Hobby Humanoid Robot KHR3HV Rides Bike At 10k/h 114
An anonymous reader points out a fun robot project from Japan, writing: "The robot pedals with its feet at variable speed. The steering is done by the robot hands as with a normal bike, and remote controlled by a human. Stability is achieved by relying on the inertial centrifugal effect of the front wheel and on a gyro aided by a PID controller that takes over steering when driving in a straight line. Seems like when the robot steers his arms he also bends the waist leaning a bit into the turn. Braking is achieved by taking the feet off the pedals and pointing them down to the ground using the metal feet as friction breaks."
you steer by leaning, not turning the handlebars (Score:2, Insightful)
Seems like when the robot steers his arms he also bends the waist leaning a bit into the turn.
You steer a bicycle at almost any sort of speed by leaning, not turning the handlebars. In fact, if you turned the handlebars without leaning or shifting your weight, you and bike would tip over to the outside of the turn.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Countersteering#Need_to_lean_to_turn
Make sure to have the "outside" pedal down and put weight on that foot, which shifts the Cg of you and bike lower. Want some extra fun? Lean the bike while not leaning your body!
For any slashdotters looking for a somewhat nerdy form of exercise, you can't get much better than cycling, and I highly recommend looking into it! There are so many kinds of riding out there, there's something for everyone, even if you have no interest in competition. I do strongly recommend you NOT get a hybrid bicycle, however; the upright position is horribly inefficient and NOT comfortable for any more than a few miles because your weight is not split as evenly between your arms and butt as it is on a road bike.
Get a road bike from a store that will do a fitting session with you (there's a lot of biomechanics involved- the bars and seat both need to have their height and front-back position set properly), and save money in your budget for accessories clothing (a comfortable pair of bib shorts is essential, and clipless pedals/shoes make pedaling far more comfortable and efficient.)
A data rate of just 10000 bits per hour = 3 bit/s (Score:2, Insightful)
I, for one, welcome it that the article tried to mention metric units. But c'mon. 10k/h? That means 10 kilograms per hour or what?