This Rideable Mars Rover for Kids Is Cooler Than Any Power Wheels Car

If you’re a parent and a maker, than you’re naturally going to want to make toys for your kids. You get to do what you love — making — and your kids get unique toys that actually mean something to them. In most cases, those toys are probably going to be something 3D-printed or laser-cut. But, YouTuber Kris Temmerman went all out and built his kid a working, rideable Mars rover.

It only takes a quick glance at the final result to see why this project is so special. The rover that Temmerman built really looks like something that could drive across the surface of Mars. This isn’t the kind of vehicle that can be thrown together in a few hours using off-the-shelf parts from the local hardware store. Temmerman spent untold hours carefully machining each part, and then welding the pieces together to form the frame of the rover.

The design is six-wheeled, and is setup similar to the Opportunity Mars rover. Each of those wheels is driven by its own beefy DC gear motor, and the front two and rear two wheels can pivot so that the rover can turn on a dime. Power comes from six 8,000mAh batteries, for a total of 48,000mAh hours. Temmerman doesn’t provide many details about the electronics used to drive the motors, but there is an Arduino in the control box. He does, however, say that he’ll be providing more information about the specifics in an upcoming video, so be sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel to find out more.