Personal drones have a lot to answer for, especially since the humble quadrocopter seems to have influenced designs of future human-transporting flying vehicles. A German company called e-volo has scaled up the design for a quadrcopter to incorporate 18 rotors in a flying thingy they like to call the Volocopter VC200.
In the video above you can see the battery-powered, two-seater aircraft being tested in an indoor area. Though it’s an unmanned flight, the eventual aim is to have it lift around 450kg and have a flight time of an hour. Being battery powered, with the current test it managed 20 minutes in the air over several takeoffs and touchdowns with a little juice left over.
You might one day see these on sale, though it will require a private pilot’s license to drive according to PopSci. For now the Volocopter VC200 and other designs by e-volo are still in development. Their initial design, the VC-1, has already had a manned flight so a commercial product might not be that far off. It probably doesn’t use an exercise ball as a seat though.
Source: via PopSci