Technabob » truck

Bigtrak XTR R/C Truck to Get iPhone, Android Remote Control and More

Technabob — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:15:33 +0000

A while back, you might recall that I told you guys about the return of the Bigtrak programmable vehicle from the 1980s. Well, the guys from Zeon Tech who made the revamped Bigtrak and Bigtrak Jr. have just revealed the upcoming top-of-the-line Bigtrak XTR, loaded with additional capabilities. The guys at Zeon were kind enough to share these early renders of the Bigtrak XTR with us, and it’s looking pretty awesome.

Probably the coolest thing is that the new Bigtrak XTR can even be controlled using your iPad, iPhone or Android device. It can also be controlled from your PC or Mac over Bluetooth. Surprisingly, the iPhone app is already available, long before the actual Bigtrak XTR can be yours.

The XTR has a spacious loading bay which conceals the programming keypad, letting you use it to carry objects around, and deliver them to your friends. It can even detect when a load is added or removed. While the render above shows the XTR carrying a can of Coke, this think will be the perfect beer-bot. It would be really cool if you could control it with Siri, but I don’t know if that’ll be possible.

In addition, the Bigtrak XTR offers several add-ons, including an IR gun, adjustable wireless camera and even a missile launcher you can fire remotely.

There’s no word yet on pricing for the Bigtrak XTR, but Zeon Tech expects to release it sometime in 2012. For more info, be sure to sign up on the Bigtrakisback website to be notified once it’s available. I’m hoping I’ll get a chance to play with one once it’s released. If nothing else, I want to mount a laser pointer on it so I can mess with my cat.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Baja 5SC 1:5th Scale R/C Truck Could Eat Your R/C Car for Lunch

Technabob — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 03:08:12 +0000

I enjoy remote-controlled cars and trucks as much as the next guy, but I had no idea that you could actually buy ones that are this huge, and drive this fast.

Measuring in over 35 inches long, and weighing about 28 pounds, the Baja 5SC R/C truck is 1/5th of the size of an actual off-road truck, and can achieve speeds of 40 mph or more.

Just like a real truck, it runs on a gasoline engine, and has a real metal transmission, clutch, suspension system, and disc brakes. Heck, it’s really like owning a truck that’s been through the shrinker ray.

About the only difference between this thing and a real truck is that the Baja 5SC is a 2-wheel-drive vehicle, not a 4WD. Oh, and you can’t fit inside of it.

The Baja 5SC can run for as long as 45 minutes on a single fill-up of gas, and is available factory-assembled, or in kit form. You can find out more about it over at HPI Racing. The fully-assembled version will set you back around $1279, while the kit version sells for about $1159, including the engine. I found them over at A Main Hobbies, but HPI lists a number of retailers too.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[Thanks for the tip, Dwayne!]

LEGO Ford Explorer Made from Over 382,000 Bricks

Shane McGlaun — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:30:35 +0000

I am a big fan of cars and stuff made from LEGO. Though if I was going to make a gigantic life size replica of a Ford vehicle, it wouldn’t be the new Explorer. I would opt for the Mustang, a Raptor truck, or maybe the Ford GT. The explanation of why a new Explorer for a project like this would be a sponsorship from Ford.

Ford wants people to buy the new Explorer and since the Explorer makes for a nice family car a LEGO version at Legoland is a nice way to reach the parental units. This full-size LEGO reproduction used 382,858 bricks and will be on exhibition at Legoland Florida theme park. It took 22 Legoland workers 2,500 hours to build the Explorer.

As you can see in the photos the LEGO version is a dead ringer for the real thing. The completed LEGO SUV weighs in at 2,654 pounds, almost half the weight of the 4,503-pound real deal. Check out the real thing being built in this time-lapse video. I love LEGO projects of this scale.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Jalopnik]

Dexim AppSpeed Monster Truck Controlled by iPhone App

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:00:39 +0000

This monster truck by Dexim isn’t the first remote controlled toy that we have seen that uses the iPhone for the controller. We have seen several helicopters for instance like the Griffin HELO TC that use the iPhone for a controller. The new AppSpeed Monster Truck is a ground-pounding version of those remote-controlled vehicles.

The truck comes in black or red colors and looks like a mini big rig. It uses a free app and a RF transmitter that connects to the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch charge and sync port. That RF transmitter turns the angle that you hold the iOS device into signals to control direction of the truck.

The app also offers a touch control mode as well. The truck has some preset things you can make it do from the app like zigzag, spin, or dance. Dexim says you can play with the truck indoors or out. You can order one up now for $69.90 (USD) over at Dexim’s website.

Vodafone 18-Wheeler Charges Smartphones

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 27 May 2011 16:31:48 +0000

Any wireless carrier knows that the money is made not in the voice minutes, but in the charges for data use, texts and so on. That means that the longer a device can stay charged up and working when the user is away from home, the more data the user will consume and the more the carrier can charge. Vodafone has an ingenious way to keep the people attending concerts in the UK shooting video, tweeting, and doing all the other bandwidth consuming things people are apt to do at a concert.

I know with my iPhone if I record video too long it runs out of batteries fast. I would imagine at a concert recording and uploading video along with texting would kill the battery pretty quickly. If you are a UK fan of music festivals and on the Vodafone network the company has a giant 18-wheeler that will be at 11 of the biggest festivals around this summer.

The giant red truck can charge 2,000 devices at one time and Vodafone expects it will charge about 72,000 devices this summer alone. The charge service is free and is apparently only for Vodafone users.

