Engineer Builds Self-Balancing Autonomous Bicycle In Spare Time (interestingengineering.com) 38
Hardware engineer Zhi Hui Jun built a bicycle that avoids obstacles and self-balances. Interesting Engineering reports: The engineer, who worked on the bicycle project in his spare time over the course of four months, crafted a self-balancing bicycle using an accelerometer and gyroscope sensors that allow the bike's front wheel to compensate and quickly change direction if it's going to fall. The system generates just the right amount of angular momentum in the right direction to stop the bike from falling. Impressively, the bike's motion, as seen in Zhi Jui Jun's video is actually quite smooth, and it doesn't look like it provides the janky ride we expected on first hearing about the project -- the almost imperceptible changes made to the bike's balance make it feel like it's being ridden by a ghost.
For the obstacle detection and avoidance system, Zhi Hui Jin designed an automatic control system -- that uses a customized perception and control algorithm -- that he linked to the sensors and a chip. Zhi Hui Jun used 3D printing and machine tool processing to craft some of the required parts for his bicycle. As well as the accelerometer and gyroscope, the bicycle is equipped with two brushless motors and a steering gear, as well as an RGBD depth camera, and a LiDAR sensor -- as used by driverless cars to detect their surroundings. The bicycle also uses 6S model power lithium battery, which has approximately three hours of battery life.
For the obstacle detection and avoidance system, Zhi Hui Jin designed an automatic control system -- that uses a customized perception and control algorithm -- that he linked to the sensors and a chip. Zhi Hui Jun used 3D printing and machine tool processing to craft some of the required parts for his bicycle. As well as the accelerometer and gyroscope, the bicycle is equipped with two brushless motors and a steering gear, as well as an RGBD depth camera, and a LiDAR sensor -- as used by driverless cars to detect their surroundings. The bicycle also uses 6S model power lithium battery, which has approximately three hours of battery life.
Too much tech talk (Score:2)
Re:Too much tech talk (Score:5, Funny)
When I was a kid I had a tricycle. It stood up by itself with no electronics or batteries needed.
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A testament to high tech.
But could you put cards in the spokes?
Amazing project & results. (Score:3)
Next Logical Step From E-Bikes (Score:3)
Nice but (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm mildly disappointed because what the guy built is a vertically-stabilized bicycle with fully decoupled drive and steering mechanisms.
I would be more impressed by an autonomous bicycle that does real dynamic two-wheel balancing, without gyro stabilization - and I'd be REALLY impressed if such a bicycle managed to do a track stand.
Re:Nice but (Score:5, Insightful)
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Dude... If you test-drive a Ford and you say you're not impressed, have you yourself built a car before expressing your opinion?
What the guy did is great, but it's not a self-balancing bicycle in the traditional sense of how two-wheeled vehicle normally stay upright. The latter problem - dynamic balancing - is a tough nut to crack. and using an independent gyro stabilizer is a shortcut to avoid the problem. In fact, if you mount a gyro to anything, it will stay upright on its own for quite some time without
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Which is what you're doing.
Why should anyone care that you're not impressed?
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So your main point is that nobody cares about what I think? :)
Boy, will you be disappointed when you realize it's the same for you and just about anybody. If only people of great value were allowed to flap their lips, the world would be totally silent :)
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Dude - I don't go around saying "I'm not impressed by this Ford, it's not like the flying cars I dream about."
But you do go around defending inaccurate statements, repeatedly, such as just now, ... I guess because of what an honest guy you are....
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Re: Nice but (Score:4, Informative)
No. He's disappointed in that the bike DOES NOT DO what's actually stated in the article summary. The bike does not steer the front wheel in order to maintain balance. Instead, it has a reaction wheel that maintains balance independently of what the steering, or drive wheels are doing. Still quite impressive, but not what the article summary claims.
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Dude... If you test-drive a Ford and you say you're not impressed, have you yourself built a car before expressing your opinion?
Nope, but at a minimum we expect you to point to more impressive Volkswagens. Now please point to all those bicycles on the market that cause you to be so unimpressed with what you're seeing here. How much do they cost? Where can we buy one? Or are you only unimpressed because someone didn't build whatever non-existent thing you conjured up in your imagination?
Santa isn't real, and no we're not getting a warp drive or a teleporter. Come back to reality and be more impressed with our actual developments.
