A video of Gravity Industries founder — and jetpack inventor — Richard Browning performing some venturesome stunts at this year’s International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago went viral over the internet at the weekend.
Instead of simply zipping back and forth over a grim mountainside, city river, or lake, Browning came up with exciting results.
The video shows him leap from one concrete platform to the next some 30 feet away, just like Super Mario jumping from pipe to pipe — an impressive feat of the jetpack’s agility and a mere trailer of what’s possible.
Gravity’s suit relies on two arm-mounted thrusters and an oversized back-mounted system, totaling seven small jet engines, that allow its wearer to modify their direction and altitude on the fly like Iron Man.
Beyond showing off the suit in front of an audience, there are real-world applications for Gravity’s invention. In an interview at the event, Browning highlighted its utility to paramedics or search and rescue teams, who could use it to cover difficult terrain far more easily.
“We’ve proven that in tough to navigate conditions like mountains or urban block congested conditions, we can get there super quick,” Browning said.
“It is you moving as effortlessly as skiing or riding a bike,” he added. “It is pretty euphoric.”