Physics Students Build Drivable Couch

Radish03 writes "Some of my fellow members of The Society of Physics Students at Purdue University have, in an effort to preserve our beloved, antique couch, motorized it. The blue vinyl couch, named Mojo, was spotted driving around the Purdue campus on Thursday. Mojo, which has been extensively reupholstered with duct tape, features headlights, a glove box, and a radio and sound system will be added soon. Mojo has recently received sponsorship from Duck Tape and after appearing in several local newspapers, is in on the road to New York and set to appear Monday morning on Good Morning America. There are also a few pictures and videos of the couch in action."

Comments

Well, what else

[Anonymous Coward]

Are physics students going to do with a couch? Make-out? Have sex? Hahahaha!

Re:Well, what else

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, it's funny you should bring that up. The couch in the EE student lounge at Purdue doesnt have to drive around. People have still had their ride on top of it. (or so I hear...)

Re:Well, what else

[foxhound01]

they'll be the bomb at their LAN Parties

Re:Well, what else

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, I had my first kiss on the couch of the SPS lounge in our department (no joke)...

Re:Well, what else

[Anonymous Coward]

And sadly, you were a tenured professor.

Re:Well, what else

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait, you think it's normal to make out and have sex with couches?

Re:Well, what else

[Spock the Baptist]

ROFLMKO!!!!!

Re:Well, what else

[Anonymous Coward]

Are physics students going to do with a couch? Make-out? Have sex? Hahahaha!

Yes, at the drive-in movies.

Arg

[GigsVT]

They need a sponsorship from Kodak to get a competant photographer.

Those pictures look like they were taken by a drunk 5 year old.

Re:Arg

[Exsam]

Not a drunk 5 year old, a drunk 20 year old. The net effect is the same however.

Re:Arg

[Anonymous Coward]

there were better pictures in the Exponent (Purdue's Paper for those of you not on campus ;-)

http://www.purdueexponent.org/index.php/module/Iss ue/action/Article/article_id/2676
http://www.purdueexponent.org/

Re:Arg

[Thinko]

If anything is to blame, it's that the camera probably was Kodak. Although a competent photographer would have been able to get one 'in-focus', 'non-blurry' shot. You'd think some engineering students could run a camera better than the average joe.

Re:Arg

[theCoder]

Agreed. Picture 16 is kind of cool, though. The couch is in focus, but the background is heavily motion blurred. Makes it look like the couch is really moving.

Re:Arg

[Radish03]

Yes, I apologize for the bad pictures, our webmaster is away with the couch so I couldn't get new ones on the club page, but here is a page of newer, much better quality pictures.

Re:Arg

[Cheapy]

Or a drunk college student.

Re:Arg

[Paperweight]

Wow, it's the ultimate compact car!

Re:Arg

[henni16]

So, when will the couch get WiFi? ;-)

so. fucking. old.

[RomulusNR]

like how many motorized couches have there been in geek history?
burning man
mit
alabama-huntsville

Re:so. fucking. old.

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Not to mention, gasoline-powered toys are not in fashion these days. I find the couch bike much more fun and enviro-friendly.

Re:so. fucking. old.

[damsa]

But this one is sponsored by Duck tape.

Re:so. fucking. old.

[tres]

christ man, lighten up.

it's not like anyone is trying to pretend that this is the first time it's been done.

if it's so. fucking. old. then move on--there's nothing to see here. Let the kids have fun and get on to stuff that doesn't tire you so.

Don't take this personal--because you and I both know I don't know a thing about you--but your post makes you sound like one of those bitter old men who can't stand to see kids having fun either a) because they can't do it anymore, or b) because they never had the chance to do it themselves.

Re:so. fucking. old.

[cloudmaster]

Be sure not to forget the desk in Maxwell Smart, The Nude Bomb.

Re:so. fucking. old.

[RomulusNR]

No, my post is that it's not noteworthy, and posting everyone who makes a motorized couch these days would be like posting everyone who ran a BBS in the 80s. It's no longer novel.

Make a flying couch, or couch BASE jumping, or even the couch bike someone else posted, that would at least be remotely novel. But after a while Stupid Couch Tricks will get old overall.

huh?

[MustardMan]

As someone who was once a physics student... how the hell do physics undergrads have the time for this stuff? If you have time to do things that are fun, your physics program isn't hard enough ;)

Re:huh?

