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back to article Man FLIES with Android-powered homemade bird wings

A Dutch bloke has taken to the air by flapping his arms, proving that humans can fly with the right technology, plenty of time and friends to help with the build. Jarno Smeets flew using wings of his own design, built over the course of a year, and managed to spend a decent minute in the air – longer than the Wright Brothers …

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: clearly bollocks @stu 4

      >It's a bit of fun I suppose, but I do get depressed with stuff like this

      You get depressed at people having a bit of fun?

      I just hope you don't encounter anything to truly get depressed about.

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    2. frank ly
      Reply Icon

      Re: clearly bollocks (and gullable)

      But it did look like a large gull, so that's ok.

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  2. Tamer Shafik
    Unhappy

    I so wanted to believe this...

    They said all the right things, Turnigy motors, a bunch of 5000mAh LiPos, Wii accelerometers, arduino, 2000W of motor output - all very plausible. But the video isn't right.

    Compared to birds, we have very big, heavy legs. Your legs would inevitably dangle below you. Watch the video. This is what happens during takeoff (35 secs). However, at around 38 secs, the legs magically come up to be inline with the torso. That makes no sense. They then remain in this streamline position until he comes in to land.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I so wanted to believe this...

      "the legs magically come up to be inline with the torso. That makes no sense. "

      It only makes no sense if you've never seen a hang glider being used.

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      1. Tamer Shafik
        Reply Icon

        Re: I so wanted to believe this...

        I've seen plenty of hang gliders - when hang gliding, you are suspended in a harness, with the harness attached to the frame level with your waist. You aren't lifted by your shoulders.

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        1. Graham Bartlett
          Reply Icon

          Re: I so wanted to believe this...

          You *haven't* seen plenty of hang gliders, otherwise you'd know that the harness is body-length like a sleeping-bag. You push your feet into the sleeping-bag bit which supports your legs, and then your body naturally swings down horizontal. Early harnesses (back in the 1970s) had leg straps to do the same thing, but you won't see many of them today. Only training harnesses don't have support for the legs, and that's to stop newbies forgetting to take their feet out when they're landing.

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  3. a well wisher

    I thought the Netherlands was only an hour ahead of us, but it seems April 1st has come early for them

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  5. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

    Ye cannae break the laws of physics, capt'n!

    As Scotty would say. He might well add:

    "Powerrr, we need more powerrrr!!"

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  6. nichobe
    FAIL

    Re: hmmmmm

    Well Jodo Kast, people often research using the interwebs and then cite said internet articles

    http://www.liutilities.com/how-to/cite-internet-article/

    When you look at something that you believe isn't quite right you get thinking and poke around until you can find an explanation.. i.e. CGI, thin fishing line from a crane etc..

    I would have hoped that a journalist writing an article would have performed even the most basic critical thinking and investigation.... I guess I thought more of El Reg...

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Way too obvious

    People seriously cannot see this is CGI? I would think that:

    - the bland slightly wrong colour pallete (the saturation levels are wrong compared to the surroundings)

    -the appearently random "defocusing" (which no semidecent camera actually capable of focusing nowadays does)

    - the complete lack of a powersource capable of delivering enough force and the way too flimsy wings bending in a totally unrealistic way

    - etc

    would be more than enough to disprove this as another attempt at either viral marketing or attention whoring.

    (I know many people just see it as a: "I can tell by the pixels" response, but one look at that video convinced me it's a CGI fake. You might not believe it, but some people have enough of a trained eye to just tell whether something is real or not)

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  8. robinlawrie
    FAIL

    why on earth would he use wii remotes rather than handholds on the wings?? the only thing that achieves is to decouple his arms from the flapping wings. meaning any muscle power is wasted, he has extra weight and complexity, and (bearing in mind the accuracy of wii remote tech) his wings are highly unlikely to do what he tells them.

    seems a lot of publications want this cute idea to be true, but its so obviously bollox on so many levels.

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    1. Clive Galway
      Reply Icon
      WTF?

      Exactly. Wiimotes would be the last thing you would use - it would frankly be dangerous - twist your wrist the wrong way or drop the wiimote (even with wrist strap) and you could stall one wing and die.

      Clearly anything augmenting muscle power would not use wireless input - old school potentiometers etc would be way more reliable and MUCH lighter.

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Weak viral fake.

    A quick calculation with rather generous assumptions (wing area 12 m2, maximum lift coefficient 1.75, total mass 100 kg) gives me a stall speed of about 35 km/h... seems to be doing slightly less to my (pilot-trained) eye.

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  10. Ben 50
    FAIL

    You're ten days too early...

    This is about as credible as an Orlowski article.

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  11. Andus McCoatover
    Windows

    El Reg. questions...

    "We do note that there seems no reason for the ground cameras to stay so far away from the intrepid birdman during launch"

    Yep, noticed that. I also queried the need for the 'assistants' to run away sharpish - out of camerashot - in the opposite direction to supposed flight. That got me instantly. Plus, ever seen a hang-glider wing flex? I have, and from being strapped underneath it. I had wires from the control bar ("A-frame") to the centre of the wing, and even then the thing flexed.

