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Back in January, we visited some of our customers to see what their Free Day experience was like. We traveled to Connecticut, Rhode Island, Texas, and Virginia and visited some awesome people, companies, and hackerspaces. One of the groups we visited is an outfit called North Street Labs in Portsmouth, Va.. Recently, our friends at NSL built an entry for the RedBull Creation Challenge - The CentriFury!
Basically, two users compete against each other to see who can withstand the highest G-force. Each player straps in and as the CentriFury begins to spin, they must hold a button. The first to let go loses! It's a pretty fun little project that they built in only 72 hours. So far, they have measured The CentriFury to top at out 4.3 Gs. If you want to see a video of it in action, check out the Red Bull Creation project page - and if you like it, give it a vote! However, this wasn't their only entry - they also built another creation - Simon: Violence Edition. Check out the video!
As you know, we here at SparkFun are big fans of Simon. To read more about Simon: Violence Edition you can check out their webpage!
I thought NSL had the coolest build, and they got my vote. I pretty near peed my pants watching them do their first tests with helmets and all. Way to go NSL!!!
It it me, or does putting a strange device with tassels out in a public place with bomb signs all over it a good way to get Homeland security called?
We never let ourselves be afraid, never succumb to the idiocy of the world. We always have a plan if Police/FBI/CIA show up, mainly just talk to them properly and clearly and remember: they don't know what a zigbee/arduino/breadboard/hackerspace is - dumb it down for them and don't use words like "hacker" haha. Do what you like and be happy! Then work a ton to make your money back....
Why do you think the tassels make it more suspicious? I would think it wouldn't matter much either way.
Not to be a party pooper, but did they build in any safeties? (other than the awesome 99 cent pool noodles)
In the video, I think I see a seat belt. Nothing says "safety" like a seat belt!
Of course we built in safeties, I mean we had to test ride it! We wouldn't trust it without any. The programming was skeptically checked for logic errors by many people and several hacker spaces. If wireless button transfer fails at any point and/or either of the two arduinos fail, the motor controller goes into off mode and electronic braking commences. There is a physical disconnect to the batteries as well we can reach from outside the ride. Seat belts aren't even necessary as the g-forces push you deep into the seat, but I wouldn't ride without them anyhow, we check them on people like roller coaster operators do. And last but not least, there is an emergency drum brake we can pull from the sidelines if ever necessary.
Well of course they did! Don't you see the buttons they hold?
Of course, that type of control setup is often referred to as a "Deadman's Switch"...
Reminds me of the Tea Cup ride at Disney World/Land.
Great post! I can not say i want to try it though.
That looks epic - I would love to give that a try.
These remind me of the Looney Tunes cartoon "game of penalties" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd54ZFAx9ko
Out of curiosity, what would one pay to build a apparatus like this?
We would do it for money for $5000. We spent $1500, and about 350 man hours... a lot of work!
You can watch a youtube of the video here: http://www.northstreetlabs.org/TheCentriFury.html