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Robotics Toys

Build Your Own Self-Balancing Unicycle 197

Posted by michael from the helmet-strongly-advised dept.
CaptainKaos[DOH!] writes "Robot hacker Trevor Blackwell is at it again, this time with a self-balancing Eunicycle. Blackwell writes, 'Some time ago I built a self-balancing two-wheeled scooter. Since then I realized that two wheels are redundant, and only a single wheel is needed to make a ridable vehicle. A vehicle with a single wheel is much smaller and lighter. It weighs under 30 lbs and is easily carried with one hand when going up stairs or on public transportation.' Trevor's previous 'Segway' type two-wheeler was mentioned on Slashdot."
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Build Your Own Self-Balancing Unicycle More

Build Your Own Self-Balancing Unicycle

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  • Animal Pharm (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28, 2005 @08:27PM (#11510371)
    One wheel good, two wheels bad!

  • Half a Segway... (Score:4, Funny)

    by mangu ( 126918 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @08:27PM (#11510375)
    ...will be half as useful, and still cost $5k...

    • Re:Half a Segway... (Score:2, Informative)

      by civman2 ( 773494 )
      RTFW $1500 for parts. It looks kind of cool, only I'm pretty sure it takes more skill to ride one of these than a Segway. I can just imagine all the bumps and bruises people would get on these things. The guy in the video has to have his arms out for balance all the time.
      • He said he had to take a few months to learn to ride a Unicycle first. He couldn't learn when he was building it because he wouldn't know if it was him or the cycle =)
      • Well, I can see it being better - the biggest failing of the Seg was mass. This thing is lightweight - I've always wanted a vehicle I could put in a backpack and stow on the bus when travelling. Its like a portable moped. Still, too damn slow for getting around. Need something more like a fold-up motorcycle.

        Besides, we all know what this should be called: its a monobike.
        • I've always wanted a vehicle I could put in a backpack and stow on the bus when travelling.

          Try this: Brompton bicycle [bromptonbicycle.co.uk]. Admitedly, it makes for a large backpack (one exists for it though) but I hardly ever need it. And it's lighter and faster than those stupid 1- or 2-wheel contraption, by virtue of you being the power source.

          Or, if you feel like looking like an idiot and riding something somewhat unstable, you can try this [r-m.de]: this thing is truly small, yet ridable.
        • What about something like this [greece.gr]?
        • Besides, we all know what this should be called: its a monobike.

          I think you're joking but I can't tell...monobike = mono bicylcle = 1 2 wheels = not making sense....
      • Oh my god... I just had a wonderful thought. Buy one of these for Gee DubYa (In case you wonder why) [google.com] ..... *Evil Grin*

    • ...will be half as useful, and still cost $5k... Yes, but the key feature is that if it's half a Segway, it will only make you 1/2 as dorky.
  • Why not just buy a Segway [amazon.com]? It looks so much cooler :)

  • Torrent for video (Score:4, Informative)

    by redhat421 ( 620779 ) * on Friday January 28, 2005 @08:28PM (#11510379)
    You can find a torrent for the video here: Park-all.lowbw.mpg.torrent [smartaustin.com]

  • Brian Blessed voice: What? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 28, 2005 @08:28PM (#11510380)
    I misread that as a eunuchcycle. clicky [unithom.com]

  • Hmm.. (Score:2, Funny)

    by James_G ( 71902 )
    Seems to me the name is a bit too close to "Eunuchcycle", which might be more appropriate if you were to sit down on it too hard..

  • The practical use is? (Score:5, Funny)

    by freralqqvba ( 854326 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @08:33PM (#11510423) Homepage
    "I have a strong bias towards building products that people buy for their own use." -Trevor [tlb.org]

    I too support people killing themselves. But, really - couldn't we find a more effective method?

    • Re:The practical use is? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Quixote ( 154172 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @09:38PM (#11510801) Homepage Journal
      The practical use is?

      None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Absolutely Zero.

      He built it because he wanted to! This is how you learn: by experimenting, by taking things apart and putting them back together, etc. Doing such hobby projects is a great learning experience.

      • Re:The practical use is? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by gunnk ( 463227 ) <gunnk@mail . f p g . u n c . edu> on Friday January 28, 2005 @10:05PM (#11510946) Homepage
        THANK YOU! I wish I had mod points at the moment to mod you up!!!

        I've seen so many posts along the lines of "why bother?", "what good is it?", and "what a waste of time" that I was beginning to wonder if any geeks were still hanging out on Slashdot.

        No, it isn't marketable. No, it won't revolutionize transportation. No, it sin't even particularly practical.

