While once-unfathomable modern technology like mobile phones and tablets have begun to look commonplace, inventors are still pushing the limits of what we have seen or — in the case of a new invention called the Air Umbrella — things that we can’t see.
After a smashingly successful Kickstarter campaign, a Nanjing-based Chinese team of inventors have raised $94,942 to help make their space-age air umbrella a reality. The innovative idea attracted nearly 10 times its original campaign goal of $10,000. The Air Umbrella team hopes that this is an indication that their luxury product has a market, as the Air Umbrella will cost between $88 and $108 a piece.
The device will function by using a network of tubes delivering air that deflect rain as it comes into contact with the umbrella. The process is explained below in Air Umbrella’s Kickstarter video.
While the Air Umbrella is still under development, the company has promised to release three versions of the product with varying levels of compactness in relation to battery life and motor power. Air umbrella’s class A model is light at only 500 grams and has a battery that will last for approximately 15 minutes, while its class B and class C models will be larger but with 30-minute battery lifespans and increased rain-deflecting abilities. Just like iPhones or any other trendy electronic product, the device struggles with being able to retain enough juice to function in the long term. Air Umbrella’s design team has promised to address that issue along with size and durability, assuring investors that a quality product will be in their hands by December 2015.
“It will still take nearly 10 months to improve the product… If the products can not be produced successfully, we will return all the funds to the supporters… before January 31st 2016.”
Despite an enthusiastic reception for the air umbrella, the invention is not without critics. Using an air forcefield may seem an over-thought solution to a problem for which traditional umbrellas already suffice, though price-wise the products are much cheaper than your average designer umbrella.
Blast rain with air instead of using an umbrella. Because batteries & moving parts are totally necessary complexity. http://t.co/WNjSGuCrC4
— Tentacle Sixteen (@latentexistence) October 14, 2014
Someone should srsly think of making a sort of regretsy for kickstarter https://t.co/uPJVN8xZ6z
— Jaromil (@jaromil) October 22, 2014
Someone Finally Invented An Alternative To The Conventional Umbrella. Only Catch: It Looks Like A Humungous Dildo. — http://t.co/kOmLJGA7Tg
— BroBible (@BroBible) October 14, 2014
Someone re-invented the #umbrella because it clearly needed doing http://t.co/MNjvXassXg pic.twitter.com/fbmbAsEYVY Perfect for rainy #Vancouver
— Jason Lamarche (@Lamarche) October 14, 2014
Would you spend $100 on the Air Umbrella?
[Image via Kickstarter]
