Ghost Sphere

One clear sphere, one ring — it flies, floats and drives, steered by leaning

Late afternoon on a canyon rim. A rider walks up, the door slides up and they climb in. The ring swings flat, the sphere rises straight up and leans away over the canyon, banking as the rider leans, and lands on the river. A close look at the ring: one of its six cyclorotors spins up and turns its push from down to back. It skims an S, rolls ashore on its upright ring, takes a dirt track to the road and goes. Back at the same spot, it rolls in and the rider gets out.

What this is

A personal vehicle for air, water and road that is one shape for all three: a clear six-foot sphere with a single ring round its middle. Six cyclorotors sit inside the ring. Flat at the equator, they lift the sphere and fly it, or blow it across water like an air-boat; stood upright, the ring becomes the tyre and their motors roll the shell around a cabin that hangs level. There is no wheel, stick or pedal — the rider leans toward where they want to go, in every mode. It updates the gyrosphere and the Explorers bubble craft into something you would actually want to ride.

The technical shape

Form: a 6 ft (1.83 m) clear double-walled sphere · one ring round the equator · the same shape on land, water and in the air
Thrust: six cyclorotors inside the ring, one motor each · directed blowers in the air and on water
Road: the ring stands upright and is the tyre · motors in the ring roll the shell around the level cabin
Steering: lean toward where you want to go — no wheel, stick or pedals, in every mode
Ring swing: the ring slides round the shell; the rotors push or pull the craft into balance on it
Door: a round panel at the ring's hub that slides up inside the shell; on the road it sits still in the middle of the wheel
Stage: concept specification · design blueprint and parts brief

The deep end · full technical outline

Outline v2 · expanding

One shape for every medium

Cars, boats and aircraft are three different shapes because each was built around its propulsion. The Ghost Sphere starts from the other end: a sphere is the same in every direction, and one ring round its middle can carry the thrust for all three. Nothing juts out — no struts, wings, props or wheels — so the craft looks the same whether it is parked on gravel, skimming a river or climbing out of a canyon.

The ring and its cyclorotors

The ring is a belt 0.17 m tall and 0.15 m deep, sized so each of its six cyclorotors sits wholly inside it, 60° apart. A cyclorotor is a drum of six blades turning about an axis along the ring; an off-centre hub, linked to every blade, pitches each one as it goes round. Slide the hub and the push turns — straight down to lift, straight back to drive — without the ring tilting. Over each rotor the belt is an open mesh, and at the top of the ring nothing covers the flow.

Air, water, road

In the air the rotors push down and the sphere rises, hovers, slides sideways or sets off in any direction: this is where it is omnidirectional. On water it floats on its own displacement and the same rotors become air-boat blowers — no marine props, no rudder. For the road the rotors shift from blowing to driving: the ring stands upright as the tyre, and the motors in the ring roll the outer shell around the cabin, like a monowheel.

The ring swing

Changing mode means moving the ring from flat at the equator to standing upright, or back. It slides round the outside of the shell on the same kind of sliding mechanism the door uses inside it. While it swings, the rotors push or pull the vehicle into balance on the ring, so the craft is never resting on anything but the ring itself.

Steered by leaning

The seat is a high-backed bucket on a multi-axis pendulum base, and there are no controls to hold. The rider leans toward where they want to go — forward to go, to a side to carve — on land, on water and in the air, like riding a motorcycle. A dense floor deck below the seat hangs like a pendulum, keeping the cabin level while the shell rolls or banks around it.

Getting in

The door is a round panel of the shell on the craft's side, at the hub of the ring when the ring stands upright. It slides up and over the top inside the outer shell, under the ring, and back down to close. On the road the shell turns about that hub, so the door stays still in the middle of the wheel instead of spinning past.

Related in the lab

Multi-medium

Built at this bench

The machine, the instrument, the film that explains it — all designed and built in-house. The same bench works for hire.

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