ronnie wrote:tautologies wrote:Hansen Aerosports wrote:'Fly-by-wire' single line kites with bio-mechanical thought process control...
Now we're talking. Technologically this is possible today.
I did once think up a wave kite that was a 3 line kite where the lines were joined to a leash line to a ring around your wrist.
It was a flat helium inflated wing with a carbon spar with plastic ends which would bend either up or down and had a nose line and the other 2 lines went to a bridle on a line joining the plastic spar end to the trailing edge.
Idea was when you crashed, the kite would float downwind fast and take off automatically and fly to a position overhead if you just held onto the ring (or you could let the ring slide over your hand to release it). Didn't matter which way up the kite was.
Then you pulled the lines down to get to the bar above where the lines joined and started flying it again.
I'm having a bit of a time trying to imagining this contraption. Sounds great though.
In terms of Bill's suggestion. Trials of mind control interfaces started 25 years ago..I mean actual mind control not just pretend ones. Today they are very advanced, and can project shadows of images that you view on a screen by scanning your brain activity.
The ones we have today are much more advanced and could easily control a kite. If the kite itself has tiny controller for the wingtips it would almost be trivial to add a wireless controller that connect those two interfaces. To what extent it will be done is a different matter. It would leave us to be able to surf no handed though, and focus more on the boardriding and less on kite control.
Now obviously in an active environment we'd have some issues to deal with, but this is not just fantasy.
http://gspdigital.com/ted-talk-a-headse ... ain-waves/
Me and a buddy were thinking of adding some spars to the TE of a kite that will extend the foil of the kite, and that will work in different wind ranges. The spars would basically extend the low end, while not being in the way while the wind picks up.
I will work on summarizing all this great feedback.