1. reminds me of the "back to the future" hover skateboard thing...

i think this is my new favorite thing on hackaday.

Posted at 11:47PM on Mar 8th 2007 by joelanders

2. Ohhh man... I think this one of the coolest things EVER on hackaday... If only things like that weren't banned in my school's hallways!

Posted at 12:07AM on Mar 9th 2007 by Stephen (not steve)

3. this will replace the bike!

Posted at 12:27AM on Mar 9th 2007 by frank

4. It's a little lacking in the acceleration department...but the concept is amazing!

Posted at 12:59AM on Mar 9th 2007 by David

5. I want one... This is really awesome!

Posted at 1:10AM on Mar 9th 2007 by Jess

6. how does this thing turn with one wheel?

Posted at 1:16AM on Mar 9th 2007 by ed

7. it turns just like a skateboard/snowboard. a slight shift in weight towards the outside ends will cause it to lean in whichever direction the person moves. if said person is good enough they can "carve" just like on a skateboard/snowboard. i like it, but is there a way to make it faster? perhaps a bigger motor and a speed control hooked up to a hand throttle/brake like a motorized skateboard? if it can be done, then im absolutely building one of these! great job, cheers

Posted at 2:06AM on Mar 9th 2007 by lonewolf

8. I know this is hackaday or whatever, but I really think guy should get a patent on that cause its a cajillion times cooler than a dumb ass segway, and looks like a simpler design. I'd hate to see some multinational come in and rip this guy off.

Im sure given the proper funding he could sort out the instability and probably get the weight alot lower.

Im thinking that some sort of regenerative breaking could be used on this to save energy.

Posted at 3:46AM on Mar 9th 2007 by genome

9. Believe me, I've looked at patents. Unfortunately what I've made seams to be squarly covered by Segways patent, hence the publication of all that I've done.

The instability problem was more of a rider problem - the guy that has the wobble in the video was trying to step off by putting all his weight at one foot. I guess I shoul have described it a little better before letting him have a go.

It does regenerative braking. It's inherent in the locked antiphase drive method used.

Posted at 4:15AM on Mar 9th 2007 by Ben Smither

10. WOW i am so making one of these then i shall atart "walking" to 6th form again, this is gona be so so cool, wight problems could most prpbably be resolved with a lighter more effiecent motor which then would need smaller batteries,

Posted at 6:36AM on Mar 9th 2007 by Jusitifer

11. You couldn't do much carving on that form of tire unless you over inflate it giving it a high center.


I was let down by his article. The controller, motor, frame are no brainers, but I really wanted to know the design of the axle, and what he used to fabricate it.

An even better design is to put smaller diameter wheels, or tires on each side.

Posted at 6:39AM on Mar 9th 2007 by TJhooker

12. I've found that the ability to turn (carve?) isn't too dependant on tyre pressure. The deformation of the tyre and the formation of a triangular contact patch is what enables you to turn, a high centre is not required.

The axle was turned on a lathe. It's a very simple design - I'll put a sketch on the site tonight.

I'm not sure I agree with smaller wheels or one on either side. Having two wheels would require some kind of user input to determine the rate of turn, with one wheel you control the whole thing with your feet and movement of mass.

Can you imagine riding a snowboard with a potentiometer to control your rate of turn?

Posted at 7:03AM on Mar 9th 2007 by Ben Smither

13. Very nice! I have always dreamed of a homebrew segway-like device. The drive portion of this reminds me of some electric gokarts out there, which have three-phase motors and fancy stuff like regen. braking.

On TV I saw a special, apparently segway made a four-wheeled ("quad") segway that goes pretty fast. It would be interesting to see someone make something of this sort.

Posted at 9:23AM on Mar 9th 2007 by derek

14. yes this is more like it we all need one of these best thing i have seen on here for a long time

Posted at 9:28AM on Mar 9th 2007 by steve

15. Actually, the side impact air bags are much more important than the rear brake-lights.

Posted at 9:41AM on Mar 9th 2007 by Marty Heyman

16. hmm.just looked at the site, and it clearly reads 7Ah on the battery(picture) but it always says 10Ah. which is it now? its not a big deal, i just have some experience with using the wrong batteries on stuff, so to me it matters :)

anyways, great stuff!! too bad with the patents and all.. a friend had a similar problem with a mini35 adapter(p+s has patents on anything related)..

again: good job!

Posted at 10:10AM on Mar 9th 2007 by zawen32

17. Very cool, just wanted to point to some other DIY balancing projects

Similar but with two wheels
http://www.ebikes.ca/projects/Emanual/index.shtml
Trevor Blackwell's classic segway clone
http://tlb.org/scooter2.html

And his unicycle
http://tlb.org/eunicycle.html

Yours is very polished, good job!

Posted at 10:39AM on Mar 9th 2007 by cinexero

18. Battery:
The battery is definately a 12Ah Sealed Lead Acid unit. Unfortunately the picture was taken from the rswww.com website who have a tendancy to show mismatching products / pictures.

If you're planning to build one of these I'd carefully consider the battery. My scooter can draw well in excess of 50A when stalled. Under these conditions the rs battery (537-7305) voltage almost halves. In short, the battery that I have chosen is probably one of the weak points, although it has probably stopped me burning out the motor!

Posted at 12:13PM on Mar 9th 2007 by Ben Smither

19. ben, this is really great.

how does it perform on slopes? at what point will it stall, and can you help give it a little push like a skateboard to help it up?

Posted at 1:04PM on Mar 9th 2007 by silic0re

20. It performs well on slopes, with deck staying level. If you're familiar with PID feedback control (Proportional, Integral, Derivative) then it's the integral term that sorts hills out.

Posted at 1:42PM on Mar 9th 2007 by Ben Smither