A 5m Elastic Band Powers This Sleek 3D-Printed RC Car

A 5m Elastic Band Powers This Sleek 3D-Printed RC Car

Elastic-powered toys don’t sound particularly exciting these days when you can get a buy a flying toy helicopter that fits in the palm of your hand. But three students at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena created this stunning RC car, made from 3D-printed plastic and carbon fibre, that’s propelled using a 5m long twisted elastic band.

A 5m Elastic Band Powers This Sleek 3D-Printed RC Car

The Cirin, designed and built by Max Greenberg, Sameer Yeleswarapu and Ian Cullimore, still has a handful of battery-powered electronics on board used for steering, wireless communications with its controller, and braking. But what propels the whole vehicle forward is that gigantic 5m long elastic contained in a carbon fibre tube running the length of the vehicle.

As a result, the Cirin can only be driven for “a few hundred feet” between elastic windings (which is presumably handled by a power tool), but it can hit a top speed of around 50km/h when fully unleashed. That’s impressive for an RC toy powered by a battery or even a gas engine, but elastics? Maybe it will convince the auto industry to test the feasibility of rubber band-powered cars. [Behance via designboom]

A 5m Elastic Band Powers This Sleek 3D-Printed RC Car

A 5m Elastic Band Powers This Sleek 3D-Printed RC Car

A 5m Elastic Band Powers This Sleek 3D-Printed RC Car


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