the company says there may be situations where remote monitoring is not enough, and a human presence is needed. That’s where this new form of personal transport comes in, with the potential for greater mobility than ever before, but its dangerous operation and difficulty to control are currently standing in the way of its uptake.

At training centres such as Jetpack Aviation’s school, applicants are first secured by a tether while hovering near the ground, with full, tether-free freedom only gained after the many hours of flight time required to complete the 50 hours of training needed to obtain pilot status, according to the Robb Report. Previous flying experience is not a requirement, but at least three ‘training sessions’ a day, each lasting 6-10 minutes, must be attended. The daily fee is $4950, so in exchange for the training, participants receive their flight suit to take home after the training. The price is therefore extremely high, especially when you consider that the participants are learning to use a tool that most people are unlikely to buy for their own use at home, something that Maverick Aviation is trying to change and bring down the cost.

Control will remain more or less in the pilot’s hands all the time, but if the computer program does most of the work, more complex manoeuvring will not be so much of a problem and in fact, with a minimum of practice, anyone can take the jetpack aloft when they need to. The plan is. The automatic system will first need to be refined, but later it will be possible to have the jetpack fly itself to its destination while the wearer, who can control the plane with a joystick, has nothing to do but concentrate on the task at hand, such as inspecting a wind turbine, Matt Denton, co-founder of the company, told IEEE Spectrum.

The company’s representatives envision applications for the self-guiding rocket backpack primarily in the construction industry, in hard-to-reach, high-altitude locations. However, before the airways are full of flying engineers, the first manned flight tests will have to be carried out, which will not take place until next summer, and the first use for the technology may not be so much for routine maintenance work as for more urgent tasks such as search and rescue missions in emergencies.

Source (Construction Global)