Like all engineers I like taking stuff to bits!, although i'm not sure my wife will be too impressed if I did as these guys have done and dismantle the Vacuum Cleaner to take part in a design challege to build a remote control ball and race it around an obsticle course!
Image may be NSFW.
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What we love about this story is that it shows what fun you can have with a few components and a little imagination! It's like the drag racing equivalent of Robot Wars ! This type of activity should hopefully encourage a new generation of "Hackers". When I say "Hackers" I refer to taking bits of hardware and integrating it with other bits, like in a Scrap Heap Challenge kind of way, not as in the movie Wargames where Mathew Broderick almost started World War 3 when he inadvertently hacked into the US Missile Command thinking it was a games company!
If you're interested in meeting like-minded people who get involved in stuff like this, just look up your local "Hackpspace". Here in the UK "Hackspaces" are popping up all around the country and most are free to attend. Details of the London one can be found here.
Anyway, here's a video of the Dyson Ball Challenge, if you look closely, you should be able to spot our DesignSpark friend Jude Pullen, who recently posted a blog showing off his impressive cardboard modelling skills as a rapid prototyping technique for enclosures using a Raspberry Pi as a subject. You can read Judes blog and watch his video here.
Part One: Getting ready for the event
Part 2: Race Day
Check out more Dyson antics at www.youtube.com/user/dysonteam
Jude is also running a Design Modeling workshop day in London on 26th January. Working from sketches; Jude will teach you how to make physical prototypes out of card, foam and plastic. Learn how to make joints & curves, folds & cuts and how to put it all together.