The folks over at Waterloo Labs have created the best use of go-karts that I can think of; real-life Mario Kart. Technology has come a long way and I do believe the time has come for us to dress up as famous characters from the Mario universe and launch turtle shells at one and other while driving at high speeds.
Hunter Smith and Ben James two engineers based out of Texas, are the engineering geniuses behind the real-life Mario Kart. Their system of taking four go-karts and hooking them up with ways to respond to different items on the track is simply amazing. Those familiar with Mario Kart know that during the race one can obtain specific items that either harm or help them. Well in Hunter and Ben’s real life go-karts when a player comes in contact with the question mark block that bares an item the kart is smart enough to figure out what it is and respond to it via computer chip. The computer chip reacts with a computer that is attached to the kart and controls its pneumatics and servos. These control the brakes, throttle, and gas and insures the character riding the kart does not interfere.
Each kart also contains a cannon that is able to fire the famous green or red turtle shells at 120 psi. No turtles were harmed in the process. Once a player is hit with this turtle they wipe out and must then be replaced on the track by the floating cloud guy, Lakitu, or in this case a guy with a tractor.
Items in the race are ones taken directly from the game and include, mushrooms; enhance the speed of the kart, turtle shells; disable a targets kart, and lightning bolts; slows down all other karts on the track. Check out the guys at Waterloo Labs in the video and lust after your want to race like Mario.
Luckily Waterloo Labs did release a fully detailed kart design and source code for those who wish to battle their friends. Good luck at the raceways all!
