Fly Like Superman Using The Force

infinity_simulator

At one point or another, who hasn’t had a dream in which you could fly, simply by thinking about it? [Yehuda Duenyas, aka XXXY] is currently working on a project at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute which can allow you to do just that.

As part of a thesis project dubbed the “Infinity Simulator“, he has constructed a system that allows people to fly about using the elaborate rigging system at RPI’s Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center. His project allows users to glide through the air, walk up walls, and otherwise live out their flying fantasies, with mere thoughts.

An EEG headset is placed on the user, along with other wearable sensors which enhance the audio and visual experience of the person in flight. With enough concentration, the rigging system sweeps people off their feet, sending them soaring anywhere their mind desires. It sounds a bit like pretending to be Superman while using The Force to us, however the installation is described on the EMPAC web site as a “live-action stunt show crossed with a video game.” Either way, sign us up!

Hopefully we will see some video of the completed project in the near future, but in the meantime keep reading to see a behind-the-scenes preview of the flying rig in action.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGvsDD50cb8&w=470]

20 thoughts on “Fly Like Superman Using The Force

  1. More hovering than flying, but still cool. Especially for early testing.

    Hook up some video screens, fans/blowers, and let me go faster for the full effect and I’ll take two.

  2. can’t it move in x/y? kind of a lame flying set up if it can’t

    you can’t think in 3d?

    don’t really need the sound of it but it does add to it
    i’m sure they could make this really fun and cool

  3. So he connected a winch to an off-the-shelf commercial EEG?

    Do we really have any proof that she’s actually controlling it?

    Also: spandex. It’s a privilege, not a right…

    Also also: “XXXY”? You’ve got to be joking.

  4. it is my limited understanding of the tech behind eeg controlled anything is basically you can only really get left/right readings of brain activity, basically when they are used in a wheel chair setting the user can only command left/right/stop. So basically I don’t think they can accomplish more than left/right movement or up down in this particular application. Just kind of guessing since I read an article the other day about the left/right/stop mind control gizmos.

    neat I managed to track down the article…
    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110217124859.htm

  5. @dbear, I agree. This is more like the X-Men Action Room though.

    We are getting very close to the holodeck technology, but not there yet. This is like Black & White television compared to High-Definition, 3D Digital, Internet ready television.

  6. Did anyone think of Goku explaining how to fly? “You just need to concentrate really hard.”
    “IT’S NOT WORKING!”
    “Relax and feel the energy flow though you.”

    Damn I remember actually trying with Goku’s explaination.

  7. @ZeUs

    for me it was first Superman with the “up! up! and away!!!”, and then later it was the Greatest American Hero super suit, three running steps and a leap… neither of those work, not even with a decent cape tied around your neck, sigh…

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