        But it is quite an accomplishment! What a COOL thing to do! Like so many real geeks he did it because he could.

        Until I hit your post I had begun to feel in a very small minority of people that understand why you do something like this. Then again, I've always loved doing the impractical just to see if I could...

    • Yes. (Score:4, Funny)

      by tunabomber ( 259585 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @09:48PM (#11510865) Homepage
      I too support people killing themselves. But, really - couldn't we find a more effective method?

      Well, when it comes to unicycle-related methods of facilitating suicide,
      Microsoft's way ahead of Trevor. [unicycling.org] Now THAT's innovation!
    • Because we all know that our robot overlords will only have one wheel...duh. Finally, we could build an army of killer robots to take over the universe, or we could build a proper robot housekeeper.

      hint: most cartoon robots have only 1 wheel. not important, but we're nerds!

  • That just doesn't look comfortable... (Score:4, Funny)

    by gandell ( 827178 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @08:33PM (#11510427)
    Besides the crotch-punishing bicycle seat, you have to ride with your arms out beside you. Sure, that's great for exercise freaks, but what about us lazy folk? Segway?

  • One wheel is one wheel too many...... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Urger ( 817972 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @08:34PM (#11510431) Homepage
    So, when does the 0 wheel version come out? But to be more serious...very, very cool.

  • So THAT's what they were riding ... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Ungrounded Lightning ( 62228 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @08:35PM (#11510435) Journal
    A self-balancing power unicycle.

    So THAT's what the maintenance crew / army was riding (on the under-road access paths) in Heinlein's _The Roads Must Roll_.

    Maybe RH can stop spinning in his grave now that tech is catching up to his earliest stories.

    Good work, Trevor!

  • Well (Score:4, Insightful)

    by cubicledrone ( 681598 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @08:37PM (#11510442)
    Here's another person with "too much time on their hands." The yuppie sophisticates will no doubt complain that people who invent "have no life" and really should be sitting in their $28,000 bought-on-credit living room watching celebrity bug-eating in high definition surround sound. [/sarcasm]

    Then everyone else will bitch and gripe because the new invention didn't live up to the media hype and dismiss it all as the equivalent of a circus act. The fact they made it a circus act will, of course, be forgotten in time for the next "you could have this if you had a job" advertisement for something else to buy on credit.

    People who spend their time doing anything except shoveling money into the local yuppie grill or sipping white wine while they watch prime time commercials occasionally interrupted by a screaming carnival barker are routinely criticized by our society because society has nothing but contempt for imagination and vision, unless it involves some dramatic amount of money.
  • Aah life is good.

    ooh! and a bag of groceries in one hand, a cell phone in the other, a camel-back full of coffee.

    Now that's convenience!

  • Very true... (Score:4, Funny)

    by GillBates0 ( 664202 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @08:44PM (#11510491) Homepage Journal
    Since then I realized that two wheels are redundant, and only a single wheel is needed to make a ridable vehicle. A vehicle with a single wheel is much smaller and lighter.

    Yeah man....I've realized something....those 4 wheeled busses are a pain to ride in. Can't get any damned seats anywhere.

    I need something smaller and lighter...like a 1 wheeled bus. That'll surely be painless to ride in and easy to carry around.

    Mod +5 beers *hic8

    • They tried this on Monster Garage. It's just a big motorized wheel you sit inside; for a bus, I suppose it would have to be ferris-wheel sized. The guy raced it down the street, spun out and crashed awfully into a tree. Good times.
  • I've been wanting a unicycle lately - no one seems to want to get me one for christmas or birthday. Hm, maybe I'll just build on of these.
  • That's the single funniest video I've seen all day. I love the nervous look on his face when he goes by the camera.

  • At speed should be able to steer by leaning, too. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Ungrounded Lightning ( 62228 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @08:54PM (#11510554) Journal
    Trevor mentions that you control speed by leaning forward/backward and steer by twisting your body. This is appropriate for low speeds.

    But as with a bicycle or motor cycle, at higher speeds you can steer by leaning. For instance:

    - Lean right.
    - Force on the axle is translated to motion 90 degrees offset in the wheel's direction of rotation, causing the wheel to gradually precess to the right, gradually turning the vehicle.

    Twisting continues to work but differently - in reverse and one stage of integration removed:

    - Gently push forward on the right handlebar, as if turning left. (There should be a body-twisting motion to produce an equivalent on the unicycle.)
    - Force on the axle is translated to motion 90 degrees offset in the wheel's direction of rotation, causing the wheel to gradually precess to lean progressively more to the right. (Stop pushing the handlebars when you're tilted as much as you want.)
    - Tilting the wheel moves the center of gravity to the right, causing the vehicle and rider's weight to apply a force on the axle, as with the "lean right" case above.
    - When you've turned far enough, gently push forward on the LEFT handlebar (or do the opposite body-twist) to undo the lean.

