Badminton is silly and soft and dainty and not tennis, right? I don’t know anymore! This impossibly fast rally makes it seem like an impossibly fast sport played by humans who have impossibly fast reaction times. Even robots couldn’t see the ball and hit the ball so fast. It’s incredible.
     |
The world starts to blur. People and trees and houses and stores are just streaks of colors as you zoom by. The roads become vertical as you make your turns. You’re going so fast that, if you hit anything on the road, even a stick, you’re probably going to fly hundreds of feet in the air and smack yourself to pulp. This is what it’s like to race a motorcycle in the Isle of Man TT. It’s unreal how fast they go.
| |
Bumpy. Dangerously fast as hell. And it looks like the luger will careen off the course at any given moment.Doubles luger Matthew Mortenson put on a helmet cam on a ride down the luge track in Sochi to show us what it’s like to go zooming down sloping slick ice on your back and while it looks like a fun roller coaster ride, it also looks like the chance of crashing is a solid 100%.
| |
Don’t tell Mom! Actually tell Mom because her daughter is so dang adorable that she should be proud that her little girl has so much joy in her. Jamie P. took his daughter out in his 1000bhp Nissan GT-R and fulfills his daughter’s request to drive faster to hilariously delightful results. She’s the best. Even though she covers her eyes for half of it, she’s having the time of her life!
| |
This is a Public Service Announcement: If you have warm beer (or may be receiving warm beer during the game today), you should read this post we originally ran two years ago.
| |
Boston Dynamics’ Cheetah robot impressed people all over the world when it proved that it can outrun even the fastest of our species. But some of you may have been thinking, what’s to be afraid of? It’s tied down. Unless we’re on the same treadmill Cheetah isn’t touching anybody. Well, it’s not tied down anymore.
Meet WildCat, the latest generation of the Cheetah. While its tethered predecessor has a recorded top speed of over 29mph, WildCat can “only” get up to 16mph. Not enough to outrun Usain Bolt, but enough to catch up to the average human, running at a full out sprint.
Between drones and Boston Dynamics’ DARPA-funded cats and dogs, we should start looking into this Rapture thing.
[via Boston Dynamics via Gizmodo]
There’s something awesome about a crotch rocket that will beat most supercars. Ducatis are no exception, and the new 899 will not only blow your socks off, but other parts of your clothing as well.
The Ducati 899 Panigale motorcycle was made as a replacement for the 848 Superbike, and it’s supposed to be comfortable both on the track and the road. The engine produces 148 hp at 9,000 RPM. It’s loaded with high tech electronics, like a quick shifter, ride-by-wire, triple stage ABS, traction control, engine brake control and more. The monocoque aluminum frame should also be nice to ride.
The Ducati 899 Panigale will be available in October starting at about $15,000(USD).
[via Uncrate]
Even with their speed limiters disabled, stock golf carts are pretty slow, much like the game of golf itself. How fast can one go? Maybe 25mph if it’s all tricked out. On the other hand, this custom made golf cart powered by a 200hp Hayabusa engine can go as fast as 100mph.
This beast was built by Chris of Spring Hill, Florida. It has a four-cylinder engine from a 1999 Hayabusa motorcycle, and has bee upgraded with a speedometer and other gauges, as well as the fan and ignition switches from the Hayabusa. There’s also a six-speed gearbox and a chain-driven rear axle. Check it out in action below:
While it meets most of the criteria for being street legal in Florida, you’re still not allowed to drive over 25mph. Oh well. Still, Chris plans to custom build more Hayabusa carts for those who like golf carts, but want to enjoy life in the fast lane.
[via Damn Geeky]
Colin Furze, maniac maker of maniac things like the maniac 50mph baby carriage
| |
Remember that Tom Selleck sci-fi flick called Runaway? Despite being terribly cheesy, those insect-like robots in that movie always gave me the creeps. Never mind that it was none other than KISS’ Gene Simmons who was the mastermind behind the robobugs.
While this robotic insect isn’t deadly, you’ll have a really hard time catching and swatting it if it ever were to go rogue.
Created by Duncan W. Haldane, Kevin C. Peterson, Fernando L. Garcia Bermudez, and Ronald S. Fearing of the UC Berkeley Biomimetic Millisystems Lab, the VelociRoACH is claimed to be the fastest legged robot relative to its body size. It’s capable of running at a zippy 2.7 meters-per-second. Yikes. Just wait till about 10 seconds into the video below to see it scurrying along in real time.
The robot was built with a new dynamic tuning system which keeps it stable at high speeds, using an aerodynamic rotational damper which is designed to operate with less rotational energy while still maintaining crazy fast forward momentum. The robot is also equipped with a mechanism which lets it crawl over obstacles about twice its height with ease.
I’m not sure what the real-world applications from the VelociRoACH are, but I sure wouldn’t want these running around my house.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
