Original subtitles

[narrator] On this episode of How Tech Works.

We get a lift from this taxi driver.

You haven't lost anybody yet have you?

No. [laughs]

At the speed of 180 miles an hour.

Hi there. I am Basil Singer

and I advise you to strap yourself in,

because you're in for a wild ride of a show.

We're going to fly a jet fighter plane and...

we'll find out just how much G-force one human can withstand.

But first I want to take you back

to childhood.

Now remember the absolute joy of playing with a new toy.

Well our intrepid reporter Mark Miller,

knows that feeling well.

As you're about to see from his encounter with a toy

that is literally larger than life.

All the way to Japan, Mark discovers two engineers

with a passion for giant, mechanized monsters.

Their latest invention stands three meters tall.

Weighs as much as a car,

and walks upright on two legs.

They call it 'The land walker'.

And it's the ultimate monster toy.

If you want high-tech cool gadgets,

then you know this, is the place.

In Japan they've got their super trains,

their amazing robots,

Konnichiwa!

and now this.

What can only be described as a life size transformer.

He's the land walker.

The creation of two guys

who built agricultural machines in the farm country

northwest of Tokyo.

Sakakakibara Kiaki is a family run company.

that has found itself using more and more automation

to make farming in this area more efficient.

After the guys designed their last robotic tractor,

they found themselves drafting plans

for the world's first land walker.

Ultimately it's a giant machine powered by

a mere 250 horsepower motorcycle engine.

[metallic rustling]

That's not the only thing

that makes this machine super cool.

Now it's really important to remember that this

is a company that specializes in building autonomous robots.

But when the engineer started building this thing they knew

to maximize the fun factor with this thing,

it would need a pilot.

This is not a robot or a remote control toy.

This is a fully wearable walking machine.

He want to be on, right on the robot and drive.

That's why he wanted to make.

It's the world's first consumer exoskeleton.

I don't know if you can play TV game, you know,

that you can drive.

Land walker is as tall as a house

and as heavy as a car.

It is a complex system of actuators, levers,

wheels and brakes.

All computer controlled to produce that walking motion.

Now the engineers claim that pretty much anybody

can drive this thing.

But before they let me take the stick,

they say I gotta go through a little training.

[shrieking and laughing]

[both laughing]

Okay, I am not ready for that one.

[motor running]

OK, so I didn't wreck it.

With a passing grade on the mini exoskeleton,

it's time to move up to the heavy metal.

Is this thing designed to take my kind of weight?

Back, back. OK.

Left, turn uh right, turn left.

Just in case of a tip toe.

Here we go.

Driving this monster is surprisingly easy.

Although all that shuffling back and forth means

the ride isn't as comfortable as it looks.

It's easy to turn but it's hard to walk straight.

Getting the exoskeleton to walk was one of the hardest

engineering challenges with this machine.

A computer controls a complex series of actuators

that alternate brakes on wheeled feet

as one leg slides forward

the other stays locked in place.

But by far this is my favorite feature.

Two rubber ball cannons.

Now you're about to meet a woman named Sabine.

with an amazing job.

You see Sabine is a taxi driver but not just any taxi,

Sabine drives people around on one of the worlds

most famous race tracks.

At speeds of up to 180 miles an hour

we call her queen of the Nurburgring.

The town of Nurburg.

Home to one of the most dangerous and challenging

race tracks in the world.

The Nurburg ring.

It's a very special day here.

Race fans are putting on race suits.

I think I am gonna have more trouble getting into this suit

than I am actually driving the car.

The fans are going to be rocketed around the Nurburging

by pro drivers in fast cars

called race taxis.

There we go. No problem.

James Dowling is a website editor from London.

His taxi fare covers two laps and costs about 800 pounds.

And his cabby is no Sunday driver.

Hey!

-So you're my date right? -Yes.

[laughs]

My name is Sabine Schmitz

and my job is to drive people around the track,

around the Nurburgring.

They call her the queen of the Nurburg ring.

She's won loads of races here.

broken many speed records,

basically she's a pretty big deal.

Surprisingly she is also a bit of a country bumpkin.

She's got lots of animals.

Sabina grew up in Nurburg and learned about

horsepower at an early age.

I took my mom's car and did some laps in a BMW

on the track.

Without license, shh, don't tell anyone.

but then I thought by myself, it's really

such a great track it's so much fun.

And then I decided to

start my racing career as soon as possible.

The ring surrounds the town of Nurburg.

Fifteen miles of angulating ysvled, steep hills

and sharp turns that generate powerful G forces.

A severe test for any driver.

If your car is not in shape, it won't survive.

Sabina's car is in great shape.

My race taxi is at the moment a Porsche GT3RS.

The newest model.

My ring taxi job is so special.

Who has a track like this?

Who has a car like this?

I know exactly what I have to do to scare the people.

