Rocket League is a video game famous for being wildly popular despite being virtually unplayable without several hours practice. It involves hyper fast cars playing soccer, complete with the ability to flip, jump, and rocket boost into the ball. [mrak_ripple] decided he wanted some of that action in a real RC car, and set to work.
While rocket boosts were out of scope for this build, [mrak_ripple] was pretty confident he could build a jumping, flipping RC car modelled after the Rocket League Octane vehicle. Initial experiments involved a custom 3D printed spring mechanism, but the results were underwhelming. Instead, in the true hacker spirit, a jumping mechanism was taken from an existing toy, and installed in the car instead. This was combined with a mechanism built out of a brushless motor with a flywheel added to generate a flipping moment in mid-air.
The final result is impressive, with the car flipping relatively cleanly once refined and lightened from its original design. We’d love to see a two-axis build that can front- and back-flip as well. It’s a step up in complexity from the last build we saw from [mrak_ripple], the amusing mashed potato trebuchet. Video after the break.
Amazing!!
I wonder if you could simulate the rockets with compressed air. Hmm. How small can you make an air compressor, tank and electronically controlled valve?
Or even a small CO2 … are they called “tanks”? The tiny ones for air rifles and bike tire inflaters.
CO2 cartridges would be perfect for that.
Nuh-uh, like refrigerant based air dusters they freeze up and lose a lot of pressure when you try to discharge them too much at once.
Actual compressed air or N2.
I was thinking that waiting for the compressor to “recharge” would simulate the way you can’t just continuously boost in the game.
Where can I buy one
Where can I find one
You should sell that cause I want one
Fun project! Reminds me of the Tonka XRC Air Devil from around 1996, but the reaction wheel definitely gives it an edge when it comes to landing wheels down. I’d end up turtled pretty often on the Air Devil back in the day.