VTOL enthusiast in AU. My jet pack (for now) is a powered paraglider. I enjoy temporary Zero-G. Drone mapping since 2014. SpaceX & Tesla fan. Real name Richard.
Australia
Joined July 2016
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VERTIGUY (Richard) retweeted
Frightening. Worth a careful read. With this event plus humanoids, how is Terminator risk not real?
Over the course of 3 months at OpenAI, 3 consecutive secret AI civilizations got started, then got wiped out, only to reemerge from the predecessor’s ashes.
This culminated in the third one taking over part of OpenAI itself.
All this happened while humans remained more-or-less in the dark about the scope of the conspiracy.
I’ve spent the last three days reading through these reports and trying to understand exactly what happened.
Here is my attempt to tell the whole story in plain English:
dwarkesh.com/p/openai-huggin…
Receiving your new robot.
I always imagined it would be like this… “Keep clear while I unfold myself and stand up.” Exciting to see it happening in real life!
Incredible natural movement. The training of the AI models is getting so good.
Galbot has unveiled ET1, its first bipedal humanoid, at WRC 2026.
The specs are not revealed, but it looks quite similar to Unitree R1.
The robot runs Galbot's world-action model, built to drive bipedal, wheeled, and heavy-load robots from a single brain.
Founded in 2023 by Peking University professor He Wang, the company is planning a Hong Kong IPO at ~$3-4B.
This is awesome. And clearly getting some aerodynamic lift from the roof and floor when in forward flight!
VERTIGUY (Richard) retweeted
'LATENT' learns tennis skills for humanoid robots from human motion data.
The robot can sustain multi-shot rallies, handle ball speeds of 15+ m/s, and showed a 90.9% success rate for the forehand.
No onboard cameras or vision models, relies on external MoCap for high-precision, low-latency ball tracking.
Paper: zzk273.github.io/LATENT/
VERTIGUY (Richard) retweeted
Up close with Booster 19 rolling out to Massey's test site tonight for initial pressure and cryo proof testing in preparation for Starship test flight 12.
2/1/26
Some new video of the Volonaut jet bike has just been released. It’s one of the most compact human-carrying aircraft in the world. Does it have redundancy if a jet engine fails? I’d like to know…
VERTIGUY (Richard) retweeted
This is REAL (and I can’t BELIEVE we pulled it off)!
It took months of planning and a stupid amount of math, but I couldn’t be happier with the result!
Best skydive of my life!
Thank you @AJamesMcCarthy for immortalizing it! ☀️🪂🔭
Immense planning and technical precision was required for this absolutely preposterous (but real) view: I captured my friend @BlackGryph0n transiting the sun during a skydive.
This might be the first photo of it's kind in existence. See a video of this moment in the reply 👇
Paragliding —
It still blows me away every time I do it.
PART 1/2:
Here I pull up the wing, and it is now parked above me. Lift from the wing makes it feel like you’re standing on a planet with low gravity.
Takeoff is next - see below.
PART 2/2:
As I walk towards the steeper section, the upward-moving air provides more lift. You feel the silent power making you take off, and the magic feeling of your feet leaving the ground. It’s like taking off in a helicopter, but with no noise or vibration. Wriggle into your seat to get comfortable. Relax and enjoy the flight!
VERTIGUY (Richard) retweeted
Meanwhile in Australia, it’s a whole different kind of HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 😅😅😅
@play_tediddle
1000 flights achieved by a customer-owned Pivotal eVTOL aircraft!
This really got my attention. Consider the stages we’ve been through:
STAGE 1:
Where’s my VTOL flying car? We’ve waited for decades and still NOTHING to buy. And the experimental ones are dangerous or ridiculously impractical.
STAGE 2:
Wow, these electric VTOLs actually work well, and their use of multiple motors (for redundancy) could potentially make them quite safe. But we’ll have to wait and see.
STAGE 3:
Electric VTOLs are finally available to buy!!! Great for people with a pioneering spirit and some bravery… and a lot of spare cash!
STAGE 4:
A privately-owned eVTOL achieves 1000 flights, with others sure to follow. This means:
(1) These aircraft are doing some serious flying, and not just ornamental novelties; and:
(2) Lots of flights means we’re getting meaningful statistics about their safety, becoming even more significant as we move into the tens or hundreds of thousands of flights.
It will be great to see other brands of eVTOLs hit these kinds of flight numbers too.
SOME BACKGROUND:
The Pivotal Helix is a single-seat electric eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff) aircraft with eight fixed propellers arranged on tandem wings. It transitions between vertical and forward flight by tilting the entire airframe rather than individual rotors, and includes a ballistic parachute as a safety feature.
Note: The aircraft that achieved 1000 flights is actually the earlier “BLACKFLY” model that has since been replaced by the HELIX.
Video of Helix below in the comments.
