That’s right. That sweet looking locomotive construction is a remote controlled race car whose only power comes from a single elastic rubber band tightly wound into 8-inch (203-mm) loops, and stuffed into a carbon fiber tube that runs the length of the car. It’s called the Cirin, and is the creation of “students Max Greenberg, Sameer Yeleswarapu and Ian Cullimore at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. They created it to compete in the school’s Formula E Race, an annual event in which teams from around the world pit their custom-made rubber band-powered miniature cars against one another.” The Cirin’s body and frame is modelled after the internal structure of a bird’s wing bones, which allows it to withstand the high torsional forces created by the rubber band. The 6 ft (5 m) of looped elastic allowed it to travel 500 ft (152 m) at speeds of up to 30 mph (48 km/h), which is pretty impressive… but didn’t win the team the race. They did receive an award for best design, build, and approach, so it’s kind of hard to tell who ‘won’ in the end. It reportedly cost them $500 to make, but that doesn’t include the donated laser sintering, 3D printing job by 3D printing company SolidConcepts.
[ Product Page ] VIA [ Gizmag ]
