The Star Wars franchise is filled with all kinds of awesome vehicles, from X-Wings to Star Destroyers, but certainly one of the coolest land-based examples has to be the speeder bikes from Return of the Jedi. Well, now it appears as though that technology may actually be coming to life, as a new invention called the Flike is basically a prototype of what's featured in the sci-fi saga feature.
Cnet has the scoop on this new development, crediting a team of Hungarian flight enthusiasts for the development of what is described as a "flying tricycle." This description may have you questioning the connection between the invention and Star Wars, but you'll totally get it when you watch the video below:
This controlled test flight doesn't show the vehicle's capacity to move forward or backward, and only ultimately stays suspended in the air for about 90 seconds, but if you were to paint that thing with camouflage colors and dress the pilot in Luke Skywalker's Endor costume, one could easily see how the device looks ripped straight out of Return of the Jedi. The Flike is controlled flight management computer that keeps it stabilized, and while it currently has only about 15-20 minutes worth of battery power, it operates very much like a helicopter in that it has a full range of movement.
Of course, we have to hope that the creators of the Flike are smart enough to keep the vehicle in open areas and not try to ever use their invention in a terrain anything like Endor. While it doesn't seem to ever occur to the folks from the Empire, fast speeder bikes and a forest environment don't go super well together, as demonstrated by the fact that a ton of Scout Troopers lost their lives ramming into trees:
You can take it to Tatooine; you can take it to Hoth; but don't take it to Endor (unless your a Jedi, that is).
Could you ever see yourself flying around on a Flike, or have the obvious dangers of the idea presented in Return of the Jedi potentially turned you off the idea completely?
