Print your own race car

It's aimed at teaching kids computer programming, but it will no doubt be a fun exercise. Print out some race-cars, program and race them with a smart phone.

3DRacers is a proposed, open-source, very customisable way to design, create and race just about anything that comes to mind.

The basic principle is: Go to the 3DRacers editor website to design your car from over 100,000 possible combinations. Blow the dust off your home 3D printer and have your design materialise in your home.

Or, if perchance you don't have a 3D printer, the 3DRacers guys have teamed up with the 3DHubs.com group so you can forward your design to a 3D Printer hopefully nearby.

Couple your car design with the open-source and elegantly simple Arduino electronics mother-board and you are ready to race. Well drive at least; you might need two cars at least in order to have an actual race. Just to blow your mind a little – up to 1000 3DRacers can take part in a race.

"We designed a car that can race on every surface available in your home, so that you can build your tracks without limits: race over (or under) sofas, cardboard, tables and beds." Says founder of 3DRacers Marco D'Alia, "To [achieve] this we designed a car that had a good clearance from the bottom, and could climb carpets or rough terrains. We experimented with several configurations of DC motors to achieve the right balance from battery life and power and different steering mechanisms that are both realistic and durable."

"We have built a customized Arduino-based board, focused on low power consumption and a small form factor. The board can control up to two motors, three servos, had an embedded RGB LED, battery charger and a custom made gate/position detector, and is programmable through a simple USB link."

This team is working on an app for iOS and Android based smartphones. This will allow remote control of the vehicles from the app, with Mario Kart inspired races or simulation style events being the aim. Track features can also be designed and printed under the 3DRacers scheme.

If this crowd-funded campaign accumulates the desired support, eventually you will be able to drive with the Android/iPhone app or the 3D printed remote to post real time results (lap times) recorded by a sensor in each car designed to work with special gates that can also be 3D printed.

There will be a Battle mode with power ups and weapons to use, or simulation mode requiring pit stops to "refuel" or change tyres as some realistic number crunching determines wear.

This open-source programmable board allows users the freedom to go beyond race-cars with their designs. Already the team is talking about and showing off their battle-tank design.

The IndieGoGo campaign kicks off from February 2nd.

The team expects the final price would be $49 for the complete kit that you can print yourself, or $75 with all the printed parts shipped from 3DHubs.

A special package for schools is also planned, with a 10-lesson guide to learning programming with 3DRacers, written by the team. Like the programmable Logo turtle invented in the late 1960s, this kind of crossover toy is a great idea to introduce kids to programming in an enjoyable way.