“I’m not the chair they think I am at home, oh no. I’m a Rocket Chair!” or so says Sir Elton John. There are so many cultural references to be made here, I’m losing my mind. Whether it be the spousal abuse overtones of The Honeymooners or 1970’s pop-rock songs, it never ends!

Yet, I digress. The Rocket Chair is the creation of Ky Michaelson, aka the Rocketman. Take a seat and strap yourself in because the 500-pound thrust hydrogen-peroxide engine mounted on this baby will set you airborne for a exhilarating 45 seconds. There is so much thrust put out by this engine that all seven gallons of fuel are guzzled up in the short flight.

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When we saw the robot which revealed how sea creatures might first have set slithery fin on land, we never imagined that other aquatic life-form robots would surface which would amaze with such ease. And then we set eyes on the Festo AirJelly, modeled after the jelly fish, which floats through the air as if the atmosphere was as buoyant as water.

Powered by a lithium-ion battery, an electric motor, a tad of helium gas, and what seems to be the brain of a jelly fish, the AirJelly uses its seven tentacle-like arms to float through the air. There’s also an aquatic version, the AquaJelly, but it’s not nearly as gorgeous as the AirJelly. Hit the jump for an amazing video of the creature in flight. (more…)

If I wanted a normal Venus Fly Trap, I’d go to my local florist. But normalcy is boring, so I’d pick one up from the Dicovery Store. Sure, it might not be a “real” plant, but can a real plant lure insects into its grasps, sense the fly’s motion, and then chomp down on the little guy, swallowing him (or preferably, her) whole? I thought not. (Actually, I’m pretty sure they can.)

After being swallowed, the fly drifts into a containment jar, where you can keep your fly friend forever and ever, pointing your finger and tormenting him about how he’ll never see his wife and 4 billion larva children ever again. — Andrew Dobrow

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So you want to take an aerial shot and just don’t know how you’re going to go about it. The Flying Stick Camera flies through the air at set intervals and snaps shots of what it sees below.

Just like other recent concepts, the Flying Stick uses kinetic energy to fly. Just rub it a few times between your paws and let it sore. There’s no mention of camera resolution or memory size to speak of, but hell, we don’t care, as long as we can finally remove the mirrors on our ceilings which we use to admire our….interior design. *wink, wink* (more…)

Unless you find yourself mutated from a radioactive leak or something, the odds of flying without the aid of technology is looking pretty slim for the human race. Using the Jet Wing is about as close as you can get to solo flight without the aid of physical mutation. Jet Wing is a personal flying apparatus which will keep you flying horizontally at 115 mph for a few minutes before pooping out. The only problem is that the engines aren’t powerful enough to launch our massive bodies.

To use the Jet Wing, you have to jump out of a plane or off a cliff, at which point you’ll get a few glorious minutes of flight, before plummeting back to earth with the help of a parachute. Now, you can try doing this without the Jet Wing, but we definitely don’t recommend it. Make sure to have an ambulance and a hearse on hand if you give it a try. — Andrew Dobrow

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Do you love the song “Freebirdâ€? by Lynyrd Skynyrd when it’s live, like the CD version? Would you still like it if an animatronics bird were to sing it to you? Didn’t think so. Well Decoy Roy, a singing duck, will sing that or “(I Just want to) Flyâ€? by Sugar Ray for you with just the simple press of a red button. Just think of a Billy the Bass-like performance, except with a dancing duck instead of a flopping fish. Just think about the bragging you can do when you go to a friends house that has a Billy the Bass; “well I have a duck at home that sings a song that doesn’t get annoying the first time you play it.â€? Plus, who actually hangs fish up on their wall; ducks are much more common, so you won’t look like such a freak when you have a duck up on your wall. If you’re really lucky, your little friend Roy will even say some wisequacks (haha that’s funny) between great songs. If you must have the latest technology in singing and dancing animals, then you should fork out $29.95 for Decoy Roy to float your boat. — Nick Rice

Decoy Roy [via Gearlog]