[Radish03]

Many of those involved are in applied ;-P

Re:huh?

[MustardMan]

Ah that makes sense, I was guessing astronomy. *G*

Re:huh?

[Jazzer_Techie]

As a physics major at MIT, I think I'm qualified to comment on this one. Technically, you probably don't have the time to do this kind of thing. However, by sacrificing sleep and working diligently, you make time for crazy projects. If you don't take time to have at least one fun, non-academic project/activity you will go crazy. It's well worth the time for self-preservation alone.

Re:huh?

[Thatmushroom]

We are also blessed with the advantage of numbers. Because the club is very diverse with regards to people's individual talents, people often mix up what they're involved with so that they don't get burnt out.

Re:huh?

[stefanlasiewski]

Is a drivable couch physics, or art? Because I suspect those guys are going to switch their major to "Art" sometime soon.

Re:huh?

[Vilim]

As someone who is a physics undergrad ... I don't know, maybe they don't sleep. Or don't hand in assignments. I am not willing to do either so I had better get back to my PDE's assignment.

Re:huh?

[moosesocks]

mmm.

I'm actually surprised that given purdue's huge engineering population, this came out of the physics department instead...

And yeah. Being a physics major is no fun...

Re:huh?

[eviltypeguy]

Why do you have to take a full credit load of classes? Why not just one or two a semester? I've never understood the desire to stress out and make life miserable by taking more classes than can comfortably be handled. Sure, you may get to finish your degree quicker, yet what will it cost you?

Personally, I'm on year three of my two year associate's degree. It will have taken me four years total when I complete my degree at my current pace. However, I've only taken 6-9 credit hours per semester. As a result, I've still been able to work full time, keep my 4.0 GPA, hang out with friends a few times a month, and enjoy life. I'm mildly stressed once in a while, but overall it isn't nearly as bad as it would be if I tried to take a full credit load.

Re:huh?

[MustardMan]

Personally, I'm on year three of my two year associate's degree.

And that's why you don't understand why you need to take a full credit load of classes. Figure in an average undergraduate school, it will take four years to get a BS in physics, if you're taking a full course load. However, to do most things in academia in physics, you'll need a PhD. You can figure on four to five years for that. Of course, if you're planning to eventually go for a tenure-track position in the field, you can't do this fresh off your PhD (you'll be 27 or 28 by this time and have been living on ramen and rice for the last ten years). First, you need to build a name for yourself, get some publications, maybe an assistant professor position at a small college. The best way to get publications is doing a postdoc or two. Those are usually two years long. So now, you might finally get a chance to get a job in your chosen field - after eight to ten years of college, another four years of postdocs, and you're pushing your mid thirties. At this point, you're finally able to (hopefully) get a decently paying job in the field you chose and do the work you like. All of this was while working your ass off fighting to get everything done as quickly as possible. Start screwing around and taking two classes per semester, and you can figure you'll be kicking down middle age's door before you can even consider being able to provide for a family.

Re:huh?

[Spock the Baptist]

Being a physics major is no fun...

I beg to differ...

I had a great deal of fun as a physics major.

Of course once you get your baccalaureate, and advanced degrees;
you get to have the real fun when people ask what your occupation is.

Avg. Joe: So what do you do for a living?

Physics Dude: I'm a physicist.

Avg. Joe: (Incredulous look) For real???

Physics Dude: Yep, afraid so.

Avg. Joe: (Look of awe and astonishment!) I barely passed high school physics...

Majoring in physics won't bring you love, but it will bring you respect.

Re:huh?

[Zen Programmer]

It's well worth the time for self-preservation alone.

That's interesting-- I thought that would have been weeded out by evolution. I mean what good is self-preservation if you aren't going to reproduce?

Re:huh?

[Thatmushroom]

My solution to finding time has been to cut out /. and sites like it. I'm pretty sure I haven't been here in over a year, and I'll stop checking it after this story fades away. It's amazing how much time one recovers in doing that.

Re:huh?

[imsabbel]

I just checked my amazon buying history and noticed that i found the time to read more than 150 SciFi/fantasy books during my undergrad time.

I guess there IS more than enough time left to waste for one thing or another...

Re:huh?

