Our Robotics Competition - by Rishub Kumar

For the last few weeks we have been thinking and reading on smart transportation.
Everyone came up with original ideas and it was fun presenting and listening.

All of us came up with many ideas.
Rishub – Flying Car
Ajith – Electric Car + Bullet Train Grid
Derek – Integrate Speed Limit with GPS
Mihir – Car Sensors to avoid accidents
Raj – Encourage Carpools
Rohan – Hydrofoil boats
Sanjay – Smart Bikes
Jay – GIS+GPS

We all voted and the flying car got the most votes.
Our team is now thinking of flying cars - here is the sky car from here http://datalocker.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/flying-car/

Have you ever thought that apart from airplanes flying up in the sky cars can also fly? Well, inventors nowadays uncover their great potentials of making cars travel not only by land but also in the air. It all started with just a paramotor used by Gilo Cardozo to fly on air with a giant industrial fan strapped to his back. Upon thinking of this event that Cardozo had, he actually thought of using a car this time instead of a paramotor and eventually makes it flying up in the sky.

At present time flying a car is very possible following the following steps and procedures. The one who is driving the car should unpack the parafoil wing from the boot and manually deploy it from the rear of the car. The driver then switches the transmission from road mode, which drives the wheels, to flight mode, which powers the rear fan.

The fan’s thrust pushes the car forward, providing lift for the wing as the car reaches 35mph – takeoff speed. Once airborne, pedals in the footwell steer the Skycar by pulling cables that change the wing’s shape.

The Skycar has the ability to fly up to about 180 miles. If just in case the wing gets damaged or if it collapses, the pilot can fire a roof-mounted emergency parachute that allows the car to float safely back to earth.