This Life-Size Car That Runs On AIR Was Made Using 500,000 Pieces Of LEGOs
Take more than a half-million Lego bricks, a young Romanian, an entrepreneurial Australian and an air-powered Lego engine, and you’ve got the makings of a life-sized Lego car that can move on its own power.
By Sadho Ram — 15 Mar 2014, 10:00 AM — Updated over 10 years ago
The car runs on compressed air, is made up of more than 500,000 LEGO bricks and can cruise along at some 25km/h
Built from 500,000 bricks, the engine (four orbital engines with a total of 256 pistons) uses compressed air to propel the car. OK, so it won't hit the speeds you'd get from a real hot rod (it tops out at 20-30km/h), but a real hot rod can't match this for fuel economy or awesomeness, either.
kotaku.com
It's the brainchild of Raul Oaida, a 20-year-old Romanian who previously launched a LEGO shuttle into space
So, when Steve Sammartino, an entrepreneur based in Melbourne, saw the LEGO shuttle project, he reached out to Oaida to partner on something bigger. They had seen LEGO engines before, but they wanted to take their project, as Sammartino puts it "the booya level."
They dubbed their undertaking the #SuperAwesomeMicroProject, and Sammartino started raising money with this tweet in February of 2012:
mashable.com
For potential investors who wanted more info, Sammartino kept his pitch cryptic but couched in fairly EPIC language. Here's a demo of his spiel:
In 2008 at the height of the global financial crisis the 3 CEOs of the Detroit car companies hoped on private jets to fly to Washington and beg Congress for money. They did this because they didn't understand what the future looks like. Come with me and build a full-size car that runs on air, from toy pieces, with strangers on the Internet - and you'll be part of the future.
nydailynews.com
Within a couple of weeks, his network of tech inventors and entrepreneurs donated $20,000 to the cause, then Sammartino pitched in to see the project through. He says the entire thing cost "well over $60,000, but I'm too scared to add it up; I wont sleep tonight if I do."
mashable.com
The final result, however, was worth every penny
Well put-together: The 'Super Awesome Micro Project' - a Lego car - was built using 500,000 pieces of Lego
Image via dailymail.co.ukThe car, from engine to seats, is made completely from the tiny LEGO bricks, with the exception of a few structural parts including wheels, tires, and gauges
The car runs on compressed air that's stored in two small tanks. That air is then released into a pneumatic engine made of Legos, which then turns the car's drive shaft. The entire project took 18 months, with 12 of those concentrated on building the car.
theverge.com
The doors--removable--are also Lego, as are the mildly uncomfortable-looking seats and steering wheel. But why the hot rod design? "Mainly because hot rods are cool", says Sammartino. Can't argue with that.
It was built in Romania and then shipped to an undisclosed location in Melbourne, which was not an easy task
"The car was significantly damaged during shipping," Sammartino told an Australian podcast. "We were like, 'Well it's just Lego, we'll snap the pieces back together,' But it wasn't that easy. The pieces were warped because it had gone across the Equator, pieces were freezing and heating up — it was worse than you'd think."
But they were able to patch those damages up.
kotaku.com
Speaking about the goals for the project's long-term effects, Sammartino says: "The main thing for the future is the tech community stand up and take notice of Raul Oaida. He is the guy who made the tech happen."
"As we move into the hardware era of the digital revolution, I just hope I've helped him get a Lego up. Find funding for his big ideas and seeded him to the world. He wants to explore space and he has the capacity to do anything."
mashable.com
GALLERY: Photos from the 'Super Awesome Micro Project'
Raw materials: Some of the half a million Lego pieces used. It was built in Romania and shipped to Australia
Image via dailymail.co.uk
