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Main Boards => Gear => Topic started by: ninthace on 17:17:44, 16/11/18

Title: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: ninthace on 17:17:44, 16/11/18
I came across this gizmo today.  I wonder if it will catch on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_sANw8jbKs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_sANw8jbKs)
https://dresswellbro.com/hoverglide-floating-backpack/
It has only just been released and is a bit pricey to put it mildly at the moment. I have no idea how heavy the frame is but it looks like an "interesting" development.  I wonder what happens if you bend over - does it run to the top of the frame and brain the wearer?
Title: Re: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: fernman on 18:25:19, 16/11/18
So, loaded to, say, 11kg the pack will weigh.....um.....11kg.  ::)
There might be a little sense in it, though, it's a bit like my elasticated Op-Tech camera strap that makes my dslr feel slightly less than a house brick hanging from my neck.

Sadly, I can think of one or two people on here who will believe all the hype.
Title: Re: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: BuzyG on 18:42:01, 16/11/18
Makes sense,if you are running, assuming the mechanism is light and strong enough.  Why would anyone what to take all that extra weight on a climb up a mountain though.  Not for me.
Title: Re: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: jimbob on 19:27:38, 16/11/18
Might help lug a Thomann Altimeter up a Welsh Mountain. Or have a long and ueless life in the back of a wardrobe only to be praised highly for its longevity on the odd occasion 20 years hence.
Title: Re: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: ninthace on 19:31:19, 16/11/18
So, loaded to, say, 11kg the pack will weigh.....um.....11kg.  ::)



Well yes and no.  If you are wearing a conventional 11kg pack and there is any vertical component in your gait than at the bottom of each step you have to stop 11kg going down and make it go up again.  That reversal in momentum feels like extra weight.  If the pack stays level because of the frame design - there is no change in vertical momentum, in theory this is an energy saving.


Just had a thought.  If they put a magnet in one part of the frame and a copper coil in the other part of the frame they could generate electricity to charge a phone too.
Title: Re: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: BuzyG on 19:55:12, 16/11/18

Well yes and no.  If you are wearing a conventional 11kg pack and there is any vertical component in your gait than at the bottom of each step you have to stop 11kg going down and make it go up again.  That reversal in momentum feels like extra weight.  If the pack stays level because of the frame design - there is no change in vertical momentum, in theory this is an energy saving.


Just had a thought.  If they put a magnet in one part of the frame and a copper coil in the other part of the frame they could generate electricity to charge a phone too.
Indeed but any kind of damping system, as that would be, must effectively then put that energy back into the system as weight on your back with each step.  Love your thinking though and the energy required to charge a GPS or such would be miniscule.
Title: Re: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: ninthace on 20:05:45, 16/11/18
Indeed but any kind of damping system, as that would be, must effectively then put that energy back into the system as weight on your back with each step.  Love your thinking though and the energy required to charge a GPS or such would be miniscule.


Indeed - Newton cannot be ignored, the energy has to go somewhere but the load transfer can be smoothed out eliminating peak loading so it would feel lighter I suppose.
Title: Re: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: richardh1905 on 13:12:23, 17/11/18

Thought that this was a wind up initially!


Might be of use to runners on fairly smooth paths, but I imagine that the motion could throw you off balance on rough ground. And, at the end of the day, it is just something else to break.


Not for me.
Title: Re: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: richardh1905 on 13:13:13, 17/11/18
..and a dog on a bungee is better at pulling me up the hills!
Title: Re: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: Maggot on 22:33:27, 19/11/18
Think how useful it will be if you are doing a mountain marathon though.  You could run with all your kit and still take 6 fresh eggs for breakfast  O0
Title: Re: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: Maggot on 19:05:53, 21/11/18
This is the real future, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g76QBth2KCI, exoskeletons!


Blimey, imagine that, a lightweight suit you slip on become flippin Ironman!
Title: Re: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: Chris954 on 16:13:46, 22/11/18
and if it happens to throw a wobbler and go out of sync it could potentially throw you off balance hurling you to your demise off a cliff.
Title: Re: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: ninthace on 16:36:22, 22/11/18
and if it happens to throw a wobbler and go out of sync it could potentially throw you off balance hurling you to your demise off a cliff.
  My worry would be if the elastic snapped you could end up with the mother of all wedgies.
Title: Re: The Shape of Things to Come - Hoverglide Backpack
Post by: BuzyG on 19:18:30, 22/11/18
  My worry would be if the elastic snapped you could end up with the mother of all wedgies.
:D ;D :D  Spoken like an old Matelot. O0