At this stage of my monowheel project I am implementing a prototype for a braking system, which shall show that it is possible to speed up and stop a Monowheel safely with practical acceleration/decceleration. For those wondering about the previously mentioned utilization of "drone" technology I have put some high-level outline together in the project link. Last weekend I tested the prototype of my active air brake concept for the first time outdoors. The additional mass I currently added through the pair of jets arranged overhead basically makes the monowheel no longer rideable in the traditional "manually balanced " way. It would easily flip in "open loop". However, the first tests with the Jets as actuators in "closed loop" feedback control system turn out to improve stability of the pich noticeably, and the ride is all but unsafe, and very promising. Feel free to check out the latest project updates on the link to the micro-site to the brake project.
2017 Bay Area Maker Faire
The "Monowheel test bed" was presented at the 2017 Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo on 20. and 21. May 2017. Thanks to all folks stopping by at the booth and for the great discussions we had. It was a pleasure to meet so many like-minded people. The faire was inspiring on my current mission to supply the beast with signigficant stopping power. Will follow up shortly and share more project updates asap. Sharing hereweith the interview I gave to the Maker Faire's live reporting team. PS.: In prep to the faire I only put my drone stuff in the backpack, and added a kick-stand to the wheel on Friday night (an old, fold-able bedframe). The latter turned out to do an excellent job - No more searching for a stable object to lean against when "traveling the world" and even was stable enough for visitors to get on for the photoshoot :)
Electrically assisted MonoWheel
The monowheel is powered by a 1 kW brushless electric assist drive since Dec 2016, and got a few structural improvements to improve durability of the wheel ring. Most important outcome is no more exhaustion to get this wheel moving. With this more than 50 relaxing miles were ridden with the family on trails around the town. The Mono turned out to be practical enough for quick trips you normally would use a bicycle for, yet there is a lot more fun asscoated to. I am now subequently working on prototype stages to demonstrate fundamental changes to the monowheel concept to improve its general usefulness. Naturaly, accelleration/braking are one of my first targets. Considering the time I can afford to spend, I am making good progress, and the upcoming prototype will likely be able to break sterotypes about monowheels.
MonoWheel
A MonoWheel is a one-wheeled vehicle, invented in the 1860's , development pinnacle in the 1930's, and having mostly disappeared from the public - for imparcticality for transportation purposes being one of the main reasons. Nevertheless, Monowheels are still around, but mostly for and made by enthuisiasts who want to experience the thrill factor this vehicle type comes loaded with. My motivation is based mainly on the general interest in the physics of rotating solids /gyroscopes, as well as in solving associated engineering problems to get to the really cool stuff - the experiments & proof-of-concept studies with the prototype as quickly as possible, spiced up with somewhat artificially introduced resource-constraints (to excercise focus in complex technical matters w/o getting unneccessary haevy on the engineering part (Which can get boring quickly) ) . As of the date of the post on 27 July 2016, I am 5 weeks in this project, and having already plenty of fun with the prototype. In the linked material I am sharing some more technical details of the build project as well as pictures and footage of this new toy in action.
