With Britain’s persistently wet weather, holding an umbrella over one’s head can often lead to painful arm cramp.
But an inventor and YouTuber may have a solution – a flying umbrella that follows the user around in the rain.
The homemade contraption includes an adapted yellow shop-bought umbrella and 3D printed components with propellers on the end.
Unfortunately, the user still has to control the umbrella with a two-handed remote to ensure it stays above the head – leaving little room to carry your shopping.
However, the inventor now plans on making an better version that can autonomously track and follow the person underneath.
The ingenuous new contraption by ‘I Build Stuff’ includes a yellow shop-bought umbrella and 3D printed components
The new invention is the work of an engineer behind the ‘I Build Stuff’ YouTube channel.
‘Umbrellas haven’t really changed for the past 4,000 years… the fundamental design is exactly the same,’ he says in the video.
‘But it’s 2024 – I shouldn’t even need to hold my umbrella.’
‘So today I’m going to make the first umbrella that flies – I mean, what could go wrong?’
As the young engineer points out, other attempts have been made to make a flying umbrella in the past.
But they’ve gone wrong largely because the propellers have been in the wrong place – attached to the handle or above the canopy, which leaves no space for the air to flow.
Therefore, for his flying umbrella, he attached the propellers so that they were sticking out from the sides of the canopy.
It comprises a central X-shaped frame of four arms made out of carbon fibre, which is both strong and light.
Each of the arms has a propeller and motor at the end – making the contraption look like a cross between an umbrella and a drone
It comprises a central X-shaped frame of four arms made out of carbon fibre, which is both strong and light
Each of the arms has a propeller and motor at the end – making the contraption look like a cross between an umbrella and a drone.
Several elements of the device were designed on software platform Onshape before being 3D-printed and delivered to his home.
Building the device took ‘months’ and included a major setback due to badly soldered wires, but eventually it was ready for a test run.
Taking his flying umbrella outside, it was initially successful, but the slightest gust of wind caused it to falter on the second run, the video shows.
‘The first flight went surprisingly well but things only started to go downhill from there,’ the YouTuber said.
‘During the second flight the umbrella started drifting away and I barely caught up to it in time before it smashed into the fence.’
On another test run the next day, the flying umbrella started ‘shaking super violently’ before falling to the ground – and it wasn’t even during rainy weather.
During one of the test runs the device fell to the ground – and it wasn’t even during rainy weather
Although he has to control the umbrella to keep it over his head as he moves, he envisions an autonomous machine that can intelligently follow him
Since then a fix has made the device ‘even more stable than before’ – but whether it really flies in substantial rain is yet to be seriously demonstrated.
‘This thing actually shields me from the rain… it wasn’t raining that hard, but I reckon this thing can withstand much harsher conditions, just probably not stronger winds,’ he says.
Although he has to control the umbrella to keep it over his head as he moves, the innovator now plans to build another ‘autonomous’ iteration that can intelligently follow him.
‘In the future I could attach a camera to the underside and write a programme that tracks my position and moves my umbrella accordingly, he adds.
MailOnline has contacted I Build Stuff regarding how much he spent on the project.
This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk
