One of the most annoying things about bicycles is that they don’t stay up on their own, especially when they’re stationary. That’s why they come with stands, after all. That said, if you had plenty of advanced electronic and mechanical equipment fitted to one, you could do something about that, and that’s just what [稚晖君] did.
The video of the project comes without subtitles or any translation, but the gist of it is this. A reaction wheel is fitted to the seat tube, along with a motor which can turn the handlebars via a linkage attached to the head stem. There’s also a motor to drive the bicycle forward via a friction drive to the rear wheel. Combine these with an inertial measurement unit and suitable control system, and you have a bike that can balance while standing perfectly still.
The performance of the system is impressive, and is even able to hold the bike perfectly upright while balanced on a fence rail. Thanks to an onboard camera and LIDAR system, the bike can also drive itself around with no rider on board, which is quite a spooky image. Find a way to do the same while hiding the extra mechanics and you’d have one hell of a Halloween display.
Similar projects have been attempted in the past; we featured a self-balancing bike built as a university project back in the distant past of 2012. Video after the break.
[Thanks to Jumy Elerossë for the tip!]
It’s like riding …itself.
Burn it ! Witchcraft
Got to test it befor assuming witchcraft. Put it in a sack and throw it in the local pond. If it floats (and still works presumably), then it’s clearly a witch and must be burned.
Don’t suppose there’s a black cat hanging around somewhere?
More sensibly, rather like traditional non electric bikes. They help me be less fat.
She turned me into a newt!
This was a Google Netherlands April fool joke. Now its real!
You won!
I just wanted to mention that one.
;-)
I heard there are more bicycles in the Netherlands than people. With that in mind, this project makes perfect sense. When there are not enough riders, bikes gotta ride themselves.
That said, would it help me get more miles in for exercise?
B^)
OTOH, that Progessive (insurance) commercial about the motorcycle with Lassie personality.
This is amazing work! Also I like the idea of using autonomous bikes to deliver stuff rather than the little 4×4-coolers that they are testing out in the bay area right now. Bikes are fast, efficient, and we have more infrastructure for them.
Year 2084: “back in my day we went went DeliverObike tipping and ran away hiding from their facial recognition.”
Looks like a nice weekend project.
lol
Your weekends must be long.
Just having 2 wheeled bicycle standing on its own without moving is amazing enough.
It even did a wheelie which is icing on the cake!
So will it drive me home when I’m drunk?
Actually, the last 3 bikes I bought, the kickstands were a purchased option. :)
Nicely done but isn’t the LIDAR unit blocked in its view dead ahead by the steering mechanism ? I suppose a narrow blindspot there isn’t a disaster but why not mount the LIDAR higher up?
Meanwhile, those of us with a sense of balance that doesn’t work too well look on with interest.
I love the reaction wheel as a balance control. I know it’s been around forever, but for some reason it seemed to be today that it blew my mind.
Also of note: Simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM). It’s mentioned in the audio feed, the bike can explore and make a map of where it’s been.
Awesome.
Owner: (coming home from work) “Well, where did you go today?”
Does anyone here remember the Ghostrider robot from the 2004 DARPA challenge. It didn’t work for the challenge, but if I remember right, they figured out the stupid math error that was causing trouble pretty soon after that. https://www.wired.com/2004/03/robot-3/
It’s pretty cool someone has made one on their own.
Yep. IIRC, during the challenge it fell over out of the gate, on the first qualifying round.
Good to hear that they fixed the problem.
I talked with one of them at a robot convention or some event. I recall they just didn’t properly start it on the run and was disqualified you can see in early tests it worked just fine.
There are several experimental motorcycles with self balancing and gyro stabilized steering. Just so Harley doesn’t do it.
Nobody mentioned “XUAN” (eXtremely Unnatural Auto-Navigation)? I was amused.
Now, that is something to “chew on”!
Now make it respond to a whistle and come toward the source of the sound… and you might’ve replaced something horses have been able to do for centuries. :-)
Bah! Next you’ll have to make it leave a trail of apples.
(Bicycle bell rings)
“What? Timmy fell into a well? Take me to him!”
Yeah this might be better. One time in the old west a sheriff’s horse showed up with a naked woman on his back. The sheriff said ” I told you…. Get the posse !”
The spinning wheel normal to the direction of motion stabilizes the bicycle like an inertia wheel pendulum (a.k.a. reaction wheel pendulum). If you have ever taken a course in Control Theory, there’s a good chance you have encountered the inverted inertia wheel pendulum stabilization problem. The servo controlled front wheel direction also helps to stabilize the bicycle. It is likely a PID (or PIDs) and/or Kalman filtering is being used. Tuning a system like this is difficult; simulation helps. This video is a good example of the inverted inertia wheel pendulum problem realized:
* Trajectory tracking controller for the inertia wheel pendulum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQiu3BKMPVk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQiu3BKMPVk
It’s impressive. Marvellous. Having said that: the bike seems stabilized by the gyro only; normally, you stabilize a bicycle by continuously adjusting the steer it to make it stay below your weight. Well I guess that’s another project…
could be a nice solution to redistribute sharing eBikes
Bikes with that much valueable hardware on them will sure be “redistributed” quickly, but not in the way you are envisioning it.
Love it, it would sure freak out people :D
Wonder if it could be used to stun self driving cars:
https://gizmodo.com/a-cyclists-track-stand-totally-befuddled-one-of-googles-1727024285
I’d put a full size Kermit the frog on it as a rider.
Google for photos.
A lot of work just to avoid adding a third wheel.
Self driving unicycle next. Should be possible, surely?
best hack of 2021 so far
Impressive feat. But much too limited. A bike is at its best when in motion and the wheels act like gyros. Then you have this beautiful physical equilibrium of speed and balance at play.
I want to see these motors and computer harmonise with these physical principles and let the bike ride with grace.
Combine with a large version of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm6jzDCAAhg
and perhaps it would work on very rough terrain also. Nice work.