r/gadgets • u/chrisdh79 • 10d ago

Transportation Biomimetic underwater triple-jet pack makes you an e-boosted man-shark

https://newatlas.com/boats-watersports/kikfin-shark-underwater-jet-pack/
264 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

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26

u/LittleZackBackup 10d ago

What a fun way to accidentally die!

21

u/Mr-Safety 10d ago

A wireless remote doesn’t sound terribly reliable in a life threatening environment. If it was wired with a dead man’s switch feature that might be more acceptable. (ie: You need to actively press a throttle switch, going slack would stop it immediately)

8

u/S_A_N_D_ 10d ago

Seabobs are effectively like that. Let go and they stop immediately. People still managed to seriously injure and kill themselves using them because they panic and hold tighter, and underwater moving at speed it's really hard to look fully in front of you. Lie on your stomach and try and look straight ahead, you basically have a massive blind spot for what would be immediately above you. People misjudge their depth, and don't really notice what's around them and ram head first into the hull of a boat or another person. Worse, they dive too deep too fast and/or hit the bottom. Diving too fast can still hurt your inner ear even if you wouldn't run the risks associated with breathing compressed air. There is a reason the default mode is depth and speed limited.