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Whirling Twirling Propeller Trike

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the mit-students-with-to-much-time dept.

hankmt writes "A student at MIT has built a tricycle that applies force to a giant rear fan, instead of directly to the wheels. The effect...well, it's best to look for yourself, but it would be pretty useful on the post-apocalyptic roads of the Australian Outback. The blades of the trike even have built in LED lights which display colored patterns...and also warn pedestrians of their impending deaths."

4 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Dumbass Rolled Up Pant Leg by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Seriously? He rolled it up so it won't get caught in the chain.

  2. Re:Dumbass Rolled Up Pant Leg by rrosales · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I believe the reason why he pulled his right pants leg is so that it doesn't get caught in the gears.

  3. "durr, they jump out of the way even..." by SuperBanana · · Score: 4, Insightful

    (from the video) "...and they jump out of the way even if they're 20 feet away."

    That's pretty smart on their part. Pay close, careful attention to how he restrains these spinning blades: A FUCKING PIPE CLAMP.

    Maybe if he's so smart with matlab, he can work out the pulling force at a few hundred RPMs on those blades, frighten himself, and put a bolt through the blade and hub shaft.

    Also, the design of the frame is pretty sketchy, with no bracing; he's relying purely on the static-load-bearing capacity of the tubing and his welds. If he collides with anything, the frame is going to come apart, and he stands a good chance of getting a chromalloy chest transplant.

    --
    Please help metamoderate.
  4. Re:Crazy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    What's really crazy, is that when someone at MIT takes a brown shit - it's front page news as a golden egg. :/