[eviltypeguy]

While your post seems like an obvious observation I missed, it is not. I was well aware of that. I'm making the point that I think it's unreasonable for someone to be able to achieve full academic honors with a full credit load, a full time job, and be able to have a decent life. I would rather finish my PhD nearly middle aged then have a nervous breakdown or die earlier due to the stress that stole years from my life. If that's the benefit of finishing education early, no thanks!

Sorry to Troll

[XBL]

This has been done before, as a previous post links. NOT an original idea. Also, I'd be more impressed if this thing was electric. Driving around with a 2-cycle lawnmower engine doesn't sound very... high tech or comfortable. Whatever... hope they enjoy their geeky short-term fame which is not deserved.

Re:Sorry to Troll

[Anonymous Coward]

NOT an original idea oookay... thanks for the update?

Re:Sorry to Troll

[mughi]

This has been done before, as a previous post links. NOT an original idea.

True. But there is one that one bit that makes this somewhat more geek-worthy. They actually got sponsorship from the Duck tape people themselves. Not bad for a little week's hack.

Re:Sorry to Troll

[cbiltcliffe]

This has been done before, as a previous post links. NOT an original idea.

So? It's not like they're trying to patent it or anything.....

Re:Sorry to Troll

[Anonymous Coward]

Gas power not cool enough? I was thinking the exact opposite. I've built my share of things powered by electric motors, and transfering power from an electric motor to the wheels and being able to do fine speed control is easy compared to making a geared mechanical transmission for a gas engine. Transmissions are non-trivial. I'd say a very small number of people can explain how an automatic transmission and a torque converter work, even in the geek community

nice couch, but.....

[ChrisGilliard]

What's with the hat?

Re:nice couch, but.....

[wkitchen]

What's with the hat?

It's for dramatic effect. The Flying Nun look lends a sense of speed, especially in this shot.

Must be the tractor transmission...

[Anonymous Coward]

The couch travels at about walking speed and can carry three people in the front and pull three more with a small trailer on the back.

Awesome work, guys: I can't even get my lawnmower to cut grass.

Re:Must be the tractor transmission...

[Thatmushroom]

Yeah, it is the tractor transmission. Although it hasn't been tested yet, we pretty sure that we will be able to tow our trebuchet with the couch, albeit very slowly.

Note: This is not a small trebuchet by any means, the counterweight is 750 lbs. and I would guess that the frame moves it close to a half-ton.

Re:Must be the tractor transmission...

[Thatmushroom]

Dang it, make that "Although it hasn't been tested yet, we are pretty sure that we will be able to tow our trebuchet with the couch, albeit very slowly."

Sometimes I words out.

Re:Must be the tractor transmission...

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy HECK!!!
How can people just say that they have a trebuchet?????

And where's the pics of it :P

Re:Must be the tractor transmission...

[Thatmushroom]

We actually have two trebuchets, a mini-treb and our full-featured one. The links to picture galleries are here with the mini-treb in the mentor/mentee gallery, and the main trebuchet is in the Ft. Wayne galleries, the Elkhart gallery, and obviously the trebuchet gallery.

Reed College

[Anonymous Coward]

Reed College had a motorized couch YEARS ago.... and why does it take physics students to build one? Seriously, a motor and some wheels, I built enough motoried objects before the age of 12 to fill a dorm room.

Guess they've never been to Burning Man

[b00m3rang]

It's been done a thousand times, each more tedious than the last.

Call us back when....

[Dachannien]

I'd be impressed if they managed to get the thing to be street legal and then got license plates for it.

Police Officer: "Dispatch, I need you to run a plate for me."
Dispatch: "Go ahead."
Police Officer: "Adam Charlie Robert, Six Three Three Zero. It's a blue 1983 Barca."
Dispatch: "Reported stolen 27 January '06."
Police Officer: "I'm in pursuit. Send me some backup."

Moments later....

Police Officer: "TC! TC! 10-52! Oh, the humanity!!"

Re:Call us back when....

[LiquidCoooled]

Whats a 10-52 again? Is it "I've dropped my donuts" or am I getting mixed up?

Re:Call us back when....

[Dave2 Wickham]

I have actually seen one on a road (not a main one, of course) here in the UK.

Re:Call us back when....

[eviltypeguy]

"10-52 Ambulance Needed"
http://www.phreak.org/radio/tencode.html

Re:Call us back when....

[oprahwinfree]

Public Television here in the U.S. aired a piece on a man in the UK who had built a motorized couch and was legally driving it on the streets there. I wonder if it was the same person.

