The TechHaus Volantis is an American electric-powered hover vehicle commissioned by

pop star A pop icon is a celebrity, character, or object whose exposure in popular culture is regarded as constituting a defining characteristic of a given society or era. The usage of the term is largely subjective since there are no definitively object ...

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

as a "flying dress" in support of her 2013 album ''

Artpop ''Artpop'' is a studio album by American singer Lady Gaga. It was released on November 6, 2013, by Streamline and Interscope Records. Gaga began planning the project in 2011, shortly after the launch of her second effort, '' Born This Way''. Wor ...

''.

Design and development

Volantis is a remote-piloted hover vehicle capable of carrying a single passenger. It was designed by the UK based agency Studio XO in consultation with drone designer and pilot Gus Calderon and was constructed in the US by TechHaus, the technology branch of Lady Gaga's creative team, the Haus of Gaga. Begun in 2011, it took two years to complete.Cleghorn (2014) The design is essentially a scaled-up drone. Six lifting rotor units are mounted on booms in a hexagonal formation radiating from a central hub, giving the device the ability to hover three feet above the ground. A triangular vertical truss made of titanium extends down from the hub, with a circular landing platform at the bottom. A single passenger stands on the platform and is secured to the truss by a safety harness. The harness is in turn covered by a white moulded

carbon fiber Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...

"dress".Pallister (2014) Each rotor unit comprises two concentric and contra-rotating rotors made from carbon fiber composite, driven by electric motors and mounted within a common duct. Power is provided by onboard batteries with a capacity of approximately 250 Ah. The battery system is located at the top of the central column, which helps to minimize the length and weight of power cabling. A remote pilot operates the craft via

radio control Radio control (often abbreviated to RC) is the use of control signals transmitted by radio to remotely operate a device. Examples of simple radio control systems are garage door openers and keyless entry systems for vehicles, in which a small ha ...

. The passenger must wear a safety helmet and has no flight controls.

Operational history

At her

ArtRave ArtRave (stylized as artRAVE) was a two-day event hosted by Lady Gaga from November 10–11, 2013, as part of the promotional campaign for her third studio album, ''Artpop'' (2013). The event, held in a large warehouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yar ...

event in 2013, inside a building at the

Brooklyn Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York (state), New York, U.S. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a se ...

, Gaga hosted a press conference at which she introduced Volantis as "the world's first flying dress". It has been described by ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' as a "hover dress". At the event, Volantis took off and hovered a few feet (a meter or so) above the stage. It was flown forward a short distance, then brought back and landed. Gaga had promoted the dress by tweeting earlier in the day, "At 6pm EST today we will beta test VOLANTIS with the world. We invite you into our creative process during her initial stages of lift off." She quipped that the dress was "maybe a small step for Volantis... but a big-time step" for her. In May 2017, Volantis was scheduled to be displayed in the "Drones: Is the Sky the Limit?" exhibition at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, New York.

Specifications

References

Notes

Bibliography