Remember those wind-turbine kites in Big Hero 6?

Remember those wind-turbine kites in Big Hero 6?

Google is working on making them real!

via Dave Besbris 

Originally shared by Makani

A few weeks ago, we gave you a sneak peek of our 600kW energy kite as we moved it out into the world. Now we’re ready to test it, starting this month here in Northern California. 

We’ve already tested the 600kW energy kite’s subsystems over the past few months, and this will be the first time we see how everything works together. While we can’t wait to see our new energy kite fully in action, we’re going to start off slowly by testing things incrementally. We need to get to know our energy kite first, and have it complete individual tasks successfully before giving it more advanced tasks. This means repeatedly performing functions as basic as powering the kite’s motors on and off, or getting the kite to hover with shorter tethers before we use a full-length tether. By testing close to our Alameda headquarters, our team will be able to quickly solve any issues that come up. Our engineers and scientists may even end up rapidly redesigning and rebuilding components as needed to ensure we have the best energy kite possible before we head off to Hawaii for our pilot project.

Check out these photos of our team completing final tests of our subsystems while putting the finishing touches on our 600kW energy kite.





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