Hoverbike: the motorbike and helicopter hybrid hoping you’ll fund it on Kickstarter

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, no… it’s Malloy Aeronautics’ quad-rotor Hoverbike prototype with Cyborg Buster manning the controls!

It’s been described as a combination of helicopter and motorbike, but the creators of this vehicle have grander intentions other than releasing yet another dressed-up toy drone meant to entice RC enthusiasts to fork out another thousand bucks for a basic prototype to impress their bucket hat wearing pals on the bluff.

Well, okay, perhaps we can assume just a little.

This is in fact a serious endeavour that engineer Chris Malloy hopes will lead to a full-sized version meant for recreational use, search and rescue operations, cattle herding, and package delivery not unlike Amazon Prime Air. Currently, his company has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds needed to begin development of a larger, head-chopping version soon (It has already raised more than £25 118 of its £30 000 goal).

Yikes! Although I would be remiss not to mention the ducting around the fans is designed for maximum safety.

Malloy’s miniaturized quad-rotor Hoverbike also features some impressive specs. It comes with a 3DR Pixhawk flight controller, can take-off, land and manoeuvre on its own, and can follow a pre-determined flight path. The vehicle’s carbon composite, polyurethane and aluminium frame also makes it very light, fast and portable, weighing 2.2 kg (4.85 lbs) and reaching speeds of up to 45 mph (72 km/h).

Oh, and did I mention Cyborg Buster, the humanoid mock-up whose head can be fitted with a GoPro camera? Awesome.

The real story here is that this truly is a prototype for a much larger version. Patience young padawan, patience!

This post by Kristian Markus originally appeared on Tech Gen Mag and was published with permission.