Introduction: Engineers Yanagisa and Gennai from GEN Corporation have created this "chair-helicopter", Gen H-4. Above pictures are taken as the pilot Yokoyama Yastoshi drives this craft in Vinci, Italy on May 25th. This place is known for the home of Leonardo Da Vinci. During the Renaissance Era, Da Vinci is known as the first designer of early helicopter. By this demonstration flight in Vinci, it was relevant to fly this craft in the home of helicopter.
Function: It is able to fly up to 10~20 meters height at max. In the demonstration, the pilot flew about 5 meters high for about 10 minutes. The spectators were amazed by this small craft's power and abilities. It is very mobile as well as speedy; it goes up to approximately 88 kilometers per hour. Gen h-4 uses coaxial rotor; it has 2 rotors above the head with each of 4.5 meters dimensions. It uses the rotation of the propellar to float in the air. The gas tank holds 2 to 5 gallons with 4 independent motors that each carry up to 10 horsepowers. The weight is about 75 kilograms.
History and market potential: The design and invention of Gen h-4 starts from 1990. It was made in Japan by the above mentioned engineers. So far the price of this craft is $57,000 and it has been sold to Japan for 5 and USA for 2 crafts. Yanagisa quoted that the safety of this aircraft is very secure as long as the driver gets simple training, everyone can enjoy it, and he hopes his invention to be as common as the scooter for public.
Potential Market: I think it is a great idea to manufacture and have this kind of transportation available for public. Of course, there should be a legal structure to enforce new set of traffic laws. People should be required to acquire a special type of license as well. But just imagine driving one of these things. I believe in business opportunity of this invention. People will be thrilled to fly and get around to places where they need to go. So the next thing to do is probably get a patent of this invention once it has been approved as a transportation. Even if it is not accepted as a method of transportation, it might still be a good business opportunity. But the target consumer will be of the wealthier class.
#20300742 (#12 entry)
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