Inventor James Bruton Builds Self-Balancing, One-Ball Bike

Inventor James Bruton has completed it once more, making a machine that challenges our perceptions of steadiness and movement. His newest creation rolls on a single enormous ball, maintains its upright place with an limitless stream of pc corrections, and cruises in no matter route the rider chooses.

Individuals who take pleasure in engineering and experimenting with units are acquainted with Bruton’s endless seek for uncommon automobiles. A yr in the past, he confirmed us a model that used two massive crimson steadiness balls, just like these utilized by circus artists, together with wheels that would spin in any route. This allowed the rider to maneuver their weight in any route. Now that he has diminished it to a single ball, he should take care of stability in two axes on the similar time.

Three custom-made omni-wheels cradle the ball in a compact triangular body. Every has an aluminum core encased in two rows of teeny-tiny rollers for a complete of 216 bearings, that are coated with gripping 3D printed TPU tires. Industrial omni-wheels failed in earlier experiments because of overheating and extreme drag, so Bruton tried to create his personal for extra energy and fewer friction. The wheels are crammed in vertically as a deliberate selection to forestall them from colliding at excessive speeds.

ODrive’s highly effective motors, rated at 2kW every, spin the wheels instantly by way of 1:1 belt drives. Six 6S lithium batteries present 50 volts, with separate batteries for the electronics to make sure all the things runs correctly. A strong chassis composed of 40/40 aluminum extrusion is what holds all the things collectively. It should to help the rider’s weight whereas additionally preserving the ball within the middle.

To maintain the machine upright, it makes use of a Teensy 4.1 microprocessor and a BNO086 IMU. That IMU tracks pitch and roll in actual time, and a PID management loop makes use of these angles to change the pace of the wheels, pushing again towards any lean and preserving the rider regular as a rock. There are additionally twist grips on the handlebars that permit the rider to shift the steadiness level roughly 10 levels and ship it off in any route they like.

When you get began, the motion begins to appear pure. Lean barely, and the system responds by sending the ball in that route. The one-ball design finally permits the machine to maneuver in all instructions, as there isn’t any requirement for differential speeds like within the two-ball model.

Steering is the key puzzle right here, as with just one ball and straight up and down wheels, you lose the entire pure steadiness management that turns out to be useful when steering a motorcycle, however leaning the bike helps rather a lot when you must change route whereas in movement; it’s one of the simplest ways to take action. The problem arises whereas trying to spin or do extraordinarily tight turns. In the meanwhile, Bruton has devised a brief answer: a big foam wing connected instantly behind the rider. Because the bike accelerates, the wing begins to generate drag, which helps pull the bike right into a flip because the rider leans, and curiously sufficient, it seems to carry out properly in assessments. He describes it as a brief answer, but it really works remarkably successfully.

There have been additionally some teething points with the electronics, notably the ball. It was producing lots of static electrical energy, inflicting your complete bike to misbehave at random. Nevertheless, the issue was simply resolved with a brief layer of nickel shielding spray on the electronics field. Now you’ve obtained a motorcycle that’s simply begging so that you can attempt to steadiness on it at excessive pace, and for which lots of ability and experimentation are going to be rewarded. Bruton has additionally uploaded the entire code and CAD information on GitHub, permitting anybody to hitch in and check out their hand at it.
[Source]