h a l f b a k e r yVeni, vedi, fish velocipede
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the spidercar
a car on articulated stilts with thin bicycle wheels to cut through traffic | |
Bicycles can cut through traffic because they're thin. So imagine a car body (flatter than normal) with four (or more?) long spidery legs, with a bicycle-style wheel at the end of each. The legs are long enough to raise the body of the car above most traffic (eg. cars, vans); the individual wheels then
weave between adjacent lanes of traffic. A "drive-by-wire" system with sensors etc takes care of moving the legs. To make it even more futuristic, your driving position would be like in a hang glider, i.e. on your tummy facing forward, so you can thumb your nose at the hapless drones that pass beneath you. The only problem would occur when you came to a bridge, at which point you'd need to lower the body and take up a normal car space; the driver behind you might not be willing to let you do that. Some form of offensive action (such as tire-puncturing tacks) might be needed...
Jonny Quest Terror Island Spider
http://www.classicj...mages/TI_spider.jpg
...either that, or one of these cars in a garage [thumbwax, Sep 08 2002]
Robot Spy
http://www.classicj...images/robotspy.gif
This device was developed by Dr. Zin as a tool to steal the secrets of the para-power ray gun from Dr. Quest. Built in the shape of a sphere with four retractable legs and two sensor tentacles, it was nearly indestructible, withstanding rifles, flame-throwers, tanks, and electrified fences. It could observe its surroundings through a camera "eye" and broadcast what it saw back to Dr. Zin's lab. Dr. Zin could also talk through the robot to taunt his enemies. The sensor pads could also render people unconcious with a touch. It was very powerful, able to crash though thick concrete walls. It was finally destroyed when Dr. Quest's para-power ray gun brought down its delivery craft as it tried to escape. [thumbwax, Sep 08 2002]
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Annotation:
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Um. For these cartoon cars to work, the wheel base needs to be significantly wider than a regular car. And even then, I think it would be premature to thumb your nose at the people in that suburban ahead of you. |
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Does it ? Remember the (minimal, since we're presumably using composites etc etc) weight is spread across multiple bicycle wheels on either side of the lane of traffic. Think of it as a bicycle first, then add an electric drive motor... |
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[reads help file re humour] and one quick edit later :-) |
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Buy a motorcycle. In fact, buy two, and duct tape them together. |
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/stupid jamaican joke/ in the rural areas of jamaica, motorcycles used to be one of the most common form of transportation. One night a young man from the city was riding his motorcycle in the country when he saw two lights approaching, thinking it was a car, he pulled to the side (of the narrow country road) to allow the car to pass, however it turned out to be two motorcycles riding abreast. This happened a second time, the third time the city rider saw two lights approaching, he thought, hey, this must be two more cyclists approaching, I'm gonna ride between them and scare them...turned out to be a car!! |
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Interesting Idea... but the first thing that comes to mind is all the low bridges the car would come across. Maybe the "spider-legs" could, instead of having wheels, be actual mechanical legs with moving joints and all. |
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Failing which, just buy a bicycle! |
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Anyone for a game of spiderismo? |
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The first thing that comes to my mind is: what good is this when everybody has one? |
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Answer - no good at all. That's why the time to build one of these babies is *now*. |
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when everybody else has one you can use a normal car agin. |
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I would be afraid to drive a Beetle with so many spidercars around. |
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