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Yes, the gyro stabilization uses power that could instead go to the wheels, and to extend the kickstand at a stoplight to save power. So it's an interesting and successful experiment, and there's also room for improvement.
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Without the ability to shift the rider's mass from side to side, i.e by just controlling the steerer and wheel torque, it's not possible to make a stable 2-wheeler ride stably, let alone stand still, so putting that "brake disk" balancer in is probably just a really smart move, one that lets you do the "balancing act" in a way that's easily realised with
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Re:Nice but (Score:5, Insightful)
I would be more impressed by an autonomous bicycle that does real dynamic two-wheel balancing, without gyro stabilization...
Well, be impressed, because that's not a gyro, it's a reaction wheel. [wikipedia.org] The flywheel isn't constantly spinning to stabilize the bike, it actively accelerates the flywheel to create torque that balances the bike.
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Congratulations on keeping up the long SlashDot tradition of commenting on an article that you haven't read. It's not a gyro, it's a reaction wheel, and it does appear to do some dynamic balancing in the video. That should be comparatively easy to accommodate with a reaction wheel, while difficult at best with gyros.
A theme park "ride"! (Score:3)
If you could make this robust, like with a powerful gyro to prevent tipping (on purpose or by incautious passenger) and a high chair seat with seatbelt! you could make this into a theme park ride!
It could be used to take people around a large area (how about bicyclists of the Serengeti?) or better yet as the basis of an attraction itself. I'm thinking specifically of the E.T. ride at Universal Studios where now you get onto some sort of fake (sorry it's been a long long while) bicycle. Of course, to complete the illusion, there would have to be some sort of mechanism to lift the bicycle in the air like in the end of the film, maybe if the guidance were precise enough the bike could be guided to a place it would be grabbed and lifted? Or maybe just come to a stop over an immersive projection system where you feel like you're flying? (with wind effects).
Anyway, if this were from any other country than China I'd actually be interested in buying one, I think it can be "summoned" (by app) and seeing an autonomous upright bicycle wheel up to your location for you to hop on would be priceless. Unfortunately, by Chinese law, every company and individual MUST turn over data to the Chinese intelligence services and I certainly don't want them to be able to track everywhere I've been riding (and whatever else the bike's sensors are recording).
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Why do you care? I can pretty much guarantee that they're not really interested in whether you're going to the grocery store or the strip club every Tuesday afternoon, although perhaps your spouse might be.
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Anyway, if this were from any other country than China I'd actually be interested in buying one, I think it can be "summoned" (by app) and seeing an autonomous upright bicycle wheel up to your location for you to hop on would be priceless. Unfortunately, by Chinese law, every company and individual MUST turn over data to the Chinese intelligence services and I certainly don't want them to be able to track everywhere I've been riding (and whatever else the bike's sensors are recording).
It is on github: https://github.com/peng-zhihui... [github.com] , so stop the paranoia and DIY ;-)
Just like real cyclists. (Score:5, Funny)
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Lit Motors (Score:2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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And Yamaha built Motobot, a robot capable of riding a regular motorcycle around a track. It's got a long way to go to beat a pro rider
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Compare with Google's (Score:3)
Thanks , dude. (Score:1)
This guy rocks! (Score:5, Insightful)
Holy shit, talk about a tour de force. Linux, ROS, reaction wheels, AI chip, yay! He actually thinks I want to make reaction wheels like on a Space Telescope and put them on my bike! Then looks up in wikipedia and arXiv articles on things like inertia wheel pendulums, and actually BUILDS the fuckers. I mean he is a geek's geek. I nominate him for the next iron man's apprentice who saves his ass with a bicycle fleet equipped with radiation sensors. You can build the same with Linux, Wikipedia and Blender! ;) For the haters please just invert your own pendulum dudes. Sure other companies have done self-balancing / self-driving X in year Y. But if you consider the clips of iron man and CAD driven manufacturing / deboxing it is just a lot of geeky fun and something you should play for kids to get them into STEM even, or to undergrads to show how to get excited and DO shit. Kudos to this guy!
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Engineers with free time? (Score:2)
Must be science fiction.
Fantastic! (Score:2)
Kudos to this guy!
I need one (Score:2)
I could really use an autonomous bicycle. Then I could sleep in, while the bicycle takes a ride and does my exercising for me.
This guy (Score:2)
The world needs more people like this guy. Very nice project.