[Jason Dorie] has been hard at work on his two-wheeled, self-balancing skateboard. He calls it the Sideway.
Similar to the Segway, it relies on the user shifting their weight to control the speed at which it will run. A Wii Nunchuk controller is used to steer, which varies each wheels output, which allows for some tight maneuvering!
Under the deck is a pair of 24V 280W (about 1/3HP each) scooter motors which are driven by two 32A Sabertooth speed controllers. They’re run off a pair of 3 cell 5Ah LiPos which get him about 40 minutes of use — not too shabby! To handle the control algorithm for the IMU, he’s using a Parallax Propeller with custom software.
To demonstrate, he takes us of a tour of one of his favorite stores — Michael’s.
Surprisingly, not a single person complained or attempted to kick him out! And in case you were wondering about the top speed — it’s about 10mph.
For a first prototype, it works pretty damn well. He’s already planning version two though. But with that being said, what ever happened to Segway? We’ve seen enough home-made ones — is there still much of a market for them, for other than mall security and tourist tours?
Filed under: transportation hacks
No comments:
Post a Comment