Sometimes fast is boring

but I can drive with lots of corner weights

where people get bumped in the car,

then it's even more exciting for them.

I am sure I'll probably survive.

You haven't lost anybody yet, have you?

[laughs]

Nine of these fans have tickets to ride with Sabina.

James is up first.

I don't need to breathe out do I?

[car accelerating]

The people are very different.

I had one guy who was screaming the whole lap.

He says he can't breathe, he was just screaming!

[screams]

It was so funny.

Sometimes I can't drive because I am laughing and crying.

From laughing and I can't see the track anymore.

Sometimes it's very dangerous for me as well.

Take care of your balls.

[laughs]

This is a road car so it still has ABS and stuff?

Yeah, only the ABS.

The rest... we don't need traction control.

I've got traction control in my butt, you know!

[laughs]

Sabina is at the front of the pack.

So you can't see any other cars.

The main sensation is not the speed it's the G forces.

Yeah, even the car goes uh-uh-uh.

Sabina's driven so many laps she knows almost every bump.

Brake! Brake! Bump!

How many laps have you done?

30 thousand.

You never get bored. It's impossible

Little bumps are new here,

then we got new tarmac over there.

On the second time round she's already lapping other cars.

Ah, come on let's eat a BMW!

Yeah, don't hold me up!

James's race taxi ride comes to an end.

Sabina drove 30 miles in about 18 minutes.

Thank you my love, that was wonderful.

We'll be right back with more How Tech Works .

Welcome back to How Tech Works . I am Basil Singer.

Now while we're still on the adrenaline rush

from all those high speed laps around the track.

There's only one sensible thing to do now

and that's go faster yet.

When it comes to speed humans can't travel much faster

than the sound barrier

And that's exactly what fighter pilots must do

every time they take to the skies.

So let's take a look behind the scenes,

of a machine that puts fighter pilots

to the ultimate speed test.

Being a fighter pilot is prestigious,

glamorous and grueling.

They scream through the air faster than the speed of sound.

And inside the cockpit they endure

excruciating G forces.

Hold that breath.

One more breath.

This gig is part guts, part glory.

And these recruits want to get in on the game.

Before they can fly they've got to prove

they've got what it takes to survive

in a high G environment.

Feels like a giant is squeezing your whole body.

And yeah that was just a weird sensation.

This is the navy's aviation survival training center.

We maximize the survivability of the war fighter.

That's what we do.

[narrator] When fighter pilots make fast turns

they experience forces that can be as large

as 9 times gravity.

I weigh roughly 200 pounds.

Like a mac truck is sitting on you.

The rookies are learning how these forces affect the body.

Hearts are designed to pump blood

to our heads at one G.

Not 7, 8, 9 gs.

so it lacks the capacity to do so.

It has troubles.

Obviously when blood isn't getting to the brain,

the pilot is going to pass out.

So we have a technique called the anti-G strain maneuver,

so that they can stay conscious all the way up

in these high G levels.

They've got to force blood to the brain,

by contracting their muscles

and doing a special breathing technique.

They'll practice inside this centrifuge.

Profile is running.

And you will feel the gradual onset of gs right about now.

During that onset, when the Gs come on,

that's when the most fluid shift

when the most blood from your head down is going to happen.

and it's really important that you do everything you can

to restrict that from happening.

Legs, breath, hold it, you're on top, breathe.

Wait for me sir! Breathe.

So you'll hear us say the command - legs.

That means to tighten up the legs. Breath.

when we say breath we want you to initiate, then lock it down,

so you're squeezing your legs, you've locked down your air

and you're increasing that pressure

in order to restrict that fluid from shifting.

Right now all they care about is staying conscious.

Once they get in the jet it'll be a lot tougher.

They'll have to make critical combat decisions too.

Stay on those abs.

Then at about three seconds we go ahead...

have them relax, the blood runs out

your heart is able to beat normally.

About one good time, get some good fresh

oxygenated blood up about here.

and then you continually do this on and on.

7.5 is next - you gotta give me all you got.

These crazy facial expressions are common.

And let's be honest, pretty hilarious.

Like you're constipated and on the toilet.

Essentially you're doing the same thing.

[narrator] It does look funny, but it hurts like hell.

It's like wrestling a bear.

Kind of like a 90 minute workout in ten minutes.

my feet have cramps in them from tightening so hard.

[narrator] Back in the trainer Ensign Harry Davis is prepping

for one of the toughest exercises.

So whenever you are feeling up to it,

start slowly turning your head.

In a combat scenario fighter pilots will turn

to see their enemies.

[narrator] This posture makes it a lot harder to pull off

the anti G strain maneuver.

Legs. Breath. Hold it.

Get those glutes. One more time.

And coming down.

And we're there, you can let go of the stick.

Wow that was a little fast. It's done!

It's done.

[man] Nice job. You wanna go again?

[man] What? Yeah.

[man] Nah we're good. We're going to bring you home.

