Gallery: A Ridiculously Expensive Remote-Controlled Car That's Powered by a Rubber Band
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Max Greenberg, Ian Cullimore, Sameer Yeleswarapu developed a miniature radio-controlled car that is powered only with a single, 16-foot-long rubber band.
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Teams have 13 weeks to devise and fabricate a design that must feature an elastic powertrain and two servo motors to control steering and breaking.
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Machined aluminum gears allowed the team to keep the rear wheels in proportion with the rest of the car while providing substantial torque.
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The holes in the wheel appear random, but were carefully placed to achieve balance.
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The team bounced back and forth between Solidworks for the precision work and Rhino, a 3-d modeling tool, which allowed more freedom of exploration in the design.
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The streamlined design allowed the team to stick with a 1:1.5 wheel diameter between the front and back axles.
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The nosecone of the car detaches and allows the racer to wind it by hand or using a power drill.
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"We would have been cast out of Art Center had we not started with some more traditional design tools, like sketching and foam carving," says Greenberg.
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By 3-D printing the frame the designers were able to minimize the use of fasteners like screws.
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As the team honed in on the design approach they began investing in 3-D printed parts, like the gearbox at the rear of the car.
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The original, plaster like material was too weak to support the strain created by the rubber bands.
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Teams had 13 weeks to devise and fabricate a design that can steer, brake, and ultimately race across a 500-foot-long course.
