Singapore students built Snowstorm personal multi-copter

A team consisting of eight engineering students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) build a personal flying machine, called "Snowstorm". The flyer can only be demonstrated indoors accordance with the laws in Singapore for personal aerial vehicles.

Student Zheng Xiaowen sits in the Snowstorm, a personal flying machine built by a group of engineering students of the National University of Singapore (NUS), as it flies in NUS gymnasium in Singapore December 10, 2015. (Picture from: http://reut.rs/1IXCmOk)

Snowstorm, which is shaped like a giant drone, consisting of motors, propellers and landing gear are mounted in a hexagonal frame and can be controlled by the person sitting in it or remotely. The flyer was also environmentally friendly, because its three lithium batteries that can be recharged using solar energy.

Joerg Weigl, who had the idea to make this flyer and is one of the project supervisors, said that he wanted the Snowstorm help people realize their dreams to fly.

The Snowstorm personal flyer is being developed for the leisure market. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/1IcmB5U)

"Because flying is now a community. People can now fly with a jetliner, but the feeling of flying got lost on the way. So Snowstorm is our multi-copter where you can get the feeling of flying back, the feeling of flying to anybody who wants to fly," he said.

The team was declared the current prototype, technically can carry one passenger weighing up to 70 kilograms to fly about five minutes and for safety reason its seat is installed in the center of the machine. However, a dummy, which is a few times lighter than a human being, was visibly easier to control.

A team member Wang Yuyao acknowledge that the Snowstorm development still running. "The next step is, in terms of electricity, it must be safer, better stability and more easily controlled by the pilot. And from the mechanical side, this should have a structure that is more stable and probably more power. We can always add a motor to lift heavier people," he said.

And the team said the plane was not for modes of transport, but rather for personal recreational use. Weigl said he could see it being commercialized some years down the road.

"As soon as you make it stable and possible as a fun activity, a fun activity is what people want and if people want this, it's a product and as soon as it's a product, it's a commercial market (product). That's very simple and it's a commercial market (product) that doesn't pollute the environment, so that is a nice thing," he said as quoted by Reuters. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | REUTERS]

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