    I thought it was great, but now I'm inclined to call 'fake'. However, I'd love to be proven wrong.

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  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ground check footage.

    We need to see it where one single wave of the arms makes the entire thing generate lift right within say oh 5 feet of forward momentum, just like jumping off something slowly. OR running.. you know what I mean.

    Anyway, yeah one single swing of the arms and the whole wing needs to be in "LIFT GENERATION MODE" this would utterly kick ass over other's since you can glide after sufficient lift.

    I'm a smoker and I think it AINT a HOAX. I bet I could fly too.

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    1. Andus McCoatover
      Reply Icon
      Windows

      I'm a smoker and I think it AINT a HOAX. I bet I could fly too.

      Depends what you're smoking.....

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  13. Nomedias

    Not gonna judge until he does/doesn't repeat the feat.

    Would love it to be true, but fully willing to accept its all fake. In the past I'd immediately dismiss this and move on. Then one day I saw an amusingly church sign (can't remember the details, but I event posted the address). I took a picture and posted it only to have it picked apart by CGI "experts" looking for proof of their assumption I faked it. That caused me to be a little less cynical when it comes to "too good to be true" stories. I'm not necessarily believing this happened, but I'm not gonna shoot it down ;) until I know if we're getting a repeat performance. Who knows, maybe he is holding back details until he is sure he can patent it. Strange stuff happens, sometimes it even true.

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  14. tekHedd
    Facepalm

    The music!

    Wow, the sappy music really adds that certain special... yuck... to the video. Was the video fake? I sure hope so, because they deserve it for inflicting that on us.

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  15. TRT Silver badge

    The BBC's been duped!

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17468907

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    1. Ralph B
      Reply Icon

      Re: The BBC's been duped!

      Not really. The Beeb chap (Ros Atkins) reports the "claims" fairly sceptically, finishing with "if you ask me I think he probably just spend some time on his PC with some video editing software".

      Of course, if you didn't register these words then it's likely that most others won't either, but I can't really blame the Beeb for that. A viral video fake is about as newsworthy as a skateboarding duck.

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  16. json
    Thumb Down

    This doesnt hold water (or air for that matter)

    the way he goes up and down while airborne looks like one of those pre CGI flying effects movies.. and yes the wings does not look like its grabbing on to any air at all..

    STILL! it would have been really cool if it were real.

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    1. The Indomitable Gall
      Reply Icon

      Re: This doesnt hold water (or air for that matter)

      Definitely -- it has the look of a Harryhausen about it...

      Sadly it's easier to convince someone something is real by making it look like a film than by making it look, you know, real.

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  17. Mexflyboy
    Holmes

    *sniff sniff*

    I call bullshit...

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  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    YALF

    Yet Another Lying Fandroid

    0 3
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: YALF

      I did wonder how long it would be before an Apple fanboy showed up.... YOU MENTIONED ANDROID, HEATHENS.

      Fucking fanboys.

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  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You could do it on Mars

    Yet another reason to go there.

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  20. Displacement Activity
    Paris Hilton

    An admirable demonstration...

    ...that there's one born every minute.

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  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    utterly bollocks

    He'd have to run at least 50mph to get enough lift, and even so, as soon as he took off his speed would plummet (as would he like a ton of bricks). Which clearly proves it to be fake.

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  22. MrXavia
    Holmes

    While I think its fake, I like the idea..

    Wings, motors, batteries & controllers, just augment the human... Must be possible... well if they can fly with pure man power(pedel) augmented is fully possible!

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  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As we say here...

    Aye right!

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  24. Ron1
    Stop

    Bettery - They use 74Wh of Li-po batteries

    Don't know if the flight is real or not, but batteries are adequate.

    Their 3d sketch lists 4x5000mAh batteries

    This battery has same specs:

    http://www.stefansliposhop.de/liposhop/sls-apl/sls-apl-45c/sls-apl-5000mah-4s1p-148-v-45c-90c::748.html

    Has a mass of 571g, 4x 5000mAh cells, can output up to 6 kW (12V x 500A) of power (for 30s or so) - quite adequate methinks

    What were you expecting el reg? Several car batteries? As any RC modeller knows Li-pos are quite powerful...

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  25. Technologikal
    FAIL

    I'm just surprised anyone had to resort to science fact, to out this as a viral, I mean, everyone used their eyes while watching the clearly dodgy footage didn't they? Did the entire tech press have a common sense bypass all at once? Oh and hey, look at what Nintendo are releasing tomorrow http://www.nintendo.co.uk/kidicarus

    In other news, I've got some magic beans for sale.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Magic Beans!

      I'd buy that for a dollar!

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  26. MegaZone

    An admitted hoax

    He admitted it is fake: http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/humanbirdwings.asp

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  27. Doug Glass
    Go

    There's a sucker born ...

    ... every minute. Great show guys ... just really great.

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  28. Andus McCoatover
    Windows

    HOAX!!!

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17487366

    (Pity, really...)

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  29. Adam Inistrator

    The giveaway for me what the total lack of info about the assist power unit which was supposed to provide nearly all of the missing power.

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