    This only works at moderate-to-high speeds, when the gyroscopic effect is adequate. And it works at much lower speeds on a motorcycle than a bicycle due to the greater gyroscopic effect from the heavy wheels. (It's hard to get a bike going fast enough to do this.)

    Try it out on a motorcycle: Find a nice flat, straight, country road with good pavement and no traffic. Get moving maybe 25 MPH, and balanced well enough that you can open your hand around the handgrip and steer by leaning. Once you've got that working, try just barely touching the back of one handle to push it forward.

    Once you get the hang of it you can use it to perform extremely abrupt turns on the 'cycle. A stiff push causes the cycle to suddenly drop into a steep bank and begin a tight turn. A stiff push the other way pops it back upright and traveling straight. The banking is just right to keep you stuck to your seat and turning at a constant rate while applying no twisting force to the handlebars. Very relaxed while performing extreme manouvers, since the only muscular effort is used when you CHANGE your RATE OF TURN. (But don't overdoit and break traction or you'll go down.)
    • > It's hard to get a bike going fast enough to do this.

      No it isn't. It's basically the way to turn sharply at any sort of decent speed. Nor is it necessarily a gyroscopic effect. See Bicycling Street Smarts [bikexprt.com].

    • Re:At speed should be able to steer by leaning, to (Score:5, Informative)

      by Spy Hunter ( 317220 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @11:25PM (#11511375) Journal
      Gyroscopic effects are not the reason that works. You're thinking too hard. Turning the handlebars left is merely a way to lean right. It works at any speed, without any gyroscopic force, and is a necessary part of bike riding for everybody. (I believe that this simple fact is the one thing that you must "get" subconsciously when you first learn to ride a bicycle.)

      Turning by leaning does require gyroscopic force, but not in the way you describe. It is required to allow you to change your center of gravity by leaning. On a bike with no centrifugal force (a stopped bike), you cannot change your center of gravity by just leaning without turning the handlebars. If you could, it would be easy to sit upright on a stopped bike.

      When gyroscopic force enters the equation, it does allow you to change your center of gravity by merely leaning your body. Once you lean to the right and move your center of gravity to the right, you start falling over to the right. The reason you don't fall over completely is that the wheel also turns to the right of its own accord, which turns you and brings it back under the moved center of gravity. But the main reason for the turning not gyroscopic force; the real reason is the fact that the turning axis for the front wheel is not vertical. This means that when the bike is leaning to the right, the front wheel has a natural tendancy to turn right, even when stationary. Imagine a bike on its kickstand; the wheel is always turned in the direction of the lean, right? That's not a coincidence. This is the reason why you will never see a bike with a straight vertical rod connecting the front wheel to the handlebars. (or if you do see one, it will be quite hard to ride, and look stupid to boot...) Gyroscopic force also has an effect here, but it is not the main player.

      I found a cool site that explains it all: Motorcycle stability and steering [rider-ed.com].

      • This article on counter-steering [msgroup.org] is easier to follow, I think. The picture helps. ;)
    • You should be able to do this already, without any aditional software.
    • (But don't overdoit and break traction or you'll go down.)

      Offtopic (for the initial message, not the thread):

      Do you have a tried and true method for knowing how much is too much (or more specifically, how much is just short of too much)? I've been riding for 4 years and have about 10,000 miles behind me, but still feel like I'm very far short of the maximum force I can safely apply to the bars to swerve. I'd like to get to know the limit better so I can use it if I need it.

      If it matters, I ride an FJR13
    • Lean forward or lean back for controlling speed is probably patented by Segway. I bet there's a lawsuit. And who do you think has more money?

      In fact, using a gyroscope of any kind to keep a wheeled vehicle balanced is probably patented by Segway. The patent office certainly wouldn't deny such a patent.
    • When I'm sitting on top of a 500 pound device moving faster than I can run I don't want to attempt "extreme manuevers."

  • B.C. cartoon (Score:3, Funny)

    by erroneus ( 253617 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @09:01PM (#11510596) Homepage
    Hehe... that sort of reminds me of the method of transport used by one of the characters in the B.C. cartoon series. (Anyone here know what I'm referring to?)

  • um (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Shaklee39 ( 694496 )
    30 lbs is light? Any decent 2-wheel road bike can be found at under 25lbs while a mountain bike is around 28.

