LEGO built a life-size, drivable Bugatti from over a million Technic pieces

https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news-room/2018/august/technic-bugatti-chiron-build-for-real/

by cududa • 8 years ago

682 151 8 years ago

lego.com

cududa• 8 years ago

What blows my mind is aside from the frame, wheels and batteries the whole thing is LEGO

ashleyn• 8 years ago

Look at the patterns in the body. A seasoned engineer can certainly make do with what he's got.

PeterisP• 8 years ago

Not even the frame - "This is also the first-time load-bearing parts were built purely out of LEGO."

nonsince• 8 years ago

That doesn’t mean that all load-bearing parts are lego. It has a steel frame, as the article states.

24gttghh• 8 years ago

I saw a metal frame being used to assemble the car in one of the videos but I didn't see them remove it after putting the body together.

drcongo• 8 years ago

Link to the story without all the Oath tracking: https://www.slashgear.com/life-size-lego-technic-bugatti-chi...

crispyambulance• 8 years ago

Aside from shape, the LEGO one or the "real" one share other thing: they're still both toys!

sandworm101• 8 years ago

It is only a toy if it has no purpose beyond being a toy (see "art"). The bugatti can get me to work and back.

cirgue• 8 years ago

The bugatti can get me to work and back.

So can a jet ski depending on where you live, but it's still very much a toy.

bognition• 8 years ago

Wow, this is just incredible. Was anyone else hoping there would be a head on collision crash test between the two cars?

lihaciudaniel• 8 years ago

I think from that many man hours of work it would be in a museum. Maybe even anti earthquake feature so it doesn't completely break.

zaarn2• 8 years ago

You'd probably be torn to shreds in the lego one by the flying pieces and/or die when you try to leave the car and step on the million pieces lying around.

na85• 8 years ago

They don't usually perform crash tests with a real driver.

em-bee• 8 years ago

well, i was certain they wouldn't do that, but yes, i want to see how this car behaves in a real crash test.

Radle• 8 years ago

For me, this is even more impressive than a real Bugatti.

kaffeemitsahne• 8 years ago

There's some nice close-ups in the images.zip downloadable from here:

https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/technic/bugatti-chiron/med...

The patterns of the bodywork are ingenious and quite pretty as well.

Scarblac• 8 years ago

I wonder about the size of the step-by-step instruction booklet.

sizzzzlerz• 8 years ago

Not to mention the size of the box it came in !

trumped3• 8 years ago

Ikea could sell it because it probably could fit in a car

tda2• 8 years ago

more details here: https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/technic/bugatti-chiron/med... (including a 714mb zip with images which I am still downloading)

Some facts:

    Over 1,000,000 LEGO Technic elements in total 
    339 types of LEGO Technic elements used 
    No glue used in the assembly 
    Total weight: 1,500 kg 
    Engine contains:
    2,304 LEGO Power Functions motors
    4,032 LEGO Technic gear wheels 
    2,016 LEGO Technic cross axles 
    Theoretical performance of 5.3 HP 
    Estimated torque of 92 Nm
    Functional rear spoiler (using both LEGO Power Functions and pneumatics) 
    Functional speedometer built entirely from LEGO Technic elements 
    13,438 man hours used on development and construction

Edit: images are meh, just press shots. Was hoping for more on how it was built

tda2• 8 years ago

"...using 58 types of Technic custom-made elements", anyone have a information on what those pieces are? They really spent an incedible amount of hours and effort on this. 13k+ man hours...

5874-4b22-a4e0• 8 years ago

Theoretically this could cost as much as 1.3k @ 10 cents per hour in a third world country to build, but there is a risk of theft when a piece of lego is worth more on the black market than what people make per hour.

If we move to America, it would only cost ~100k at minimum wage.

91bananas• 8 years ago

Crazy budget, just at $20 dollars an hour that is $~260k. Hope it paid off!

Shivetya• 8 years ago

so the question is, how close to the cost of the real car is it? it certainly is not cheap but I have no means to estimate the costs of LEGOs or custom pieces

hanniabu• 8 years ago

13438 comes out to about 11 people working on this for 6 months. That's a huge commitment.

justaguyhere• 8 years ago

The press they'd get from this is worth the investment I guess.

LukeShu• 8 years ago

"...using 58 types of Technic custom-made elements", anyone have a information on what those pieces are?

