Is a Google jetpack coming? Firm admits it worked on design - but says technology is not ready YET
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The head of Google's secretive 'X' lab has revealed the firm started work on a personal jetpack.
He said the project aimed to create a a jetpack that 'wasn't a death trap'.
However, it was abandoned when the team realised the final product would be as loud as a motorcycle - and would only travel a quarter of a mile on a gallon of fuel.
Microsoft recently flew a Jetpack in London to launch its Halo game - but Google says consumer version s are still a long time off
WHAT'S INSIDE GOOGLE X?
Projects underway inside Google X are believed to include:
Glass wearable computer
Self driving Car
Robotics projects
Battery Technology
Drone systems
Balloons delivering internet access
Astro Teller revealed the project at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York.
He said the lab, where his title is 'captain of moonshots,' will 'turn off 100 things a year, easily,' because the division aims for projects to fail early in the process.
He said Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin 'focus more on not letting things get fully birthed that don't make sense,' according to CNET.
'Wouldn't it be awesome if we had a jetpack that wasn't a death trap?' Teller said.
'The problem is that it is going to be so power inefficient. I just couldn't live with that...it would be as loud as a motorcycle.'
Inventor Glen Martin from New Zealand took 27 years to develop his jetpack.
He said two area the lab sees the greatest opportunity in are agriculture and batteries.
'A 10x improvement in energy density...would change the world so radically we can't even see,' he said.
Battery projects could lead to ultra efficient cars and power sources for developing countries.
The team is also looking at agriculture projects.
Teller also said the lab's mission was still in its early stages, and 'Won't be done until we've started saving lives, we're not there yet.'
He also question the firm's current approach to mobile phones.
'Phones would not be better if they could be cooler looking, if they could weight less, or if they could have more battery,' he said.
'Phones would be better if we didn't have to carry them around.'
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