This Trike Was Imagined Using AI, and Then Made Out of Wood
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Maybe AI is the augur of our steampunk future?
I'd do anything for my kids.
Yes, that's pretty open-ended. But it's true. Whether it's play wrestling at the end of the night even when I'm exhausted, putting them onto the back (or front) of a motorcycle and ripping around our backyard, or trying to solve whatever malady has befallen them from them being kids and playing rough, I'm there to do whatever. Yet, despite me thinking Bluey's dad Bandit could just take dad of the year, if not the decade, this father in China might have the two of us beat.
Not only did he use AI to help design a trike based on their own imagination, but then he made it for them. Full-scale. Out of wood. And it works, folks, it works!
The project comes from YouTuber ND Woodworking Art, with the description of the video stating, "AI helped me design a conceptual car that resembles a time machine." Now, it's not a car, it's a trike. But to be fair to the original poster, the rear wheel is a dually, so it technically has four wheels.
But again, it ain't a car.
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The process for building said trike was wild, as everything is done by hand. The frame is built of what looks to be a mild steel frame, with the wood covering the skeleton. Parts are formed via stencils and the woodworker's eye, as chainsaws, lathes, and other tools are employed throughout the process to get the design just as the AI design showed.
A lot of it, however, was done by simple hand tools, accompanying time and patience. Something I definitely don't have.
There's also functional gears driven off an electric motor, along with pieces that move with the whole machine. The final effect is one that very much resembles something out of steampunk fiction, with wild designs, exposed gearing, movable members, and more. It's very Lovecraftian.
It's also staggeringly beautiful and the craftsmanship of the machine is done to such a degree, it's not just a vehicle, it's a work of art. But it works, too. Slowly, for sure, but the creation can move on its own, and even has working lights.
I'm definitely dad-jealous of this thing, if you haven't guessed.