Awesome Engineering

Engineer James Bruton adds to his collection of unusual vehicles with the creation of a single-seater that rolls on four 3D-printed mechanum wheels. The not-quite-a-bike uses motors and an inertial measurement unit to remain balanced. By changing the speed and direction of each wheel, it can move forward, backward, sideways, and spin around on a dime. Its agility is quite impressive.

After seeing the airplane-like shape of Japan’s high-speed bullet trains, aerospace engineer Peter Sripol thought it would be fun to build a model airplane based on the design. It took a lot of experimentation with wing placement, but he eventually got his prototype to fly. Will the scaled-up model stay airborne or will it derail mid-flight?

Jared Owen presents another fascinating animation of a complex machine—or, in this case, multiple machines working together. In this video, he walks us through the automated donut factory, which you can find at many Krispy Kreme locations. These machines can crank out up to 3000 donuts per hour. Our favorite part is the glaze waterfall.

We’ve seen a skateboard powered by a pulsejet; now, here’s one that uses a turbine. After explaining how turbine engines work, Integza created a replica of the turbine used by the infamous V-2 rocket. He had the main part fabricated by JLC3DP and then made a set of reduction gears to increase torque. The turbine spins when exposed to high-pressure gas.

A while back, Colin Furze built an unusual vehicle known as a Rhino tank. Its dome-shaped wheels were supposed to provide grip in the mud but ended up just getting him stuck. Fellow maker James Bruton took a stab at building a smaller, R/C version with electric motors in hopes that the added torque would improve his chances of success.

Why you would want to glide around on skates made out of ice is anyone’s guess, but Works By Design got us to watch his video regardless. He started by testing various mixtures of water and binders for strength. After that, he fabricated custom metal blades and a special silicone ice mold. Our feet are freezing just looking at this thing.

After testing various LEGO door mechanisms, the Brick Experiment Channel is back with another series of engineering tests using LEGO and Technic parts. While most of their brick-built elevator and lift designs are motorized, one of them runs on pneumatic power. That scissor lift and rotating lift inspired by Scotland’s Falkirk Wheel are really neat.

The Karakuri Channel loves to make unique mechanical art. This time, they designed and built a gadget that turns nearly 300 brass nails into a moving wave. To make it work, they removed the tip of each nail and attached a sleeve and a ball bearing. A motor turns interchangeable discs against the balls to create wave patterns. Watch with subtitles.

Mathematician Henry Segerman is back with another fascinating mechanism – a six-axis rack. It’s built with a dozen gears and sticks that look like long, green crinkle fries. The combination of parts locks the structure together, and moving any stick makes all of the others move. Like Henry’s other designs, you can download the 3D printer files Printables.

Inspired by Colin Furze and his tea-making Rube Goldberg machine, engineer James Bruton wanted to make his own overly complicated contraption for fixing drinks. Bruton’s TEA-800 beverage dispenser is triggered by a large ball bearing that activates various parts of the machine. It gradually moves a mug into position and fills it with hot water, brews a tea bag, and adds milk.

Engineer James Bruton has been experimenting with designs for a unique tank with treads that twist like a Möbius strip. After an earlier design that struggled with steering, his revised tank can bend at its center to drive around corners. It’s not a particularly practical design, but it sure is cool to watch in action.

Berlin-based artist Florian Goerlitz makes incredible mechanical artworks that have appeared in large installations and at festivals. This smaller piece is notable because it creates so much movement using just a single motor. Made almost entirely from wooden gears, it has three arms that move around its center, undulating like tentacles on an octopus.

While they’re not exactly state-of-the-art, mechanical displays can be quite fascinating to watch in action. In this video from Japan’s Karakuri channel, they show off a 3D-printed machine that displays digits on a pair of 7-segment units by pushing its keys. It has 213 parts in all, and no electrical components. Turn English captions on.

We’ve seen a machine designed to test the suspension on LEGO cars. Here’s a series of nine LEGO Technic vehicles, each rolling on a unique suspension setup. Dr. Engine built and tested each of the rides to see which design had the best shock absorption, load handling, and rock crawling abilities.

A little while back, Mark Rober engineered a tiny NERF gun using a compliant mechanism. The design has spawned numerous other builds, including this neat-looking blaster Matt Esltea made from wood. It’s not made from a single part like Rober’s NERF weapon, but it’s built with a similarly springy launching mechanism. It’s a beautiful build, but will it work?

There’s a good reason that pinball machines are so expensive. These hand-assembled games incorporate multiple circuit boards, complicated wiring harnesses, and hundreds of parts. Technology Connections starts with a brief look at a 1990s pinball machine, then dives in deep to explain the amazing engineering of a vintage electromechanical machine.

The character Killjoy in Valorant has a nifty turret weapon. Mechanical engineer Danny Lum brought the weapon to life with a custom-built robot. At its heart is an OutofDarts Proton Pack hopper connected to a Jupiter blaster. He 3D printed a custom shell and built a motorized aiming system with an object-detection camera to shoot foam balls at human targets.

Today’s most satisfying video comes in the form of this clip from the Brick Experiment Channel. Their goal? Create the longest possible chain of 1×1 LEGO Technic gears while retaining the same gear ratio from start to finish. We’re impressed that a single motor can drive that many gears.

Inspired by how hummingbirds hover in flight, Works by Design wanted to see if he could build a flying machine that lifts off vertically and stays aloft by flapping its wings. It uses compressed gas for propulsion and a custom-built air motor to move its wings. It’s not an efficient method of flight, but it was cool to observe the engineering process.

As part of his home workstation revamp, Ideal Idea wanted a computer case like no other. The idea? Build a PC that doubles as a kinetic sculpture. He made the case from laser-cut wood panels and created two interchangeable faces. An Arduino and a stepper motor control the mechanisms. The ripple design with the hexagons is fantastic.

Inspired by fellow creators munimuni Bekkan and Brick Experiment Channel, LEGO builder Dr. Engine thought making his collection of movable LEGO bridges would be fun. Each of the eight motorized bridge designs works in a different way to provide passage for boats beneath and vehicles on the roadway overhead.

No matter how much we’ve wanted one, Mattel never made a real-world Hoverboard like the one in Back to the Future II. JLaserVideo built a working hoverboard that can float a couple of inches off the ground. After exploring various kinds of levitation technology and their limitations, he settled on a design that works like an upside-down air hockey table.

The term “chatbot” is typically associated with those frustrating customer service AI gatekeepers before chatting with a real human. But in the case of this Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot, the chatbot has four legs and can walk. Engineers from the robotics company used ChatGPT and other AI models to enable Spot to answer questions and act as a tour guide.