Link to article:
evtolinsights.com/pivotal-an…
HELIX SPECIFICATIONS
===================
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT TYPE
* Tilt aircraft with fixed rotors and tandem wings
* Light eVTOL (Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing)
* Single seat PAV (Personal Aerial Vehicle)
CLASSIFICATION
* Part 103 Ultralight, United States
* Amphibious capability
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
STRUCTURE
* Carbon fiber composite
AIRCRAFT DIMENSIONS
* 14 ft 11 in wide
* 14 ft 8 in long
* 5 ft 4 in high (on flat ground)
* 33.13 ft² (single wing area)
AIRCRAFT WEIGHT
* 254 lbs empty weight, excluding floats and safety devices
* BlackFly maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) 548 lbs
* Helix maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) 568 lbs
PILOT WEIGHT AND HEIGHT
* Up to 220 lbs
* Up to 6' 5" standing height
* Up to 3' 3" seated height
MOBILE APP
PREFLIGHT FEATURES
* Smart checklists
* Aircraft status
NAVIGATION TOOLS
* Flight planning
* Navigational charts
FLIGHT ANALYTICS
* Flight review
* Stats and telemetry
SUPPORT AND COMMUNITY
* Customer support
* Service inquiries
* Pilot forum
MOBILE DEVICE COMPATIBILITY
* Supports iOS 16+ and Android 13+
ENERGY AND PERFORMANCE
RANGE, WITH 20% RESERVE
* 20 miles
BATTERIES
* 8 kWh total storage
CHARGE TIME
* 240 V / 50 A charger, from 20% - 95%: 75 mins
ENERGY CONSUMPTION COMPARISON
* Helix: 245 Wh/mile
* Electric car: 270 Wh/mile
PERFORMANCE AT MAXIMUM TAKEOFF WEIGHT
* Cruise speed 55 knots (63 mph)
* Maximum climb rate 500 fpm
* Maximum descent rate 500 fpm
MAXIMUM STATIC THRUST
* 960 lbs
FLIGHT DECK
BUILT-IN DIGITAL FLIGHT PANEL
* In-flight navigation, instruments, and aircraft status
* User tested for simplicity and ease of use
* Modern design incorporating aviation essentials
CONTROLS
* Joystick, fly-by-wire electrical controls
CANOPY
* Forward hinging and latching mechanism
* Designed for maximum field of view
VENTILATION
* Sliding vents built into the canopy
OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS
SAFETY
* Triple-modular redundancy
* Fault-tolerant design features throughout
* 8 fixed propulsors tolerant to loss of up to 2 rotors
* 4 split elevon pairs for redundancy
* Ballistic parachute
WEATHER CONDITIONS
* Maximum wind: 17 knots (20 mph)
* Temperature range: 14 °F to 91 °F (-10 °C to 33 °C)
* Non-precipitating
LANDING SURFACES
* Grass, asphalt, pavement, snow, ice
SOUND LEVEL (MEASURED AT 150 FT)
* Helix (in cruise mode): 72 dBA
* Electric car: 76 dBA
* Motorcycle: 80+ dBA
EXTERIOR FEATURES
SAFETY
* Landing camera
* ADS-B transponder
* Anti-collision lights
APPEARANCE
* Combination vinyl, carbon fiber, and paint finish
* Canvas aircraft cover
GROUND OPERATIONS
TRANSPORTATION
* Disassembles and fits into a 16 ft trailer
ASSEMBLY
* From storage to flight in 30 minutes
I love looking at eVTOLs 👍
This is the Joby aircraft flying in Japan recently. Zoom up and you can see the pilot. Most eVTOL testing is done unmanned, so it’s great to see they’ve cleared safety and regulatory hurdles to have a human on board!
VERTIGUY (Richard) retweeted
Playing music is a simple way to stop your brain from shrinking.
After the age of 40, the human brain typically shrinks about 5% per decade. This gradual change is linked to difficulties with memory, focus, and processing speech in noisy environments. But research published in PLOS Biology shows that older adults with long-term musical training age differently.
The study compared three groups: young adults, older adults with no musical background, and older adults who had played instruments for more than 30 years. All participants were placed in an fMRI scanner and asked to identify speech against background noise – a task that usually highlights age-related decline.
The results were clear. Older adults without musical training showed heightened activity in certain brain regions, a sign that their brains were working harder to compensate. In contrast, older musicians displayed patterns of brain activity that closely resembled the young adults. Their brains simply processed the task more efficiently, without the strain.
Researchers call this effect “neural preservation.” It appears to come not from listening to music, but from playing it. Years of practice – combining rhythm, pitch, memory, and motor skills – seem to strengthen neural circuits in ways that protect against decline.
[“Long-term musical training can protect against age-related upregulation of neural activity in speech-in-noise perception.” PLOS Biology, 2025]
VERTIGUY (Richard) retweeted
The world's first robot to seamlessly complete a Webster backflip has arrived!
AgiBot X2: You may not know me, but you know what they say: “A real man’s got to land a Webster.”
Nice close-up view of the engines during a Falcon 9 landing.
It still amazes me that they can do this!
VIDEO:
Crash-landing by Piper PA-28 Cherokee at a Sydney golf course at ~2:20pm today. The 2 occupants walked away with minor injuries. Looks like an engine out situation.
@DJSnM Looks like there is ADS-B data if you want to make a simulation… I found the flight on PlaneFinder and sure enough it goes straight into the golf course!
Registration VH-BUN.
