James Bruton Turns a Hoverboard Into an Omni Wheel Bike
Hoverboards are cheap and include quite a bit of hardware, which James Bruton took advantage of to build this omni wheel bicycle.
Hoverboards are actually pretty amazing when you think about it. Those of us who remember the release of the Segway and the immense hype that it generated can see that. Segways were wildly expensive, which was part of the reason they didn't see widespread adoption. But hoverboards are cheap — you can get one on Amazon for about $100 right now. That's impressive when you understand how much technology and hardware they include. James Bruton took advantage of that hardware to build a very interesting omni wheel bicycle.
Like a Segway and most other balancing robots and vehicles, hoverboards work by controlling inertia. If the rider tips too far forward, the hoverboard accelerates forward and the inertia of the rider's mass keeps them upright until they're balancing again. To enable steering, the hoverboard's two wheels need to work independently with a joint between them. The hardware to achieve that includes a controller on each side that has a gyroscope, an IMU (inertial measurement unit), and a motor driver. Those control motors that are quite powerful. That is quite a bit of useful hardware for such an affordable vehicle and it gave Bruton most of what he needed for his omni wheel bike.
This bike has an omni wheel at each end, oriented perpendicular to the normal direction of travel. Because the 3D-printed omni wheels have free-spinning rollers, the bike can roll forward or backward without any resistance beyond friction. But the omni wheels are powered by the hoverboard motors under the guidance of the hoverboard's controllers. So if the bike tips, the motors will turn and keep the rider upright. The bike can also rotate or drive side-to-side when the rider shifts their weight. The bike has two halves that pivot relative to each other, so the rider can manipulate their angle independently.
Bruton built this bike using 3D-printed parts and plywood. The frame is mostly plywood, while the wheels are a combination of the two materials. The handle has a dead man's switch that disconnects power if the rider falls off, which is a thoughtful safety measure. Other than an upgraded battery pack and the power disconnector, all of the electronic components came from the hoverboard.
There were a couple of issues with this initial prototype. Bruton had to shim the controller boards to mount them at what they considered to be level — which was actually slightly off-level. And the split-frame design proved to be unwieldy and difficult to control. Bruton also doesn't explain how he intends to make the bike move forward. But this is just art 1 of the project, so we expect that question to get an answer in part 2.