The fine fellow behind the "Eating the Road" blog has remixed our video with Mistah F.A.B.'s Ghost Ride the Whip. You may recognize Eating the Road from his recent feature on Digg: "Where Should I Eat? Fast Food Edition (Flowchart)".
I must say, I've been watching this on repeat for most of the past three days...
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
"Some people are just WAY too smart"
"Some people are just WAY too smart."
-Chris Willis, KXAN Austin News Today host
The Austin News Today team featured our car on their broadcast this morning. Special thanks to NBC affiliate KXAN's Kate Weidaw for coming out to see our car and putting together a great story. Check out the video below.
Check out the story they published on their website as well. See the how we did it page they talked about also.
-Chris Willis, KXAN Austin News Today host
The Austin News Today team featured our car on their broadcast this morning. Special thanks to NBC affiliate KXAN's Kate Weidaw for coming out to see our car and putting together a great story. Check out the video below.
Check out the story they published on their website as well. See the how we did it page they talked about also.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Live, Local, and Loving Lincolnshire
Waterloo Labs had another interview with the BBC today about our iPhone controlled car. This time, Will was interviewed by Tom Morris for the tech segment on the local broadcast for BBC Lincolnshire. Check out the interview below:
(download)
(download)
Thursday, November 12, 2009
We're Big in Europe
Hunter's BBC Radio 2 Scotland interview with Gary
(download)
Stephen's BBC Radio 5 Live interview on the Breakfast show with Shelagh
(download)
We awoke yesterday morning to find a fun little tweet at us from the BBC (and no I don't mean Bob's Box Corporation) asking us to call them. Hunter obliged and was met with the FANTASTIC news that BBC 2 and BBC 5 Live radio were interested in featuring us. After a few logistics, Good Morning Scotland and BBC 5 Live Breakfast both conducted phone interviews with Hunter and Stephen, respectively, this morning, with the rest of us eagerly listening, ready to jump in should the opportunity arise.
Of course there was a fun time difference so we all got to stay up past our bedtimes (which we normally do, but this time we were inside and not out in the garage).
See how we built a car controlled by an iPhone on our website.
(download)
Stephen's BBC Radio 5 Live interview on the Breakfast show with Shelagh
(download)
We awoke yesterday morning to find a fun little tweet at us from the BBC (and no I don't mean Bob's Box Corporation) asking us to call them. Hunter obliged and was met with the FANTASTIC news that BBC 2 and BBC 5 Live radio were interested in featuring us. After a few logistics, Good Morning Scotland and BBC 5 Live Breakfast both conducted phone interviews with Hunter and Stephen, respectively, this morning, with the rest of us eagerly listening, ready to jump in should the opportunity arise.
Of course there was a fun time difference so we all got to stay up past our bedtimes (which we normally do, but this time we were inside and not out in the garage).
See how we built a car controlled by an iPhone on our website.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Driving a Car with an iPhone - Episode 3
It's finally here!
In part 1 of this episode, we give a overview of how we turned an Oldsmobile Delta '88 into a remote control car in just 4 weeks. We built our control systems using a few motors, potentiometers, a Compact RIO embedded controller, and LabVIEW. We then set up wi-fi communication so we can drive the car from an iPhone as well as from a modified Power Wheels truck.
For detailed plans, parts lists and code available for download, check out our website at EngineerAwesome.com. Also, check out part 2 of the video for a more in depth how-to on this project, including more awesome footage.
In part 1 of this episode, we give a overview of how we turned an Oldsmobile Delta '88 into a remote control car in just 4 weeks. We built our control systems using a few motors, potentiometers, a Compact RIO embedded controller, and LabVIEW. We then set up wi-fi communication so we can drive the car from an iPhone as well as from a modified Power Wheels truck.
For detailed plans, parts lists and code available for download, check out our website at EngineerAwesome.com. Also, check out part 2 of the video for a more in depth how-to on this project, including more awesome footage.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
MotoSurfing!
So I don't know how many people remember the movie Surf Ninjas but it was certainly a staple of 5th grade sleep overs for me growing up. The kind where you watch a bunch of terrible karate movies and then start fighting all your friends with the sweet moves you just learned from TumTum and Colt.
Anyway, before there were hundreds of videos on YouTube of people wrecking their cars trying to Ghost Ride the Whip, there was MotoSurfing - as made famous by Surf Ninjas. There were many nights I lay awake as a ten year old dreaming of the day I could move to California, own a horrible yellow volkswagen jeep thing, lose the ability to properly pronounce syllables, and MOTOSURF! Today, I got to fulfill the only part of that dream that still remains after 14 years (Hint: It's not the accent). And yes, thats me driving the car from the roof with an iPhone. Subscribe to our YouTubes and watch for Video Nov 3!
Anyway, before there were hundreds of videos on YouTube of people wrecking their cars trying to Ghost Ride the Whip, there was MotoSurfing - as made famous by Surf Ninjas. There were many nights I lay awake as a ten year old dreaming of the day I could move to California, own a horrible yellow volkswagen jeep thing, lose the ability to properly pronounce syllables, and MOTOSURF! Today, I got to fulfill the only part of that dream that still remains after 14 years (Hint: It's not the accent). And yes, thats me driving the car from the roof with an iPhone. Subscribe to our YouTubes and watch for Video Nov 3!
Friday, October 23, 2009
No Tailpipe Flames
So unfortunately, after doing a ton of research, we will not be having tailpipe flames on Wendy for reasons of safety (we live dangerously, not stupidly).
So the traditional method of having flames shoot out your tailpipe is to dump extra fuel into the exhaust and then use a spark plug about 6" from the end of your exhaust that will light the unburned fuel when you push a button or something similar. Two problems with this, we have a catalytic converter and a fuel injection system. The whole point of a catalytic converter is to burn unused fuel, so we would have to rip that out. The O2 sensor on the fuel injector would have to go as well, as it keeps your engine from dumping extra fuel without hacking the ECU.
So this leaves the alternative of pumping propane into the exhaust line after the cat converter. The problem with this is that the flame can chase back up into the propane tank and blow up unpredictably. Now don't get me wrong, we are all about explosions, but we prefer it when we can control them. So if anyone knows a lot about propane routing, let us know!
So the traditional method of having flames shoot out your tailpipe is to dump extra fuel into the exhaust and then use a spark plug about 6" from the end of your exhaust that will light the unburned fuel when you push a button or something similar. Two problems with this, we have a catalytic converter and a fuel injection system. The whole point of a catalytic converter is to burn unused fuel, so we would have to rip that out. The O2 sensor on the fuel injector would have to go as well, as it keeps your engine from dumping extra fuel without hacking the ECU.
So this leaves the alternative of pumping propane into the exhaust line after the cat converter. The problem with this is that the flame can chase back up into the propane tank and blow up unpredictably. Now don't get me wrong, we are all about explosions, but we prefer it when we can control them. So if anyone knows a lot about propane routing, let us know!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
