A Human-Powered Helicopter [Video]

Students from the University of Maryland are trying to build a human-powered helicopter that can hover at least a minute, reach a height of 3 meters (10 feet), and stay within a 10-meter distance from its liftoff point, all this in order to win the $250,000 Sikorsky Prize.

It’s difficult to build a working four-rotor helicopter that spans 100 feet and only weighs 80 pounds. It’s even harder when your engine is a 0.7-horsepower person. But one team of engineering students is trying to do just that.

[NPR]