Why go through the trouble of folding and then launching a paper airplane when there’s already a LEGO robot that can do it for you?
Arthur Sacek is one of those geniuses that also happens to really love LEGO and create things with it. And this robot which folds and launches paper airplanes into the hemisphere all by itself might be quite a complicated design, but it’s also one of those one-of-a-kind things you know you’ve never seen the likes of before.
The whole video and setup is part of an Arrow presentation, a company that deals with innovations in electronic components, computing solutions and value recovery. They handle aerospace & defense needs, transportation and a lot of other things, although one of their more interesting projects is the Arrow SAM project, or SAM car.
Sam is a former Indy Racing League driver, who crashed during a practice lap at the Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, severely injuring his spinal cord in 2000. He was diagnosed as a quadriplegic. In 2001, Sam founded Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. His team earned the Indy 500 pole in 2011 and has won more Indy Lights championships than any other team.
Being behind the wheel can’t be beat, so in 2013 he greed to partner with a team of Arrow engineers determined to make his dream come true. Arrow modified a car—a 2014 Corvette C7 Stingray—so a qualified quadriplegic driver can safely operate it under racetrack conditions. We call it the Semi-Autonomous Motorcar, better known as SAM.
On May 18, 2014, Sam drove for the first time since his accident in 2000, reaching 97 mph at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A week later, he completed more laps at Indy, reaching a top speed of 107 mph. This past December, Sam raced in the iRacing Pro Race of Champions organized by CXC Simulations. Competing with able-bodied drivers, Sam finished 16 of 25.
Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter. For more cool robot check out the Kamigami, Origami Robots You Can Build Yourself and the 3D Printed Robotic DJ Pumps Up the Jam
via @makezine
