Awesome Vehicles

The Robotics and AI Institute (RAI) shows of its Ultra Mobile Vehicle (UMV), an agile little 2-wheeler that can balance and drive autonomously. The AI-powered e-bike can perform jumps and other tricks thanks to reinforcement learning. We’d love to see these equipped with flamethrowers in a BattleBots-style competition.

Engineer James Bruton expands on his collection of unique vehicles with an impressive electric two-wheeler, er two-baller that balances itself and can even drive sideways. He started with a pair of circus balance balls and built a mechanism that pushes them around with motors and omni-wheels. Can you imagine people riding around town on these things?

Quiet Nerd created this wild-looking vehicle with trail-riding abilities and everything needed for camping. The rover rolls on four tank-like tracks, carries multiple storage bins, and has a fold-out tent. It also has onboard batteries, lights for night driving, and an inverter that can power appliances. Those square steel tubes are like giant Meccano/Erector beams.

The kinds of vehicles you can make with LEGO parts are amazing. This tank design from Brick Technology is one of the most impressive LEGO vehicles we’ve seen. It has a 3-speed manual transmission and tracks with a self-adjusting suspension. On top, it packs a motorized turret with a rapid-fire brick launcher. The whole shebang is driven with a PS4 controller.

LEGO expert Akiyuki is best known for his incredible Great Ball Contraption modules. For this video, he shows off a different kind of LEGO machine – a vehicle that can move smoothly in any direction by rolling over a bumpy grid that aligns with its “splat” gears. He built four of the vehicles and programmed them to move in sync using Pybricks. Watch with captions on.

Hospital beds have wheels on them so they can be moved around. But jqsg999 went one step further, outfitting a bed with tank-style tracks so he could ride it around on any terrain. It can even climb a steep staircase. As one commenter put it: “I thought he was bedridden, but instead he’s riding a bed.” He’s also built a wheeled version that’s more stable.

Mr. Ho Thanh Che spent a crazy amount of time building this unique boat. He made the floating UFO by sculpting a sand and cement form to mold a fiberglass shell. He outfitted it with acrylic windows, solar panels, LED lighting, and motorized doors. The UFO skims across the surface of the water and is powered by the same kind of engine you’d find in a jet ski.

A while back, Make It Extreme built a monowheel cycle. That machine was powered by a gas engine from a dirt bike. They’re back with a new version of the funky one-wheeler that runs on battery power. To drive its outer wheel, they used electric motors swiped from a hoverboard. It looks cool but needs a better place to put your legs while driving.

Taking inspiration from Theo Jansen’s legendary strandbeests, artists Aat Dirks and Ad Lakerveld created their own walking vehicle. Their Pedalbeest isn’t driven by the wind or motors; it runs entirely on pedal power. Replacing legs with wheels means it’s not exactly an efficient mode of transportation, and it requires its rider to pedal backward to go forward.

Over the years, we’ve seen all kinds of interesting vehicles built from LEGO bricks. Build It with Bricks made this LEGO Technic drift car, which moves around using a fan blade. Its propeller is driven by a powerful BuWizz motor module geared to maximize speed. An additional motor lets its driver steer the blade’s direction remotely.

We’ve seen a standing desk on wheels, but its driver needed to keep pace with it. This desk can drive much faster because its passengers are seated and wear safety harnesses. Noel Miller’s high-speed desk lets him interview guests while hooning about. In this episode of Hot Laps, he sat down with Donut’s James Pumphrey to talk about his life and career.

After building a crazy LEGO car with 100 wheels, the Brick Experiment Channel doubled down on the vehicular madness. Their latest build has twice as many wheels, and a simplified design which allows it to drive more smoothly and make tighter turns than the original. Measuring 21 feet long, it could easily drive into itself like players in the Snake game.

ND Woodworking Art has created some amazing kid-scale vehicles for his son to ride in. This time, he spent 70 days building a mini tank with a steel frame, a wooden body, and motorized tracks. The design is based on a Swedish Army Stridsvagn 103. We’re not sure if carrying all those fuel cans on the exterior would be a good idea in a battle, though.

Other than bank statements and bills, we don’t find ourselves shredding too much paper these days. Artist Japhy Riddle took a paper shredder and turned it into a vehicle of sorts. Rather than applying power to its wheels, the shredder car moves as it pulls a roll of tractor-feed paper through its shredding teeth.

What’s the best design for a LEGO vehicle to conquer a difficult off-road obstacle course? LEGO Technic expert Dr. Engine created four very different vehicles and tested them on a tricky course with loose, uneven terrain and a steep slope to see which design was the most capable in challenging conditions.

Most battery electric vehicles require substantial energy, making solar charging pretty impractical. Drew Builds Stuff shows how, with a light and efficient design, it’s possible to create an EV that can recharge itself with the sun. His speedy little 4-wheeler can go about 100 km (62 miles) per charge and can nearly double that range on a sunny day.