A couple of years ago, Abhishek Murali and Rehan Hanif, Class 12 students of Maharishi Vidya Mandir, dreamt of owning a ‘batmobile’ — a weapon empowered vehicle that the superhero Batman uses to combat evil in Gotham City. While that may continue to be a dream for this duo, a car modelled by them on the famed vehicle won them the first prize at an international robotics challenge.
The car, built from papier mache, cardboard and balsa wood — all renewable materials, and christened as, ‘Bat-thrust’, won the first place at Destination Zero Carbon, a car design and racing competition held in Singapore last month. Powered by hydrogen fuel cells, their gadget emerged victorious against over 98 teams from across the globe. Fuel-efficiency and ‘green’ quotient were the benchmarks against which the cars were rated.
As far as the caped crusader’s gadgets go, it seems this duo may be armed with a lot more than adulation. “The front portion of the batmobile is sleek and aerodynamic. This was one of the motivating factors,” says Rehan. The car was built on a 1:20 scale.
Preparation for the competition involved learning the nitty-gritties of robotics and design, for over a year. The final stages of their preparation was only over four days — when they were introduced to techniques such as 3-D printing, laser-cutting and complex software such as Studioworks.
The motor and hydrogen cells needed were provided by Robotix Learning Solutions.
The Bugatti Veyron was another inspiration for the budding designers.
“We felt that since the car was becoming too light, ducts were needed to offer a downward force, which we adapted from the Bugatti,” explain the students.
Winning the competition has provided them a boost, though they were never in doubt about it.
“Right through the competition, our confidence levels never dipped.” In the end, they received a prize money of 500 Singapore dollars.
It’s mechanical engineering that these school-goers have decided to take up, as far as their future plans go. Rehan states, “My line of study will involve a large amount of research.”