When it comes time to unwind at the Dyson design facility these engineers know how to do it right. Recently, the company challenged their engineers to a grown-up version of the Pinewood Derby in which they raced their own cars powered by a Dyson motor.
The video after the breaks shows a large collection of these time trials on a track made from upturned wooden pallets. Most of the vehicles are made from parts which we don’t recognize. But some of them are very familiar like our favorite hand dryer ever (seen above) and the iconic goldenrod manifold from the Dyson ball vacuum cleaner.
The course ends abruptly, as you can see in the last run of the video. There is one entry that included a human rider and he seems to be going nearly as fast as the riderless carriages are. The video cuts away before he hits the wall, but we can’t image he had the time to include brakes in that design.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO0WJnyhEqw
[via Dvice]
Owning a Dyson I recognize most of the parts. I wonder if my wife would notice the slightly modified vacuum cleaner when she uses it next. Maybe It will be me doing the vacuuming from now!
At least it will get done quickly!
Thats pretty cool, makes me wish I worked there.
They could make a killing selling those motors directly to hobbyists.
WTF is a “Dyson motor”? Im pretty sure they use normal electric motors.
Probably means that they can only use the same motors as the ones in their vacuums.
But I think Dyson also have “Digital motors” so maybe it refers to that? Not too sure.
I think they’re brushless. They claim to spin pretty quick (I can’t even be bothered to LMGTFY this :
Dyson engineers spent seven years developing a new kind of motor. Half the size and weight, the Dyson digital motor spins 88,000 times a minute – five times faster than a Formula 1 car engine. Fewer moving parts also means it lasts four-times longer than ordinary motors.
Straight off dyson.co.uk, if you can be bothered to find your own answers.
sounds like ordinary BLDC motor
also sounds like Dysons standard practice – take something already invented, slap brand name on top of it and sell with huge markup
The track is not made of upturned pallets and the video does not end abruptly before the guy smashes into the wall. What the fuck are you smoking? Are you guys really this lazy?
Now, now. The track is defined by the upturned pallets. And since the floor looks to be the regular factory floor one could argue that the track consists of upturned pallets. And the video cutting away refers to the clip of the human rider. Not the whole video.
It also looks like the ‘back wall’ of the track is empty cardboard boxes (seen best in the last run on the video). That would add a lot in the way of stopping the driver safely.
Why don’t you guys just cover the FRC events instead of this?
Financial Reporting Council?
Freaking Ridiculous Crap?
I agree here with SuperNuRd. I was on a First Robotics High School team. I learned there first how to code embedded systems in C, picked up from a mentor how to solder (this guy is a pro, I swear there isn’t a surface mount he can’t do by hand). I learned from others on the team how to use design software and then using metal working tools how to implement these designs. I also picked up a bit of aluminum welding as well. I learned so much on the team, and made quite a few contacts that would help me out in college and in getting my first job. My team even won a regional in our 5th year and went to the championship in Atlanta, GA, at that point never having been out of my home state. As cool as Battlebots etc is, FIRST is much better. I can certainly tell you had it not been for the team I wouldn’t have even thought of Electrical/Computer Engineering/CompSci for college and wouldn’t be an electrical engineer after school. Although that is my story you don’t have to be science/engineering minded to help out or join a team. FRC rocks and should be represented much more here. It combines everything I love about hackaday and is quite educational. It’s something that America needs more of if we ever want our competitive edge back. I may be biased of course, but I honestly have never heard from anyone having a bad experience with FIRST whether it be FRC or FLL (more avenues of joining now since I’ve been on a team).
Haha.. funny punny.. un-wind.
On a side-note, when you’re very drunk those hand-dryers look quite a lot like urinals. The sudden jet of air was highly unwelcome, but prevented a worse disaster…