    • Re:um (Score:4, Informative)

      by YrWrstNtmr ( 564987 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @09:43PM (#11510830)
      Now put a motor and battery on that bike. You'll be lucky to get under 50lbs.

  • bombardier embrio (Score:3, Informative)

    by Frogg ( 27033 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @09:05PM (#11510622)

    cool--what this guy has built is similar in nature to the 'bombardier embrio' concept motorbike.

    articles with pics here [forbes.com] and here [wired.com]

  • combat robotics parts (Battlebots) (Score:3, Informative)

    by rich42 ( 633659 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @09:05PM (#11510625) Homepage
    Anyone else notice that several items on his parts list were originally developed for combat robotics?

    I use "Robot Power" speed controllers and "Battlepack" batteries in several of my bots...

  • How is this better than a normal unicycle? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by erice ( 13380 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @09:11PM (#11510661) Homepage
    While the 2-wheeled scooter is easy to ride (I've let maybe 100 people ride it with few problems) the Eunicycle takes a good deal of practice. You don't want to be learning how to control such a vehicle at the same time as debugging it, so you really need to learn to ride a regular unicycle first.
    Once you've learned to ride a unicyle competently, why not just ride it. It's are a lot cheaper and lighter than the Eunicycle.

    This dosen't sound compable to a Segway at all. I thought the point of the Segway was that the lack of a learning curve. Eliminate that and you may as well use simpler machines like skates and unicycle.

    Oh, and your feet should not hurt from skating. If they do, either your skates don't fit or your are doing it wrong.
    • Once you've learned to ride a unicyle competently, why not just ride it. It's are a lot cheaper and lighter than the Eunicycle.

      Try to think outside the box. Imagine the practical joke potential alone: Add another magmotor and a circular saw blade and voilà! now it's a Eunuchcycle.

    • Becuase the Eunicycle is less effort and you like a little less like a dork.

      Ah hell, who am I kidding. I totally want one, dorkiness be damned. But I can't ride a unicycle at all, so I guess I"m boned.
  • ...finally I won't get so tired looking for some mussels outside my cave!

  • Subject is wrong (Score:4, Informative)

    by Elrond, Duke of URL ( 2657 ) <JetpackJohn@gmail.com> on Friday January 28, 2005 @09:23PM (#11510721) Homepage
    If you read the article, you will see that this is more of a semi-Segway. It is *NOT* self-balancing. It's still a unicycle, and you still need to know how to ride a unicycle and keep your balance.

    What this does do is use a gyroscope and sensor to detect when the rider leans forward or backwards and then accelerates or decelerate the wheel.

    It's still a really neat contraption, though.

  • The Memories! The HORRIBLE Memories!!! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I went to a school with a very significant unicycle population [hmc.edu]. It was by far the worst thing about going to that school. All the dorks thinking they were somehow cool by riding around on unicycles! These were the nerdiest of the nerds, the dorkiest dorks in a school full of geeks, nerds, and dorks. I don't claim to be "normal" but having these losers around was actually embarrassing to the rest of us.

    <shudder> This story just brought back all the hideous memories... excuse me while I go and try to s
  • Wow, what a terrible name. I'd rather not ride a Eunich-cycle, thank you very much! The worst part is that it's probably an accurate description of what happens when there's a firmware glitch! Ouch! :)
  • He needs to talk to Bombardier [brp.com] about their Embrio [forbes.com] project - a supercool motorcycle-like unicicle.

  • Google Cache of site (Score:4, Informative)

    by SimCityHippy ( 840262 ) on Friday January 28, 2005 @10:30PM (#11511090)
    http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:4K9GC46wUkAJ:tl b.org/eunicycle.html+&hl=en
  • Now, IT is easily operated using four flexigrip handles. Two of them are on each side. Left side for throttle, right side for steering. The third flexigrip is gently inserted into the anus, to keep the driver in place...there we go. Now, the final flexigrip is directly in front of the driver so that its small switches can be operaterd with the mouth, as such. Put the four together and we're ready to go.
  • Seems like he's got the backward/forward stabilizing working. It's that pesky side to side thing that might garner a need for a helmet. Maybe his next project might be a self-balancing Pilates ball!
  • Life imitates art... cartoon art that is. Wonder if Johnny Hart gets any credit? Too bad the link was /. already. I'd like to buld one then go look for Cute Chick.
  • UK visitors may quite agree with me that this guy looks like he's been ripped straight out of the league of gentlemen (ARE YOU LOCAL?!)

    http://www.mirrordot.com/stories/8b06e35ecdf9d65 de a75faf13d33d4e2/Park1.jpg

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