Re:Call us back when....

[Dave2 Wickham]

Probably was - I remember seeing one very similar to it on TV in the past.

The 21 Balloons

[ummit]

Anybody else remember the electric couch in Mr. M's house in William Pene du Bois's book The 21 Balloons?

Re:The 21 Balloons

[Anonymous Coward]

God, I love that book. I read it for the first time and the 5th grade, and have probably given away 30 copies of it over the years. I'd love for it to be made into a movie :)

physics students...

[Spy der Mann]

...and they can't resize a picture. Sheesh. Let the slashdot effect teach 'em a lesson.

Any new discoveries?

[archnerd]

Did they come up with any new non-reversible geometry while they were working on this?

the LAW

[drDugan]

ha ha

very funny. I know for a FACT that they are breaking the law. after reviewing all the applicable seat belt laws in the NATION trying to get out of my own f#$%ing $90 ticket... a peace officer will make their afternoon a rotten day in hell^H^H^H heck if he catches them.

this is INDIANA after all

[a_greer2005]

...And more specificly, Lafayette!!! This couch is the biggest thing that this town has done in a long time for the locals, now Cletus doesnt have to get his ass off the couch and fetch another beer, he can take the couch with him!

I can bash Purdue/Lafayette, I live here...

cookie weirdness?

[vistic]

"from the cookie-wierdness-that-makes-college-fun dept."

I think this is about Kooks... not Cooks... or Cookies.

Remember those crazy college days? Ahhh man, all those cookies...! Weird, strange cookies, too!

Huhu.

[stonecypher]

Man, when I saw this on BattleBots ten years ago, driven by the makers of Biohazard, I was unimpressed, because I'd seen it on a nifty 50s horror sci fi mess as a kid. Would that I remembered what that was, so that I could call this fifty years old, instead of ten...

Bah! old hat

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone living in the UK in Farnborough (Hants) will regularly see such bizarre vehicles. Chairs, beds, sofas, tables are all fodder for the local nutcases building vehicles and then performing stunts around the town centre.

This Farnborough is the home of European aviation and the bi-annual airshow, also the weird and wonderful world of quiniq, the guys that bring you invisibility clocks, total recall style x-ray ways and more besides.

the beuty is in the eyes of the beholder

[wikinerd]

• physics nerd: we have a drivable couch!!!
• chemistry nerd: how can I make it to explode?
• business marketroid: how can I squeeze money out of it?
• mathematician: how long would it take to travel to Portland with the couch at half speed?
• lawyer: where is the license plate?
• insurance agent: you need to buy an insurance, Sir; this couch is prone to accidents!
• tourism agent: looks like it could become a new tourist attraction, let's print some tickets
• Eric S Raymond: Let's open source it!
• Richard Stallman: I will create a copylefted version, GNC (GNU's not coach)
• computer geek: doc, does it run GNU/Linux?
• troll: not new, others did it in the past, nothing to see here
• photographer: you should have hired me sir, your pix suck
• RIAA: We have the copyright, you are screwed
• government: Let's regulate it, so that we can tax it easier
• urban planner: This will cause further traffic congestion, and people will sleep on their drivable coaches while on the road
• network expert: Imagine a beowulf cluster made of those...
• American: Can I sell it on ebay?
• British: I am sure the inventor must have been British, let's knight them
• Canadian: eh!
• Ballmer: Developers! developers! developers! er...
• 133t5p34k3r: n34t!

Re:the beuty is in the eyes of the beholder

[Anonymous Coward]

No, no, Ballmer is trying to figure out how to throw it...

Re:the beuty is in the eyes of the beholder

[NetRAVEN5000]

You forgot one:

Clippy: It looks like you're riding a couch! Would you like to use the couch-riding wizard?

Re:the beuty is in the eyes of the beholder

[DJNW]

People in Britain _have_ been doing this for ages linky
I've also seen on tv a settee and a road-legal shed.

Nothing new

[Assassin17]

Pfft.. Conan's had a drivable desk for the better part of a decade, and he doesn't stop to brag about it. Heck, it can even heal bullet wounds in those it transports. I guess this goes to prove that a Harvard American History degree pretty much supersedes every other form of education.

Mmm

[MrShaggy]

I always thought that Harley Davidsons were drivable couches.