"56 custom made Technic element types (existing shapes in new colors)"

from https://www.lego.com/r/www/r/portals/-/media/themes/technic/...

jwin742• 8 years ago

According the the pdf factsheet linked in this thread they were just existing pieces in new colors. So the transparent parts for the lights and I imagine LEGO doesn't sell technic in Bugatti Blue.

seanalltogether• 8 years ago

I can't understand how this was done without glue. Sure they must have used something to secure the initial blocks to the steel frame, but nothing afterwards?

agumonkey2• 8 years ago

various orthogonal locking schemes ?

masklinn• 8 years ago

https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/technic/bugatti-chiron/med... has more, including an archive of 35 images some of which are detail shots of the wheels & steering wheels.

Though no build detail shots.

mwexler• 8 years ago

Videos on this page do include some build shots. The 8 minute video is especially well done.

cloudwizard• 8 years ago

stock LEGO in sets is around 10 cents per piece. technics are more expensive. Looking at Ebay, it looks like 30-50 cents on average. You are looking at $200K to $400K for the 1M Technics pieces. They said the motors cost $70K. Say up to $500K for LEGO including custom elements.

Fricken• 8 years ago

Relative to the retail price, the manufacturing cost of Lego elements are pennies on the dollar. For a $50 starwars set there might be 50 cents worth of plastic. The metal injection moulding dies cost tens of thousands, but one die can mould 120 million basic 2x4 bricks over it's lifetime.

Of course there's a whole other wing to their factories for sorting pieces into sets, they release hundreds of different sets a year which design teams spend months prototyping, they spend huge on marketing, community outreach, and licensing fees, and a non-trivial portion of their manufacturing capacity goes to Legoland resorts and projects like this Bugatti Chiron build. Nonetheless, the Lego group commands Apple-like profit margins.

Still, for the consumer the value proposition on a Lego purchase is very good, because it's value doesn't depreciate over time. In fact, vintage Lego sets have appreciated on average 10% per year over the last decade. Buying Lego is money in the bank, presuming you keep your Lego inventoried and save the boxes, stickers and instructions.

tetrep• 8 years ago

images are meh, just press shots. Was hoping for more on how it was built

If you scroll to the bottom of the page there's a few links to "raw video clips" and "how we did it". I'm downloading them now but the names of the files sound like they're exactly what you want.

foobarian• 8 years ago

Where does one get these Technic pieces? There seem to be a bunch of pre-made sets but I don't see a generic kit with some motors and most often used bits.

m1573rp34130dy• 8 years ago

wow its a big url...not trying to advert sell or endorse, but you asked where do i get, so heres one place...

https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Technic-Power-Functions-Motor/dp...

bigiain• 8 years ago

Buy them from @jacquesm:

https://jacquesmattheij.com/sorting-two-metric-tons-of-lego/

:-)

nkrisc• 8 years ago

Honestly the original source is probably better than the techcrunch link. No ads, more writeup.

https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news-room/2018/august/tec...

sacheendra• 8 years ago

But with no option to opt-out of ad tracking. :-(

ahoka• 8 years ago

And no forced consent dialog to instantly close. Thanks!

ec109685• 8 years ago

Lego’s writeup neglects to mention the metal frame that serves as the structure for the build.

nogbit2• 8 years ago

of which requires flash to view the embedded video, shame they can't embed like TechCrunch did.

cpburns2009• 8 years ago

That page doesn't require flash to play the video. It's a JavaScript video player using a <video> tag.

wpietri3• 8 years ago

That writeup mentions it has a "detachable steering wheel and brake pedal", which is surely going to give me nightmares where the Lego steering wheel pops off in my hand and the accelerator pedal sticks to the floor.

sctb• 8 years ago

OK, we've updated the link from https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/30/lego-built-a-life-size-dri.... Thanks!

trumped3• 8 years ago

I don't know why but Techcrunch is often given priority over the original source on this site...

pbhjpbhj• 8 years ago

Which is more expensive?

LeonM• 8 years ago

Good question. A Bugatti Chiron MSRP is about 2.5MM, the lego version could be more expensive, if you add all the bricks, the steel frame, the (real) Chiron wheels (40k for the set, I estimate) and the 13,500 (!) hours of work it could get really expensive, really fast.

mkj• 8 years ago

I wonder how the "Functional speedometer built entirely from LEGOTECHNIC elements" works. Do technic pieces have springs/magnets, or they're using elasticity of the plastic pieces somehow...

