Make: Online: Transportation Archives

Archive: Transportation

< Previous | Transportation Home | Next >

September 22, 2009

Most annoying floor ever made of robot tiles

Hiroo Iwata, of the University of Tsukuba, created these robotic floor tiles that automatically arrange themselves to build a floor beneath you. By utilizing a touch sensitive surface, the tiles are able to predict which direction a user is headed. This information is then used to automatically rearrange the tiles so that the lucky user can continue to walk in that direction without moving forward in real space.

He intends for these to be used in virtual world simulations, however I think a more practical use would be to modify the distance between different destinations in your house. For example, a set of these in the hallway leading toward the kitchen might make one rethink how hungry they really are.

I absolutely love the concept, though. Can I get a set made up to look like turtles? [via technabob]

September 21, 2009

Forkless bike from Finland

Olli Erkkilä created this custom concept bike as his graduation project from the Institute of Design in Lahti. [via Core77]

Cheap Yaris cabin air filter replacement

Cheap-Yaris-Cabin-Air-Filter (2).JPG

I'll give dollars to donuts that Jake von Slatt owns a Yaris because he likes to say "YAAAAAAAAAAARis" in a pirate voice. Anyhoo, Jake was tired of the 'Yota dealership hitting him for 50 bucks to replace the factory cabin air filter, so he hacked together his own from a $5 home A/C filter and wrote a good tutorial about how to do so yourself. Take that ye scallywags!

September 18, 2009

Right-to-repair bill

Interesting article about the "Right-to-repair bill"....

The federal “cash for clunkers” program succeeded in bringing customers back to new car lots after a long absence, but most people are still driving the car they had. Increasingly they are driving to their local mechanics to make sure those cars last even longer.

That is good news for the independent automotive repair industry because car owners are now willing to spend their money on repair work rather than take on new car payments, and they are saving on those repairs at independent shops.

But while consumers appear content to keep their older cars on the road, they are increasingly discovering that their car’s computerized systems may be conspiring to force them to turn to more expensive dealer repair shops even when those cars are out of warranty.

Most consumers experience this when they see a ‘check engine’ light or another warning that suddenly appears on their dashboard. When they bring it into independent (non-dealer) shops like ours, they simply want the underlying problem fixed so that pesky light goes off.

Sometimes, however, we can’t shut off that light even when we can make the underlying repair.

Most legislation on Beacon Hill is controversial and ultimately difficult to decipher, but Right to Repair is straightforward: You own your car and you should have the right to choose where it gets repaired and not be forced back to dealer mechanics.

House Bill 228 and Senate Bill 124 are controversial only because car manufacturers don’t want car owners to have unfettered access to their own repair information and are fighting it vigorously. That alone should flash a warning light for legislators and consumers that might read: Check Manufacturer’s Motives Now.

September 14, 2009

Chad's excellent ride

Wired has a writeup on Chad Conway's CommutaCar. It came out really nice, and helped point him in a good direction for his studies. Keep in mind that he was busy with his studies and after school sports, so did the bulk of the rebuild during his half hour lunch breaks over about a month or two in high school.

Best of all, Conway says his car proves that EVs have been possible and practical for more than three decades. "By driving a car that is 30 years old and can still satisfy the majority of my transportation needs, I always seem to ask myself why a similar car is not being produced today," Conway said. "I have had over a hundred people ask where they can get one for themselves because they think it is perfect."

For more info, check out his site. There are more photos on his and my Flickr accounts.

Sweet custom bike spotted on Market Street

Lane Copley sent us this link describing his encounter with a gentleman named Raymond Duarte and his tricked-out ride while selling Girl Scout cookies with his stepdaughter in SF.

Rolling Zoltar costume based on a Segway

Jonathan Gleich submitted this hilarious/awesome (hilariawesome?) rolling "Zoltar" fortune teller costume to our 2009 Make: Halloween Contest. Zoltar took first place in the "Motorized Float" division at the 2009 Coney Island Mermaid parade. See more at Flickr and YouTube.

September 12, 2009

Chainsaw motor assist bike

Last weekend I saw this neat bike at the beach. The frame doesn't look like anything special, but the wheels, tires, brakes and other components have clearly been upgraded. Attached to the lower end of the frame is what appears to be a chainsaw motor, which drives a heavy duty chain set on a gear on the left side of the rear wheel. It seems that the traditional features of the bike are all intact. The gas tank probably holds enough gas to ride for several hours. Though the exhaust is directed down and away from the rider, it's probably a loud ride.

I shot several pictures, but have no info on the build.

September 11, 2009

DIY Electric El Camino

Electrocamino Comp
Electro-Camino 041
DIY Electric El Camino @ Wired.com

The electronic controls engineer from Franksville, Wisconsin, electrified an ‘81 Chevrolet El Camino, a poster child for the darkest days of American automotive design and a car with enough steel to shrug off a collision with a Sherman tank.

Airless bike tires available now

More than one commenter on yesterday's post about tweels in development for the military expressed curiosity about the possibility of non-pneumatic bicycle tires. Turns out you can buy them, online, right now, from here, and here, and probably some other places that don't turn up in a Froogle search. I have not tried them myself but I'd be curious to have comments from anyone who has.