Users will receive a bar-coded wristband when they leave their smartphone with the charge truck and it would recharge while they went back to the show. Charge time is said to be the same as what the user would get at home.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via TheNextWeb]

MMOV Takes Projection Mapping on the Road

Technabob — Thu, 12 May 2011 03:39:45 +0000

For those of you unfamiliar with projection mapping, it’s a really cool visual technique used to combine the surfaces of real-world structures with projected images to create mind-blowing visual effects. Typically, these light shows require complex manual setups of projection gear to get the effect right, but the guys over at Visual Drugstore built out a mobile rig for projection-mapping.

The MMOV (Multi Media Offroad Vehicle) can be driven to a venue, to quickly facilitate amazing projection-mapping shows just about anywhere, anytime. It’s got 6-wheel drive, and can carry up to 15,000 pounds of equipment on board. Everthing can be hidden beneath the truck’s sideflaps, and quickly revealed for quick setups, (and fast getaways).

The MMOV not only can go offroad, but the truck can be loaded with scads of projection equipment for pulling off impromptu “guerilla” projection shows. It can carry around up to 24 15,000 Lumen projectors, 6 crazy-bright Barco HD30 (30,000 Lumen) or Christie Roadie HD +35 (35,000 Lumen) projectors. The truck can also be used as a mobile DJ/VJ station.

Since Visual Drugstore is based in Munich, Germany, I’m not sure how likely it is that you’ll get to see one of their light shows outside of Europe, but if they can figure out a way to drive across the ocean, maybe those of us here in the U.S. will get to see it too.

For now, you can check out a couple of video examples of the MMOV in action below:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

For some reason, this truck sort of reminds me of the “EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle” from Stripes. Maybe I can take it for a ride to get it washed.

LEGO Tonka Heavy Assault Truck Ready to Crush Your Minifig Army

Range — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 13:39:55 +0000

This incredible LEGO build was dubbed the Tonka Heavy Assault Truck by its creator Karf Oohlu. It sports a massive array of guns and looks quite huge. Apparently, it can shoot a lot of volleys, thanks to all of its weapons.

It’s so substantial, that it actually looks big enough to store other LEGO vehicles inside of it. This LEGO beast was so heavy that it partially collapsed while Karf was taking some photos of it. Thankfully, he was able to restore it and share these pics. For some reason it reminds me of the tanks in Warhammer 40K.

There are more photos of this heavy assault truck available over at Karf’s Flickr set. That’s not all, Karf has got a bunch of other LEGO creations and art in his Flickr stream.

[via The Brothers Brick]

LEGO Tow Truck: The Big Brick Rig

Lambert Varias — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:09:04 +0000

This amazingly detailed tow truck was built by LEGO enthusiast Paul aka Sariel. Thanks to a whopping 17 electric motors, the truck has a lot of moving parts and lights and is therefore very functional – of course I’m using the term relatively here, but if you happen to know a minifig who needs some towing done then this should do the trick.

The truck weighs more than 11 lbs, has more than 60 ft of wires, 44 LEGO LEDs and has a top speed of about 0.35 mph. Sariel was inspired by two other toys when he thought of building the tow truck – the LEGO Black Cat and the Revell Peterbilt 379 wrecker.

Here’s a video of the truck. It’s quite long, but that’s all right because there’s really a lot to take in and love about the truck.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I love the little touches like the working steering wheel, the license plate and the stickers. I wish I knew more about LEGO so I could do the truck justice and give it the coverage it deserves, but I guess you’ll have to check out Sariel’s website for the nitty gritty.

[via Brothers Brick]

Giant Transformer Truck Descends on China

Technabob — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 22:13:00 +0000

This incredible Transformer truck sculpture was recently erected by students at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts.

The statue measures in at nearly 32 feet-tall, and weighs in at a staggering 4 tons! Incredibly, it’s almost entirely made from parts from an old truck. Other than some parts on his face and the sword, everything else is recycled truck junk.

The statue is supposed to be modeled not after any specific ‘bot from the Transformers, but based on the Chinese deity Guan Gong. Frankly, I don’t see the resemblance. Looks more like the cousin of Truckasaurus to me.

Who’s up for making one of these stateside? I’ll chip in $20 bucks towards the purchase of a junkyard truck.

[via 163 via Cloned in China]

Dude Converts Garbage Truck Into Home

Range — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:37:26 +0000

Some guy decided that he had enough of this world and proceeded to live in a garbage truck. But this isn’t just any old garbage truck, this thing is actually somebody’s house!

The conversion process was quite impressive and the inside doesn’t look anything like a garbage truck anymore. OK, so it’s not really a garbage truck, it’s a UNICAT TerraCross all-terrain vehicle. It looks like a pretty swanky pad! A lot of storage and organization systems went into this creation, especially so his stuff doesn’t fly around while he’s driving around.

This is quite astounding. I’d never expect anyone to live in a truck like this. It’s kind of a sleeper RV, perfect for super-heroes and super-villains, able to go wherever you want. UNICAT does a bunch of custom trucks. I’m sure that you can find one that fits your fancy.

The idea is that to try and to live simpler by taking your home with you wherever you go. I also like the fact that they use all-terrain trucks, instead of a really expensive RV. I bet this thing would be zombie-proof too. You can buy your own UNICAT truck if you want to try this for yourself.

[via Make:]

Optimus Prime 18-Wheeler iPod Dock

Technabob — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 03:47:51 +0000

I guess news of this Transformers Optimus Prime iPod dock has been floating around for a few months now, but this is the first time I’ve seen up close photos of this fun compact stereo in action.

The dock features an 18-wheeler that provides a place for your iPod and speakers on its bed. At the front of the truck is a cab that happens to transform into everyone’s favorite transforming Autobot, Optimus Prime. The truck bed and speakers even can be concealed when there’s no iPod in the dock.

So if you’re a Transformers fan, and happen to own an iPod, you can pre-order one of these from Mugen Toys for $149.99. They’ve just started to ship in Japan, so you should be able to get your hands on one any day now.

[via ITmedia +D LifeStyle]