Awesome Engineering

We’ve seen Boston Dynamics‘ ATLAS robot evolve over the years to become incredibly agile. Now learn about the technology that makes this impressive humanoid work from the engineers who built him. Like any good science and engineering challenge, failure is part of the learning process.

The Brick Experiment Channel follows up its video of LEGO vehicles climbing over things with a series of more challenging obstacles. The new vehicle design includes a second adjustable joint, which allows it to climb objects and surfaces that look like they should be impossible to traverse.

Shane from Stuff Made Here has built himself machines to help cheat at baseball, basketball, golf, and pool. His latest engineering feat? A wearable archery-bot which automatically aims and shoots at targets. It even can hit a moving target by predicting where it will be by the time the arrow gets to it.

GMC’s new Hummer EV blends brains, brawn, and batteries into one impressive package. Incredibly, the electric truck and SUV were designed and engineered on a timeline about half that of a typical new vehicle. We went behind the scenes at GM’s Milford Proving Grounds for a look at some of the technology that made this possible.

Setting up dominoes can be time-consuming and requires a steady hand. We’ve seen robots that can stand one domino at a time. Mark Rober and his engineering pals presents DOM – a custom-built robot that can set up 300 dominoes at a time. The robot arm and Hot Wheels track loading system is equally awesome.

If you’ve never seen one, a plasma popper is an awesome-looking device that directs a ball of propane gas through a series of twisted tubes. Charles over at Hacksmith Industries was asked to build a plasma popper, then leveled up the challenge with bigger and bigger versions, culminating with a massive fireball maker.

Aerospace engineer Tom Stanton has a thing for flywheels. Here, he first shows us how to build a flywheel that spins smoothly thanks to magnetic levitation, then how that spinning action can be used to generate a small amount of electricity and capture it via copper induction coils.

Motorized wheels aren’t the only way to make a self-propelled skateboard. Integza shows us how he built a 3D-printed water pump to propel a skateboard. After a couple of failed attempts, he was able to get enough water flowing to move the skateboard. It seems to be more effective as a water gun than as a skateboard.

Shane at Stuff Made Here is the engineer behind creations like the haircutting robot and the unmissable basketball hoop. In his past videos, you may have noticed that he has quite the assortment of tools in his shop. To show off his collection, he used each of his machines to make a different kind of ball bearing catapult.

While it’s not as fancy as modern mining conveyors, this vintage ropeway transports shale from a quarry to a brickworks without using electricity or fuel. It uses the weight of materials coming downhill to pull empty buckets uphill. Tom Scott shows off the 100+ year-old system that moves 300 tons of shale per day.

The Ruyi Bridge is one of the most interesting bridge designs on the planet. Located in the Shenxianju Scenic Area in Taizhou, China, it features three connected arches – one that rises and two that dip. The two lower bridges are connected by a glass walkway which allows pedestrians to peer down to the forest 459 feet below.

Ian Davis needed a prosthetic to replace four fingers on his left hand. Rather than purchase a commercial model, he engineered an awesome metal hand that looks like something straight out of The Terminator. It’s capable of opening, closing, splaying its fingers, and makes satisfying sounds as it flexes.

Good airflow is important for keeping electronic components cool, so most computers use fans to circulate air. But we’ve never seen a computer that cools itself by breathing. DIY Perks shows off a gigantic machine he built that quietly pumps air in and out using bellows.

Microsoft asked Hacksmith Industries to help promote the addition of MLB The Show 21 to Xbox Game Pass. So they got to work building a shoulder-mounted pitching machine with the goal of firing balls at pro pitcher speeds. The sound it makes when it revs up is quite terrifying.

Green Gecko shows off an impressive LEGO Technic build which replicates the functionality of a V8 engine. Running on compressed air, it even sounds like a real engine as it starts to pick up speed towards its 1500 RPM redline. Like what you see? Buy the complete kit on the Green Gecko Workshop website.

What you’re looking at here is one incredible feat of engineering. Developed by ski lift company Doppelmayr, the RopeCon system is a massive outdoor conveyor. This installation transports 1,000 metric tons of gold ore every hour over 1/4-mile of steep terrain at a mining operation in Mexico.

A normal compass uses the Earth’s magnetism to point North. But wouldn’t it be useful if compasses could point to more specific things? WIRED challenged maker Joe Grand to build a compass that sniffs out places that serve pizza and points its user in the right direction for a pepperoni fix no matter where they are.

With the advent of pay stations and mobile parking apps, meters are becoming a rare sight. But these coin-collecting dinosaurs still have some neat mechanical bits worth exploring inside of them, as Rescue & Restore shows as they down a 1960s Duncan meter and makes it like new again. That shiny red coat is a thing of beauty.

We’ve previously taken a behind-the-scenes tour of a bowling alley. This video from 3D animator Jared Owen offers a more in-depth explanation of the engineering and mechanics that go into the machine that magically straightens and resets the pins between balls.

After proving it’s feasible to create web-like fibers from liquid, Built IRL uses an off-the-shelf woven fiber to test the ability for it to work like Spider-Man’s webs. The main engineering feat is the multi grappling hook design he came up with. He first uses the web to take down a bad guy, then swings from it after tossing it over a bar.

Like some other bendy machines, these unconventional robots move with the power of compressed air. Veritasium shows how these inexpensive, inflatable tubes can access places that other robots can’t, and could be used on search-and-rescue missions, or helping to intubate patients. You can even make your own vine robot.

Think of how strong a steel chain can be. Then imagine the forces that must be necessary to shape and connect its links. In this video from Engineering and Architecture, we get an up-close look at a specialized machine that takes lengths of steel wire, then scores, cuts, bends, and presses the pieces together.

Like many of us, engineer Mark Rober has a backyard bird feeder. He also faces the common problem of squirrels pilfering bird seed. So what did he do? He and his buddy created an overly-complicated solution to the problem, frustrating fluffy-tailed rodents with an American Squirrel Warrior obstacle course.