TheOtherHobbes• 8 years ago

Probably magnets.

https://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-speedometer-works.html

It wasn't that long ago that all speedos were mechanical.

dsr_2• 8 years ago

It could also be optical (various LEGO computers have optical sensors and timers).

amarant• 8 years ago

honestly, from these pictures at least, the lego version is more beautiful than the original!

i hope they do a crash test with it when they finish showing it off at various events :)

jandrese2• 8 years ago

I like how it has a detachable steering wheel just like a real race car. I was wondering if the driver had to just press it onto the studs to install it.

village-idiot6• 8 years ago

That's actually kind of dangerous to drive, even a very slow speed impact would absolutely shatter and leave the driver not only exposed to the other car/barrier, but also the ground and everything else. People ejected from cars via windows/sunroofs tend to fare very poorly, and the same is true if your car stops being a car all around you.

Good thing it's probably not very fast. Or road legal. Still neat though.

baq• 8 years ago

the article quotes 20 km/h.

village-idiot6• 8 years ago

Hence the “good thing”.

snowwolf• 8 years ago

20km/h top speed, driven by an "Official Bugatti Pilot" wearing a crash helmet on a closed circuit.

I think they did their risk assessment.

village-idiot6• 8 years ago

Yeah, that’s how I’d drive it too.

airstrike• 8 years ago

Official Bugatti Pilot

Clearly, somewhere down the line I picked the wrong career.

huhtenberg• 8 years ago

Still neat though.

Very gracious of you to conclude a trivial nitpick this way.

village-idiot6• 8 years ago

I’m sorry I didn’t gush over it like you wanted me to. I’ll try better next time.

mikeash2• 8 years ago

1.5 tonnes and 5.3 horsepower. I don’t think there’s a whole lot of risk.

village-idiot6• 8 years ago

On a closed course yes.

mikkelam2• 8 years ago

Good example of poe's law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

mfringel• 8 years ago

It is my duty to inform you that the musicians in Band Of Horses are not actually horses.

amelius2• 8 years ago

I want to see what's under the hood!

amelius2• 8 years ago

A crash-test video would be nice :)

mikkelam2• 8 years ago

For some reason the video widgets are unclickable for me on firefox, so here's the direct link to the video for anyone else who might've had the problem

http://legoexternal.23video.com/v.ihtml/player.html?token=96...

lodi• 8 years ago

And the best part is it's modular, so you can reconfigure it into a minivan for your daily commute!

ChuckMcM• 8 years ago

Fascinating stuff and a pretty amazing accomplishment! Good job Lego.

I've built a number of robots out of Lego Technic pieces and the only way to keep them together was often to glue pieces together. There was a MIT interstitial class (6.270) that was pretty influential in the hobby robots scene during the late 80s and one of the fallouts of that was a great building techniques guide that was notes on how to make things like power plants and load supporting beams.

That said, supporting the weight of a person and a car in the air across the distance between the front and read axles would have seemed pretty impossible to me. Now if you looked underneath and there was a row of wheels keeping the middle of the car supported that would not have surprised me. And then a top speed of 20km/h ? That is almost 20' or 6m/second, that is fast for even a small Lego car much less a huge one.

edraferi2• 8 years ago

supporting the weight of a person and a car in the air across the distance between the front and read axles would have seemed pretty impossible to me

Yeah, there is a core steel chassis for that. The main LEGO stuff is the body and engine.

miohtama• 8 years ago

You can find the chassis and other necessary metal parts (wheels) on this how we did it video https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/technic/bugatti-chiron/med...

felipemnoa• 8 years ago

Looking at the car it reminds me of the replicators in Stargate SG-1.

kozak• 8 years ago

There is a PDF "fact sheet" explanation here: https://www.lego.com/r/www/r/portals/-/media/themes/technic/...

It says that the car is not built entirely from LEGO parts: there is a steel frame, axles, and many other non-LEGO things in it.

skybrian2• 8 years ago

Well, of course.

Building anything strong out of Lego is an interesting challenge. I built a speaker stand that's basically a suspension bridge (using fishing line). A piece of wood would have done the job better.

nathancahill• 8 years ago

Intersting! Got any pics?

kazinator• 8 years ago

Also, "LEGO Technic" is an ill-defined term. The various kits contain an repertoire of custom pupose-designed pieces whose category appears to be open-ended. It seems that almost any conceivable chunk of plastic whatsoever (or perhaps another material) could be included a "LEGO Technic" kit. Thus if something is built out of "LEGO Technic", what exactly does that mean? It needs to be qualified, like built only with the pieces available in a particular kit available to consumers (as many instances of that kit as required).

lapinot2• 8 years ago

Not sure if you are a specialist who is nitpicking or simply not well informed, but lego technic is pretty much well-defined (mostly as "every part present in a set branded as `LEGO Technic`"). See [1] for part lists. The afol community has nerdy tendencies (no judgement, i like it) and everything is pretty much well-defined, even more for crucial questions such as "what parts are valid to use" or "how can we combine them". For the second question see [2] for a presentation on illegal builds.

