A Eunicycle is a computer-controlled, partially self-balancing, motorized
unicycle
A unicycle is a vehicle that touches the ground with only one wheel. The most common variation has a bicycle frame, frame with a bicycle saddle, saddle, and has a human-powered vehicle, pedal-driven direct-drive mechanism, direct-drive. A two spee ...
invented by
Trevor Blackwell
Trevor Blackwell (born 4 November 1969, in Canada) is a computer programmer, engineer and entrepreneur based in Silicon Valley.
Blackwell is a developer of humanoid robots. Dr. Blackwell is the founder and former CEO of Anybots and a partner at ...
. It uses a computer control system similar to the one used by the
Segway HT
The Segway is a two-wheeled, self-balancing personal transporter invented by Dean Kamen and brought to market in 2001 as the Segway HT, subsequently as the Segway PT, and manufactured by Segway Inc. ''HT'' is an initialism for "human transpo ...
that
servos
In control engineering a servomechanism, usually shortened to servo, is an automatic device that uses error-sensing negative feedback to correct the action of a mechanism. On displacement-controlled applications, it usually includes a built-in ...
its wheel to balance itself by keeping the contact point of the wheel below the
center of mass
In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may ...
of the vehicle in the front-to-back direction. To balance from side to side, the rider must rotate the vehicle the same way a unicyclist does, enabling the balancing servo to balance in the new direction.
The Eunicycle is based on an
open design
The open-design movement involves the development of physical products, machines and systems through use of publicly shared design information. This includes the making of both free and open-source software (FOSS) as well as open-source hardwar ...
; the engineering drawings and control software
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...
are available from the website.
See also
*
Bicycle and motorcycle dynamics
Bicycle and motorcycle dynamics is the science of the motion of bicycles and motorcycles and their components, due to the forces acting on them. Dynamics falls under a branch of physics known as classical mechanics. Bike motions of interest in ...
*
Self-balancing unicycle
An electric unicycle (often initialized as EUC or acronymized yuke or Uni) is a self-balancing personal transporter with a single wheel. The rider controls speed by leaning forwards or backwards, and steers by twisting or tilting the unit side to ...
*
Uno dicycle
The Uno is a novel self-balancing electric motorcycle using two wheels side by side (the configuration used by dicycles). The Uno III adds a third wheel that allows it to transform into a tricycle.
Description
The original Uno is controlled in ...
* Wheel in
B.C. (comic strip)
''B.C.'' is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Johnny Hart. Set in prehistoric times, it features a group of cavemen and anthropomorphic animals from various geologic eras.
''B.C.'' made its newspaper debut on February 17, 195 ...
*
B.C.'s_Quest_for_Tires
External links
*http://tlb.org/#eunicycle
Cycle types
Unicycling
Free software
Open hardware vehicles
{{Cycling-stub