Re:Mmm

[Captain Chaos]

Kind of funny that you mention that. I saw a similar couch on the news maybe a year ago on a local Milwaukee station (home of Harley). I can't remember all the details on it, but I believe the guys who built it make custom motorcycles and built a motorized loveseat just for fun. They drive it around to local bars and give patrons rides, mostly women since that was one of their reasons for building it.

Re:Sponsored?

[jericho4.0]

Why are you wasting your time here, when you could be feeding the homeless?

Re:Sponsored?

[PsychoBrat]

Well I thought it was quite obvious that they intend to use the couch to both distribute food to, and provide temporary respite for the homeless... ...are you telling me you had a better idea?

Concealment...

[bergeron76]

They probably have some cool new energy technology under that couch. They're Physics students, they're not dumb.

What other way can you test out a cool new prototype vehicle technology in plain view of everyone?

Prior art...

[X86Daddy]

Prior art can be claimed by a young Ms. Gail of Kansas, United States.

Diagram

And her device featured "off-road" capabilities as well.

That's nothing

[rich_r]

I was overtaken by a double bed on the M3 in 2001.

But it wasn't the four poster variant.

A good followup to the Couch Bike

[taustin]

This looks like a good followup (from different people, of course) for the Couch Bike.

Hey, that's OUR couch!

[SirBruce]

The loveseat, nicknamed MoJo, has been a fixture in the lounge of the physics building for 15 years and was beginning to fall apart, SPS treasurer Abraham Spinelli said.

Hey, I helped BUY that couch 15 years ago... actually I think it was 16 or 17 (it was 1989 or 1990). We put in new carpet as well. The Purdue SPS started making lots of money once we started selling soda pop, and that's what enabled us to make so many renovations to the lounge. I was SPS Secretary for a while. I must have spent 12 hours a day or more in the SPS Lounge on some days.

The real credit to our success lay with then-Treasurer Marshall K. Patterson, who was a financial wizard. Marshall, if you're out there, drop me a line; I still have your copy of Dieties and Demigods. (Anyone else from the Purdue SPS from 1988-1991 who remembers me, feel free to drop me a line as well!)

Bruce

Re:Hey, that's OUR couch!

[Radish03]

It's wonderful to hear from someone else from Purdue SPS, especially someone with a history with the couch. I'm guessing you're the one that emailed Abe? He mentioned briefly what you sent him, and you sound like you know a think or two about our history :) If you're still in the area, you should stop by and see what we've done with the place this year. And some of us still spend 12+ hours a day there pretty often and, every now and then, the night there.

Mike Fink
"Stock Master"

Re:Hey, that's OUR couch!

[SirBruce]

No, it wasn't me who emailed Abe, but I'd love to know who did and get in touch with them. :) I haven't had any luck tracking down old SPS folks; the Purdue Alumni Association has been no help, and there's limited data on Classmates.com. Anyway, feel free to have Abe email me as well; I won't respond right away but I'll try to get in touch later this week.

I do hope to come back to Purdue someday, and when I do I will certainly stop by the lounge to see the old place. :)

Bruce

And at my college...

[skogs]

Instead of letting some moronic students suck bandwidth...we would have gotten expelled. Seriously, go to a 'normal' university with rules and such where 'free thinking' is not so purvasive and you get in trouble for things like this.

While I do think its a waste of time, I also think it was worth it for the entertainment value to the people involved...whether it should be newsworthy that some nimrods put a couch on top of their mower or not...

wow. This is sad. Can't wait till these guys get into the real world and try to get jobs...what have you done? ...err...well I went to MIT...but really I'm most proud of my extracurriculars...reallY? did you help the homeless or solve the problems of some inner city children? ... no I built a couch that could go down the sidewalk, jee I loved that couch...

Re:And at my college...

[imsabbel]

Well, i wont bother to refute your statement, as i dont deal with morons.

But i couldnt stop laughing when i went to the homepage your profile links to...
Christian counterstrike server, but with no evil swearing... just killing people by pumping them full of lead (which isnt bad at all)...
Dont you feel at least a _bit_ stupid doing somethimg like that?

see also: Couchbike Adventures

[quiddity]

Brent and Eivind's Couchbike Adventure
good pics on pages 2, 7, 8, 10+

Playa!

[Mullen]

Yawn...saw it at Burningman two years ago.