Swincar E-Spider extremely flexible ATV-like vehicle

[Jon]

Not sure what to call this vehicle, and it sounds like the French company that manufactures it isn't either, because they've decided on "Swincar E-Spider". Regardless, I want one.

This concept of extremely flexible independent suspension is present in other DIY 4x4 builds, but this is a nice finished prototype, almost ready for production and sale.

Here in a GIF, followed by a beautiful and undeniably French promotional video.


https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...um/swincar.gif

[mklotz]

Despite looking like a bunch of automotive parts flying in only very vague formation, I want one too. Although I can hardly imagine myself abandoning a Lotus to steal one.

I rented a Citroen deux chevaux when I worked in France. It reminded me of something designed by someone who had frequently heard of automobiles but who had never actually seen one.

[Frank S]

I bet it didn't cost anywhere near the 2+billion the next Mars rover is going to cost

[mklotz]

I bet it didn't cost anywhere near the 2+billion the next Mars rover is going to cost

Try designing and building a semi-autonomous vehicle to operate on a planet 250 million miles away along with the support and communication system it needs. Ensure that it's absolutely free of any biological forms including viruses and that it can sustain hurricane force winds and temperatures that range from 70 to -100 in one day. It's unattended working life should be in excess of a year.

You'll be lucky if you can get anywhere close to two billion.

When I worked on LEM, the lunar explorer, the clueless media dullards were going on about thousand dollar hammers and toilet seats that cost tens of thousands. Their uninformed griping infuriated the folks who actually build this stuff.

Most of the hammer cost was due to government-imposed requirements and the testing needed to prove that your product met these requirements. Proving rust-resistance after timed exposure to a carefully regulated salt-fog was typical. That test alone could cost thousands.

As far as toilet seats go, you try designing one that will work for both sexes in zero gravity while meeting strict requirements about how many aerosols, particulates and gases can escape into the atmosphere. Remember that the water must be captured for recycling. I marvel that they were able to do it at all, cost aside.

[Jon]

Interesting to hear the engineering side of the NASA cost debate.

I remember the first time I was ever exposed to the internet. Our family had a home computer, but the World Wide Web had not yet been invented; the internet was mostly used by research physicists and the military. A friend of my father's was an aerospace engineer visiting for a few days, and needed to access his account at NASA. He traveled with a small modem, the first one I had ever seen. My dad called me into our computer room, and his friend plugged the modem into both our computer and our telephone line. It squelched and squeaked for a little bit, and then he was connected to his account at NASA.

Unfortunately, while the technology has advanced, the media atmosphere has de-evolved. Now that same toilet seat would undergo serious media scrutiny over whether it was equally accessible to all permutations of gender, political affiliation, and religion.

[PJs]

Amen Marv and Jon! No body but those that have had boots on the ground understands the real costs of R&D let alone something as cutting edge (had to be invented) technology, under incredibly difficult design parameters as the LEM and the NASA programs in general.

If you just take two small pieces like the AGC (Apollo Guidance Computer) and LVDC (Launch Vehicle Guidance Computer) and dive into the rabbit hole you will find incredible (ginormous) hurdles of technology that had to be invented just to get the LEM up there. The DSKY (Display/Keyboard) can barely be replicated today and should dispel any myths of the human-years (previously known as Man-Years) it took to meet its demands of design, manufacture and testing.

I had the pleasure of taking my nephew to the Exploratorium for the live Podcast of the Mars Rover. As cool as that was for me for my background and understanding of what that took, my nephew had more fun playing remote control with the one they had set up...maybe one day he will get a piece of the intricacies of it and the awesome achievement of it. The media were there and they were more interested in filming the kids...as it should be I guess.

As for the Vehicle, YUP I want one too, almost as cool as Drift Trikes. I can pass on the lotus because my feet are too big to work the pedals, but the gal could drive me along the french countryside for a tour. ;-P I agree about Citroen, worked on them & drove them...I can now see where Pellenc came from with their vineyard machines...maybe the vineyard machines were a prototype for the Citroen...sadly similar but interesting technologies.

[mklotz]

The vineyard machines are a lot sleeker and sexier than most of the modern French cars I've seen. OTOH, I'd kill for a Bugatti Atlantic or Royale. Killing is about the only way I'd get a Royale; if one of the six or so still in existence came up for auction it would probably net in excess of 20 million.

[Frank S]

I've never been much of a car guy probably could almost count all of the cars I've owned in my life on one hand, but who doesn't have respect for the engineering and attention to elegant design of the Turing cars of the 30's

[PJs]

The Bugati Royale is my favorite car of all time, next to or just above a 35' Auburn/Duesenberg 851 speedster's I think. The elegant flowing lines and engineering of it was truly inspirational to me in that quest for Simple Elegance and incredible cutting edge functionality. Back in the day my buddy and I would head off to Reno to see the Harrah's collection. I could stand in awe around it for 45 min. soaking in details like a sponge while all the other things he had paled in comparison. We must have made a dozen quick trips up there and got to know some of the people and actually got to go in a couple of the shops. My buddy had a Bug Eye Sprite and I had a 60' TR3 at the time and enjoyed working on them and a local rally now and then. It never got tiring seeing the craftsmen/artisans in clean white shop coats working on these beauties of the past with a clarity, patience, and passion I have respected since. We were bummed for weeks when he sold it and dispersed all of that to the 4 corners. It was like someone looting the library of Alexandria to me.

Also had the opportunity to work next door to the Pellenc when they first came to wine country. They are pretty marvelous machines with independent 4 wheel steering with hydraulic stanchions to adjust to the terrain and tasks needed for all the optional attachable equipment. An order of magnitude more complex in engineering compared to the IH combines and equipment my Grandpa used to sell at his dealership for 50 years. Yet the engineers there were a bit aloof for my taste but I got to know the head tech quite well because of our mutual passion for astronomy.