WATCH: This Drone Can Carry Humans

The day when drones can carry human beings over a considerable distance is fast approaching. A team from Singapore recently presented a vehicle that "looks and sounds like a giant drone" that can actually carry a person, Mashable reported Sunday.

The said contraption "is lifted by a series of 24 propellers mounted within a hexagonal frame," the tech news source said. "The landing gear consists of six inflated 'landing balls' that provide shock absorption."

The said vehicle had been designed by a team from the National University of Singapore and had only been tested indoors so far.

"A common trope in popular science fiction is the projection of humans flying on our own - think the 'Jetsons,' or even 'Back to the Future,'" said the project's supervisor, Dr. Joerg Weigl. "NUS' Snowstorm shows that a personal flying machine is a very real possibility, primarily as a means to fulfill our dreams of flying within a recreational setting."

The huge drone-like machine can only embark on 5-minute flights right now, which makes it a rather interesting prototype than a vehicle feasible for commercial use.

In a clip that captured the Snowstorm's flight, a test dummy was used considering the contraption was still in its early phase of development. A test flight involving a real human as passenger, however, only lasted around 2 seconds.

Despite the limitations, this development should spur engineers and innovators to improve on this design and perhaps develop a vehicle that can reliably transport humans with lesser safety risks.

This is not the first time anyone has attempted to create a vehicle that can carry individuals through air. In September this year, a British inventor flew a "super drone" that had 54 propellers, which is reportedly enough to take a person up in the air.

"The machine, dubbed 'The Swarm,' can only remain in the air for 10 minutes on a single battery charge and seems to climb to a height of around 15 feet (seven metres) but it is impressive nonetheless," MailOnline noted. "The Swarm comprises a metal frame and polycarbonate drone to keep the seated passenger safe."

The invention was named so as its propellers made sounds that resembled that of a swarm of bees.

In April this year, Popular Science reported that AirBuoyant's VertiPod, "a remotely piloted quadcopter," could carry a person for under 5 minutes. Well, at least one weighing 125 pounds.

"AirBuoyant plans to have a hexacopter version of the VertiPod flying before the end of April, and then wants to make hexacopter kits available for purchase at $23,950 a pop for the first 1000 people to join the beta testing," Popular Science noted.

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