September 10, 2009

WVU Tech electric motorcycle conversion

Yesterday I posted a Flashback feature pointing to the Gomicycle Honda Rebel 250 electric conversion project from MAKE Volume 14. West Virginia Tech University mechanical engineering student Justin Cole wrote in the comments:

I like the idea of a feasible and cheap electric motorcycle. I liked it so much that I built one as my senior mechanical engineering project last semester. My team and I built an electric motorcycle with the budget and simplicity in mind. A few basics were to keep costs down, get a decent drivable distance, and keep the design of the bike simple so that builders and makers at home could build this if they felt they had the skills needed. The total cost of the bike came out to $2100 and has a range of 25 miles. I set up a website through my school and have submitted it to Make before but I guess its not fit for Make. Our whole project report in available for download on the downloads page along with videos of the bike in action and a few of the drawings. The report has a full 18 page appendix with all the figures and graphs that we used. Our Excel spread sheet is also available. If anyone is interested go to http://sae.wvutech.edu/projects/electricbike/.

Awesome, Justin, thanks for sharing! The project site is comprehensive, offering design, components, research, build photos, videos, and an entire page of downloadable reports, specs, and diagrams. A perfect fit for MAKE, actually, and a great resources for folks working on motorcycle conversions.

Prototype airless vehicle tires

As we have reported before, the idea of an airless tire (or "tweel") is at least as old as the 1930s. Still, these photos of prototype non-pneumatic tires under development for the US military by Resilient Technologies, LLC, are pretty sick. Gimme!

September 9, 2009

Flashback: The Gomicycle

One of the best things about the maker community is being able to learn from other people's builds: what worked, what didn't. In MAKE Volume 14, maker Marque Cornblatt shared a DIY with us on the building of his Gomicycle, a Honda Rebel 250 motorcycle gone electric. A San Francisco resident, Cornblatt was seeking an urban commuter bike with lots of torque and pep. He started with plans for the "El Chopper ET," a Honda Rebel 250 project developed by motorcycle EV conversion guru John Bidwell. Since the plans were a bit dated, he adapted, redesigned, and took note. He scored a Honda Rebel 250 with a blown engine on Craigslist, and the rest of the build is documented in his DIY. Check out the full article in our Digital Edition, learn from Cornblatt's build, and design your own.

You can still pick up a back issue of MAKE Volume 14, the Optics issue, if you don't have it. Learn how to make an inexpensive but powerful digital microscope, a vintage-looking opaque projector, a cool kaleidoscope, a mesmerizing taffy pulling machine, a remote control dune buggy with a built-in video camera, a smoke ring cannon, a dollar-store parabolic microphone, and then some.

Literal dragon boat breathes fire, water

Yanobe Kenji built this awesome fire sculpture boat, called the 'Lucky Dragon', for a festival in Ōsaka. Named after a Japanese fishing boat that is considered the first victim of a nuclear bomb explosion, the sculpture is meant to encourage thoughts about peace.

Thoughts of peace aside, I'd love to see this entered in a dragon boat race! Who would dare to try and pass it?

[via pink tentacle]

September 8, 2009

Re-Make: Simple, elegant, handy steering wheel desk

OK, stop. Before you read any further, we need to come to a legal understanding.

I, the author, and we, the MAKE blogging staff, as well as all of you, the readers, understand that this widget is only to be used in a car that is stationary, out of gear, and well clear of traffic. It is not designed, marketed, or sold for use in a moving vehicle, and indeed anyone who would do so is manifestly irresponsible and dumb as a post. Everyone with the sense to operate a car or a laptop, or, indeed, even to read this blog, understands that. THEREFORE: Commenters griping about how hyping this product is tantamount to genocide will be summarily vaporized by our orbital lasers.

And now that we've reached an understanding, I can talk about why I think this is cool.

It's incredibly useful, as anyone who's ever had to use a laptop in a car for more than a few seconds will recognize.
It's inexpensive and easy to manufacture, and could be easily remade in the material and style of your choice, for your own use or as an easy, thoughtful, and useful handmade gift.
It's clever! It does a lot with a little. Whoever thought up that curvy-slot-with-ears shape deserves a lollipop, at the very least.

I rest my case. If you're still mad, well, remember those lasers.

September 5, 2009

License and registration, please

I'm sure this must have been a hassle when it happened, but the ticket is a riot. Apparently LOLrioKart will have to stay off the streets/sidewalks at least until it has a proper signaling system.

More:

September 4, 2009

DIY 8-bit flames on a 2009 Prius

3880530448 43A004D13D O
DIY 8-bit flames on a 2009 Prius via Jalopnik. Technically it should be electric bolts or sparks, but that's ok :)

September 2, 2009

Worlds largest bristlebot?

The fine folks at i3 Detroit built this giant, ridable bristlebot using a large motor, a pipe for an offset weight, and a bunch of push broom heads. They claim it is the worlds largest, which I tend to believe. Does anyone know of a larger one?

Also, I think the only proper way to respond to this is to make an even larger bristlebot and challenge them to a race. Detroit makers, you are on!

Photo credits: Matt Mets, Dug Song

This flying Dutchman can return home

Jesse van Kuijk is one talented and dedicated maker. He decided he wanted to fly, and then proceeded to design and fabricate his own pedal-powered plane! It took him three years to build, even requiring him to return home from college on the weekends to work on it. That is dedication! More details at the Spiegel Online.

[via neatorama]

September 1, 2009

Custom-built planetary gear unicycle transmission

Wrapping up my trifecta of epicyclic gear posts today (1, 2) is this practical application from Greg Harper, a resident engineer at the University of Washington's Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics, who put together a custom epicyclic gear train for his unicycle hub. Designed for speed, the hub gives 1.5 rotations of the wheel for each rotation of the pedals.