When you’ve had a tough day at work and want to enjoy a long soak in a bathtub, you wouldn’t even have to wait till you got home with this crazy “drone.” Just jump in, hit the flight controls, and relax all the way home as your flying bathtub gently carries you over rushing commuters and gridlocked traffic.
OK, it’s an absurd idea, and a ridiculous design, but that’s what The Real Life Guys are all about.
The 20-year-old German twins insist that “life is for strange adventures,” and their wacky bathtub drone confirms they’re living up to their tagline, and then some.
Their latest DIY design actually took some considerable effort, with the pair creating a metal frame to hold the bath and support the motor and propellors. The initial unmanned test flight revealed some tricky weight distribution issues that could lead to water sloshing onto people’s heads below, or worse, a catastrophic crash and possible hospitalization for the bather (try explaining that to the first responders).
Once sorted, a human flight was achieved, though the bath wasn’t filled with water and the tester remained fully clothed. The bathtub’s flight was controlled by a pilot on the ground, though the creators suggest the next step would be to give the bathtub’s occupant full control of the machine.
More human-carrying ‘drones’
While the bathtub drone is, we’re sure you’ll agree, a bit bonkers, there are a growing number of drone-like designs that aim to lift one or two humans into the sky and take them places, some made by hobbyists, others with funding and big ambitions for their machines.
German copter company E-Volo, for example, is developing a kind of drone-helicopter, a two-seater that gets off the ground thanks to what appears to be a bunch of drones welded together, though it’s a little more sophisticated than that. Other slightly more conventional designs include the SureFly and 184, both described as “autonomous flying taxis” that look rather like giant quadcopters.
On the hobbyist side, Swedish engineer Axel Borg built his homemade multi-rotor (72 in all!) flying machine for just $10,000. Borg told Digital Trends last year that he sometimes gets “a little scared” when he flies his extraordinary contraption, though he said it’s because he fears “pilot stupidity” rather than mechanical failure.
