There are awesome projects, and then there are things that make us drool on the keyboard. We just got done wiping up our mess after seeing this go-kart which uses four hub-motors as direct drive wheels. We’ll admit, this is more artwork than a hack as these guys are mechanical engineers and know what they’re doing. But how could we pass up sharing something like this?
The design is smaller than any of the other go-karts we remember seeing. The low-backed pilot seat is the biggest part, with a cubby-hole beneath it for the batteries and control hardware. Each of the hub-motors was hand wound and reading through the related blog posts it seems this was a huge and painful part of the build.
So it’s pretty fun to watch these guys tear up the hallways of one of the engineering buildings at MIT. But the footage of a two-kart race up a spiraling parking garage in the middle of the night is absolutely delightful. You’ll find both videos embedded after the break.
At least this post about Charles isn’t nearly as full of misinformation and stupidity, compared to your post on Land-Bear-Shark. Or was it Segfault you were trying to cover? I honestly couldn’t tell.
Cool story bro
Damn, with 4 direct drive hubs they can possibly build a control system to manage the speed of every hub and thus preventing wheel drifting which would decrease the turn radius!
Ya I was kind of hoping to see fixed wheel steering.
Anyone else think this looks a tad unsafe? Why did they design it to be so small? Why not just a little longer with a bit larger wheels. I was just waiting for them to hit a rut in the concrete, break an axle and crack his non-helmeted head open.
I believe you misspelled Awesome.
Don’t be so dramatic dude. Being such a small thing is what makes it fun to ride! What do you think is funnier to ride, a Opel Corsa at 180Km/h or a BMW Series 1 at 180Km/h? I can tell you for sure you would shit your pants off if riding a Corsa at that speed while dying of boredom in the BMW.
If they crash they probably will be in pain for a week and then they can go back to fun. Just enjoy life and stop being such a pussy!
I’m a pussy because I feel that their design could be unstable in some instances, with such small wheels? I thought we were here to give critical thinking a try rather than anecdotal responses?
Critical thinking != being overly critical.
It was obvious to everyone that it wasn’t designed to maximize safety. It was designed for goofing off.
I am sure there are standards for these sorts of thing; http://www.astm.org/Standards/F2011.htm . $40 dollars! ef that lets ride.
Hi Zac,
The hub motors were originally designed to fit Razors sized scooters, hence the 100mm wheels. This application was to dispose of spare hardware.
I’ma mario, I’ma gonna win?
Look’eh out’a Mario, I’m’a throwing a blue shell!
– love Luigi.
These really need a banana peel dropper, turtle shell shooter and some mystery boxes to run through.
+1 to the Super Mario Kart references. ;)
Now make them fire Bannana’s Red and Green shells and put yellow chevrons in hard to reach places on the road! Bagsy being Koopa Trooper!
They need to change the wheels out to a harder durometer, at least on the back.
Do some mink-kart-DRIFTING!!!
I need to build this now.
Step 1:Get some small inflatable wheels and PVC pipe
Step 2: inflate them inside some pvc to the point the rubber grips the pipe
Step 3: Mad drift
Love the mario kart references, my first thought was “Ima Gonna win
This is the car of the future! (No seriously, this is it, its this or the bus, which is three of these things stuck together carrying 100 people!)
Man I just don’t understand. When I was in school (computer engineering) I was either studying my ass off or at work. I cannot figure out how anyone in college has time to build such awesome projects (like this one) while still in school. I’ve seen this scenario on HaD so many times!
Arrrgh I wish I could go back and unfail my college years.
One was sacrificed for the other.
range of vehicle ?
Other than having the copper already, was there any reason you picked that over silver for the motor windings? It has better electrical and thermal conductivity, and the weight increase would be negligible in the scheme of the kart.
> 10-fold difference in price?
I have been tracking this as well, and it is sweet!
The downside is that I feel like some of the equipment and parts that went into making this happen are way beyond most people. The batteries specifically (a123 car pack) would either cost a fortune or be impossible to source for hobbyists without a MIT connection.
Seems like I can only dream…
The alternative was Hobbyking’s large lithium ion packs, which would have worked great (and been even lighter). For sheer Wh per $, it’s hard to beat HK, and anyone can buy them. It is totally possible to shorten the frame another 8 inches or so, at which point I would be forced to switch to said batteries.
If you think *this* is awesome, take a look at the electric karts made by 4th-6th grade students at our BEST races (www.bestoutreach.com and click the
“race day” link). They are designed and built by kids, for under $100, out of junk they scrounge, and go faster and farther than these karts do! :-)