Participants at the TED conference in Vancouver, Canada were wowed on Thursday by a short demonstration of British inventor Richard Browning’s jet engine-powered, Iron Man-style flight suit.
The flight took place on a terrace outside the Vancouver Convention Centre in front of a large crowd of attendees at the week-long gathering. Although he stayed close to the crowd, Browning told the BBC that his invention can reach altitudes of a few thousand feet and propel him up to 200 miles per hour.
Gravity, Browning’s startup, is currently working on new technology for the device that will produce a much more sophisticated prototype.
Browning, a Royal Marine reservist, told the broadcaster than his creation was “a bit of fun” but probably would not become a mainstream mode of transportation.
Consisting of six small jet engines, a specially designed exoskeleton and a helmet with a fuel-use display, Browning’s “Daedalus suit” is named after the Greek mythological craftsman and father of Icarus.
[BBC]