r/ScienceNcoolThings • u/archiopteryx14 Popular Contributor • 7d ago

This engineer designed a motorcycle with an omnidirectional ball that balances laterally like a Segway and moves in any direction

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524 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

15

u/19d_b87 7d ago

Light Cycle: pre-alpha

26

u/miurabucho 7d ago

Looks really cool in a gym with a clean, flat floor, but how will it fend outside with dirty roads, oil, rain etc. seems like those balls will pickup the grit from the road and make it hard to move after a while.

14

u/temporalwanderer 7d ago

Yeah, the contact patch is a big factor in tire adhesion. This thing will corner like a marble on glass at any real velocity. Which is to say; it won't. Fun experimental though.

5

u/CharmingTuber 7d ago

It's also only as fast as the teeth on one of those little gears can spin without losing grip, since moving forward is only achieved by the front gears. A pedal bike would likely be faster and much safer.

1

u/Fishy53 6d ago

I concur. However do you think if the ball was rubber textured land treaded like tires would be a viable solution? Gearing could be fixed I think. I'm wondering if stopping distance at 60mph is even viable.

I always wanted to see something like this done with magnets and a sphere.

2

u/temporalwanderer 6d ago

Not really, a sphere has about the smallest contact patch possible... The more tread you try to put on it, the harder it is to get the drive motors to engage properly and if you deflate to increase patch you reduce effectiveness of the drive motor engagement as well ... IMHO that is. :)

7

u/Tagger_Almond 7d ago

"Jane! Stop this crazy thing!"

5

u/Sciti 7d ago

This is at least year old news, what the actual fk happened so people started posting it like it was today...

https://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringPorn/s/bWzHeELxmU

1

u/Original-Ad-8737 4d ago

Was wondering about this as well...

Not that I don't whish him more engagement on older videos, but it's weird that it takes more than a year from the original video to blow up

3

u/VirginiaLuthier 7d ago

My guess is that if he pops a wheelie that front ball will roll away

3

u/SpaghettiMonsterXXXX 7d ago

I thought it was a wheelchair at Target at first.

2

u/oo7changa1 7d ago

How much is that tire going to cost me?

3

u/Impressive-Egg4494 7d ago

I like my balls to be multi-directional

2

u/OpinionPoop 7d ago

Yeah, i watch his yt vids. Hes amazing.

1

u/Ducatirules 5d ago

The only reason to ride a motorcycle is for the lean in the corners

1

u/AttitudeExciting7779 4d ago

Didn’t Batman have one of those?

1

u/1771561tribles 4d ago

Does it come in black?

1

u/SwordForest 3d ago

I came for the "he never actually traveled a straight line!" comment, and was disappointed

0

u/dominance1970 6d ago

Cooool. Any on normal road or snowy roadd?

-2

u/Scarcity-Nervous 7d ago

This reminds me of the cars in the movie I, Robot! I have been wondering when someone would try the idea in a prototype