Nice job!

Am I swirling?

That's crazy.

You have to really be careful

otherwise you could wind up unconscious like that.

Really bad.

That's exactly what the instructors want to hear.

People come back and tell us "What you did saved my life".

Today's lesson was agonizing.

But you know the saying no pain no gain.

I would say this, if flying was as painful

as this machine, people would not fly.

That being said when they complete it

they then have the confidence

that I can take anything the aircraft can dish out

and I am doing it right.

Finally when it comes to world records,

this has got to be up there with some of the strangest

The world's fastest mobility scooter.

I ask you, who wouldn't want to meet

the guy who created this category?

And then went ahead and built it.

Anyway, his name is Colin Furze and...

well let's just say Colin wants to put his money

where his mouth is

Step up to the plate, throw down the ultimate gauntlet

by racing an airplane with his mobility scooter.

No saying it out loud doesn't make it any less strange.

Check this out.

This is the beginning of an epic race.

You've got to see it to believe it.

Master pilot vs Colin.

He's got no chance.

Feast your eyes on the world's fastest

mobility scooter.

71.5 miles an hour.

A hundred and fifty kilometers for the metric people.

Colin Furze is England's modern day Evil Knievel.

He's conquered the wall of death.

Become a human motorboat...

and lit up the night sky on more than one occasion.

Now he's created this beast.

Everyone said that can keep up with cars on the motorway

and things like that. Yeah it can, can't it.

But of course you can't ride this on the motorway

against cars. It's not legal,

so I thought the next best thing surely is to race a plane

up a runway.

Some people might not want to try it.

But I think it's alright.

It definitely takes, how to put this,

a specific breed of person.

Mad.

Done a risk assessment.

We've assessed there is risk, and we will ignore it.

[laughs]

Me and the people in my head. The people I speak to.

[laughs]

Today's attempt starts with a donation.

There's a shop in town where I live

and the shop owner is a fan of my videos, watches all me stuff.

[narrator] And he gave Colin this beauty.

I just remember looking at it and just thinking...

how fast we can get that thing to go.

That sort of thing, as you do.

I suppose I had one of them male moments.

"It's not fast enough", sort of thing.

And took it from there really.

[narrator] The original is the scooter equivalent

of a larder. Not exactly a speed demon.

So Colin had to soup it up to Ferrari status.

'Cause everybody asks the same question,

"Are you an engineer?" "Have you ever been to college

or anything like that?" And I haven't, I am a plumber.

[narrator] A plumber with a knack for clever engineering.

Here we have the 125 motorbike engine.

It was really quite tight to package in

cause I had to fit it all in this housing.

The exhaust pipe is the most difficult bit

because normally on the motorbike

it would come twisting out here and disappear off to the back.

These are the gear shifters. Shift up, shift down.

All the linkage and everything underneath

and if I just flip it up underneath,

you can see the cooling system under here laid flat,

which doesn't work very well but it does work.

To a certain degree.

And that's it, you are not going to go off roading on it.

Off roading - no, on runway - yes.

I've never been in this position before.

I am in a mobility scooter, 20 foot from a plane.

Oh I'll beat him easily.

I always win.

Very determined.

On your mark. Get set.

Colin's faster off the block.

[Colin] Slight steering movements at high speed do have

a big impression on what you're doing so...

You really do have to concentrate on just keeping it

in a straight line.

I remember thinking dip your head down

and you might go a bit faster

and of course I tried to dip my head down and ended up

fishtailing all over the place!

[narrator] Oh look, it's even Steven now.

No helmet. That's health and safety gone mad.

Do not try this at home.

If I have a helmet on it's gonna...

I don't know I just don't think it'll look as good.

Luckily he is wearing one piece of safety gear.

This is my safety tie.

It came about 4 years Ag when I rode the wall of death.

After riding a lot of people on YouTube,

particularly it was someone from Canada actually.

A guy called Chuck and he said "It's your safety tie".

And I kind of thought, yeah it is, isn't it.

So ever since then on all my videos

I've always worn the same clothes - this shirt and tie!

Thank goodness for that tie.

Kept Colin safe right to the finish.

[laughs]

It was surprising he kept up with me.

Fair contest, obviously once he gets in the air,

there's not much I can do about it.

But other than that, it was fantastic.

[narrator] In a bizarre way, this race just confirms

the awesomeness of Colin's creation.

Granddad's rock. [laughs]

[narrator] Do I sense a bruised ego?

Feeling like a loser?

No, why?

He can't fly... yet.

[narrator] Good point.

I think it's safe to assume,

there's more up these tweed sleeves.

This is a big question moment, isn't it?

I have got some plans for things.

I am not gonna give too much away.

Yeah, watch this space.

[engine]

Well that's all the time we've got for today.

Thank you very much for watching

How Tech Works.

I'm Basil Singer. See you next time.

[ending music]