A team of Chinese designers has taken to Kickstarter to fund a nifty little idea called Air Umbrella. It’s an umbrella that’s powered by a “force field” of air. It uses this to replace the fabric in a normal umbrella, with the air flow deflecting the rain drops from you.
The inventors have already received more pledges than they asked for – right now around $17,000 have been pledged by people eager to replace their umbrellas with something more high-tech, and the goal was just $10,000. There are 9 days to go in the Kickstarter campaign, but since the goal has been surpassed this thing should become reality.
There will be three models of the Air Umbrella. The smallest product, apparently aimed at women, will be 30cm long, will weigh 500g, and will have 15-minute battery life. There will also be a variant measuring 50cm, weighing 800g, and coming with 30-minute battery life. Both of these have fixed sizes. The third variation, however, will be extendable, from a minimum length of 50cm to a maximum of 80cm. This one will weigh 850g and will have 30-minute battery life too. The width of all models is 34mm at the base.
If you’re excited about this, though, here’s the downside – the plan is for the first Air Umbrellas to be produced in September 2015. Those who pledge money through Kickstarter will get theirs “by December 2015″, which obviously means you’ll have a lot of waiting to do for one of these.
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