Wiggle Car

As a member of a three person team, I built a wiggle car in my Computer-Aided Mechanical Design course at Dartmouth. The car is an adult-sized version of a common children's toy. The driver uses his legs to twist the front wheel from side to side, which propels the car forward. Our design was driven by a desire to build a lightweight, maneuverable vehicle with good starting acceleration in order to succeed in the end of term race. Though we weren't victorious we had a few interesting innovations that focused on the twist wheel.

Our front wheel was unique in that it could be switched between a caster mode (high top speed, slow starting acceleration, wide turning radius) and a fixed mode (low top speed, high starting acceleration, tight turning radius). A spring-loaded pin kept the pin engaged and the wheel fixed, while a wire rope that was attached to a driver-accessible lever removed the pin to switch over to castering.

Pictured above is the wiggle car just before the race! The two group members and I all contributed to project ideation, CAD, and machining. A machine shop instructor welded the frame for us (my welding skills leave a bit to be desired!).