[1] https://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-parts/technic [2] http://bramlambrecht.com/tmp/jamieberard-brickstress-bf06.pd...

app4soft• 8 years ago

It says that the car is not built entirely from LEGO parts: there is a steel frame, axles, and many other non-LEGO things in it.

So, it's look like correct title for this news should be:

LEGO built a life-size, drivable Bugatti that consist on less than 95% from over a million Technic pieces[0]

[0] https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news-room/2018/august/tec...

dclowd99012• 8 years ago

If you're not a person who's spent much time with legos, it might be hard to grasp why this is considered an "engineering feat". LEGO is a system of modular building after all, right?

However, the kind of weight that 1,000,000 Legos is (in this case, north of 3,300 pounds) means that they had to use pieces, none of which (I believe) exceed 8" in length, to form the support structure of this vehicle. I would _love_ to see the "chassis" of this thing. Probably some gigantic rail structures holding it all together.

jonknee• 8 years ago

There is a non Lego support structure (I mean it makes sense, it has real Chiron wheels/tires!). Still quite impressive though.

homonculus1• 8 years ago

It should be noted, however, that The LEGO Group is the world's largest tire manufacturer by volume.

bgutierrez• 8 years ago

https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/technic/bugatti-chiron/med... has a link to a "How We Did It" video. There are clips of the chassis and some of the parts that weren't Lego. It shouldn't detract from the feat; the motor is a matrix of Technic motors, the door hinges are Technic pieces, and the skin was adjustable with a tool that also was made of Technic parts.

dclowd99012• 8 years ago

Bummer. It’s honestly a bit disappointing because when it comes to Lego large structures, the support structure tends to be the most impressive part (if done in all Lego).

ovrdrv3• 8 years ago

I WOKE UP IN A NEW ... Bugatti?

SonicSoul• 8 years ago

Unfortunately it costs 10x the price of the Bugatti if you add up the pieces

Finnucane• 8 years ago

One assumes they didn't pay retail.

ourmandave• 8 years ago

If this thing is ever in an accident I hope first responders are wearing thick soled shoes.

chx3• 8 years ago

I am sure you've read before if all modern tools and factories were to disappear we would need to rebuild almost from scratch because you need more precise tools to build even more precise ones. In that vein:

There was an extra electric screwdriver build to adjust the cylinder pistons. It is made completely out of LEGO Technic pieces. It was needed because an actual screwdriver has too much torque. The LEGO one uses Power Functions motor, simple gearbox and custom-designed switch.

escoundel• 8 years ago

I hope they capitalize on it more and produce a few videos with build walkthroughs and engineering behind it. For all its "markety" feel, there's a lot to learn and engage folks interested in building with first principles in mind.

Animats• 8 years ago

2,304 little tiny motors!

andromaton• 8 years ago

Unfortunately, the Lego pieces cost more than the original car.

bytesmith• 8 years ago

It’s not quite as fast but in my opinion the Ferdinand GT3[1] is a much cooler vehicle.

[1] https://youtu.be/GaQB_tgS7f0

mey• 8 years ago

There are two things that really amaze me

  No glue
  Powered by lego electric motors

I can accept that there is important subframe and wheels not in Lego. It's still masterful and essentially a work of art.

kmonad• 8 years ago

a much fairer and better response than the snarky current top comment. who'd deny this is amazing?

pcurve• 8 years ago

i know! that motor pack is awesome.

unwabuisi• 8 years ago

Quite an amazing feat, but an even more amazing marketing campaign.

iamleppert• 8 years ago

Elon Musk should take note

jsjohnst3• 8 years ago

developed using over 1,000,000 LEGO Technic elements and powered exclusively using motors from the LEGO Power Function platform. Packed with 2,304 motors and 4,032 LEGO Technic gear wheels

So in other words, it costs more to build this model in parts (not including 13,000 hours of labor) to build than the original hypercar its replicating?

Not saying this isn’t super cool, but something to keep in mind for perspective!

Update:

Not comparing retail prices, as obviously the LEGO version isn’t for sale, talking about cost of building (not including R&D).

rcMgD2BwE72F• 8 years ago

Is that the first Bugatti EV?

Joking aside, isn't it weird for LEGO to associate itself with a gaz-guzzler while simultaneously trying to distance itself from fossil fuel-based materials? Does anyone know if there's a commercial deal behind this project?

[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/business/energy-environme...

LEGO built a life-size, drivable Bugatti from over a million Technic pieces

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