Aero Velo wins the AHS Sikorsky Prize

Here at Digital Diner, we have showed you human powered quadcopters before.  Several of these have been built to try to capture the AHS Sikorsky Prize of $250,000.  This prize was created back in 1980 for the first human powered helicopter that could hover for one minute and reach a height of 3 meters in altitude while staying within a 10m x 10m box (complete rules are here).  For over 30 years teams have tried to win the prize and failed.  On June 13th, AeroVelo Inc was able to fulfill the requirements as seen in the videos below and win the prize.

It is interesting to me that while some teams built machines that used both arms and legs, in the end a simple bicycle style, legs only, form of locomotion won.  It is an impressive feat of engineering and human ability for sure.  Congratulatiosn to all involved!

...AND, as if that weren't enough, Aero Velo has several projects going.  My favorite is the human powered ornithopter (an airplane that flies by flapping its wings!).  Check out the video of test of this baby at the bottom of the page.

The prize winning flight

The world's first human powered ornithopter