Autonomous flying umbrella follows and shields users from rain and sunlight

aamichail about 8 hours ago 38 commentsRead Article on designboom.com

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Discussion (38 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

zkmon•4 minutes ago

The usecase requirements for an umbrella are not just hovering over the person, and I suspect even that core requirement might not be met in windy conditions.

The other important specs are its weight and space requirement, handling requirement, cost, ease of operation. If it regressed in all these specs compared to the standard umbrella, then it already failed to be an innovation.

12_throw_away•about 8 hours ago

IMO it's worth watching the video rather than reading someone's writeup of it. My favorite part is this (written) list of everything that went wrong [1] ... and how much of it is due to the intersection of hardware, software, vendors, and linux

[1] https://youtu.be/EYRrUiM_A6g?si=T60tAChuo-GNtfqW&t=921

karmakaze•about 2 hours ago

That's useless as a product, fun as a project.

I don't even like carrying the smallest of folding umbrellas around in case it might rain. Then if it does, this thing will hover so far above and away that you get wet anyway optimistically saving up to 50% of raindrops. 50% wet is still wet. If I have an umbrella I hold it close over my head unless I'm covering someone walking with me.

dinfinity•about 1 hour ago

50% is very generous. In the video it isn't even consistently above his body half the time. It is also constantly a good 80cm above him, so even a slight bit of side wind makes it fully useless to keep you dry.

Any wind speed above 20m/s is also going to just blow it straight out of the air or at best heavily reduce flight time.

And then there is the little issue with having a mini lawn mower constantly above your head: loud and dangerous.

Having said that, we can still applaud the creator for bringing their idea to life.

amelius•about 5 hours ago

> and how much of it is due to the intersection of hardware, software, vendors, and linux

They should have used Apple hardware.

Zigurd•about 7 hours ago

I saw this on Facebook before I saw it here. While it bears a superficial resemblance to 1000s of clickbaity tech stunts this one really delighted me. Some of these should be edited into a remastered release of Blade Runner.

zkmon•about 7 hours ago

I think this is in the category of excess application of technology

m463•about 7 hours ago

I don't know - I got an automatic garbage can that not only opens and closes, it also ejects the garbage bag when it is full and vacuums in another one into place.

today's luxury is tomorrow's necessity.

things get normalized. pop-up ads, selfies, subscriptions, the cybertruck...

hex4def6•about 5 hours ago

On the other hand, I used to have an automatic open garbage can. Absolutely hated it. Ended up replacing with a foot operated one. The benefits were:

* Never ran out of batteries

* Didn't rely on an IR sensor that would work about 80% of the time, but would sometimes require waving more than once to get it to open.

* Didn't have a delicate gearing mechanism (automatic one eventually stripped a gear and broke).

* No set open time. God forbid you throw something in, turn to the counter and throw a second thing in...

* large lid, since it relies on foot power, not a motor / battery can only realistically open a certain weight lid.

My inlaws also have an automatic one -- last time I visited I saw that they also suffered from the stripped gear issue...

I wish public restrooms used foot-operated faucets instead of the existing "wave frantically for 3 seconds of water" sensors they have.

I am jealous of the auto-seal garbage bag option, but I am skeptical about long term reliability.

nine_k•about 6 hours ago

> today's luxury is tomorrow's necessity

Indeed, see stuff like fridges, cars, phones, internet access...

> pop-up ads, selfies, subscriptions, the cybertruck...

None of these are a luxury, or ever was; in a way, they are the opposite.

mensetmanusman•about 5 hours ago

pop-up ads - existence depends on surplus technology, electricity, and global communications networks. - not required for food, shelter, water, or survival.

ergo luxury

rf15•about 7 hours ago

you got me, I am deadly afraid of the world in which any of these become a necessity

toasty228•about 3 hours ago

> today's luxury is tomorrow's necessity.

Not sure about necessity but it sure sound like it's tomorrow's e-waste and land fill material

rolph•about 6 hours ago

consider captain america, perhaps an autonomous flying riot shield that protects, and strikes out.

beaker52•about 4 hours ago

Lacking a bit of sleep, I initially read this as “anonymous flying umbrella follows and shields users from rain” which certainly intrigued me more than the actual title.

SubiculumCode•about 6 hours ago

Following the Ukraine war has basically made me flinch at the sight and sound of drones.

jusssi•about 3 hours ago

I went to look for maximum wind speed this would work in, didn't find it. Maybe it's not an issue for inland dwellers.

mlmonkey•about 6 hours ago

Bonus: free hairdryer!

4b11b4•about 7 hours ago

And drenches them in sound

Animats•about 6 hours ago

That's cute. They need to be able to deal with other flying umbrellas nearby, if this is to be a product, of course.

This would probably sell in Shenzhen.

SoftTalker•about 7 hours ago

The kid would appear to have a future job opportunity at Cyberdyne Systems.

asnelt•about 4 hours ago

Reminds me of the floating umbrella that appeared on Caladan in the 1984 Dune movie.

slacka•about 3 hours ago

Do you mean the glowglobe rather than an umbrella? The glowglobes were used for lighting.

amelius•about 5 hours ago

Next: why carry a phone or laptop when you can have a flying desk?

ricardobayes•about 8 hours ago

That's really cool honestly. This took me back to around 2017 when everyone was into hardware startups.

derwiki•about 7 hours ago

Interesting, not what I remember from 2017. To which hardware startups are you referring?

dlcarrier•about 6 hours ago

One example of the peak of that craziness was in 2016, after Snapchat released glasses with an embedded camera, which were more or less received as as a gimmick by their user base, Snapchat changed their name to Snap Inc and told their investors that they're now a hardware company.

ricardobayes•about 7 hours ago

Well that was the peak of the kickstarter era, tons of wearables and new projects. You know, like Pebble

tonymillion•about 6 hours ago

Or the Nixie [1] (actually nixie was earlier, but went out of business in 2017)

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixie_Labs_Nixie

hdorchy•about 6 hours ago

noise, autonomy are real constraints. And the wind resistance is a safety critical issue. To make it wind resistant you need to increase the drone's power/weight ratio which works against battery life/autonomy and weight (more battery, more weight) This is a nice technical experiment but cannot work as a general public product in my opinion (I build drones since 2013 and know this topic in depth)

rg2004•about 6 hours ago

what about hydrogen or helium to extend battery life?

comrade1234•about 8 hours ago

Good for a haircut too.

saltcured•about 8 hours ago

Yeah, I can only imagine the stability when breezy weather hits that big sail

alphakappa•about 5 hours ago

tangent: ridiculous that a site called designbloom has such an atrocious user experience. popovers, things that take over your reading space, and just general shiftiness all over the page that's unrelated to the content you are reading.

tamimio•about 8 hours ago

>what was supposedly a small project ended up big and complicated

Welcome to the drone world! So many moving parts and one tiny mistake, you end up losing a $60k drone in the ocean (true story!)

That being said, regulations prevent flying drones of any size above people, unless the drone is high to certain altitude, because of all the dangers that bring, a small issues and the props will harm them.

Cool project tho!

projektfu•about 6 hours ago

Better than losing the expense vehicle prototype and the pilot as well.