Would this balance?
 

How well do you think that would balance... if the wheels where driven but the platform was that low. Would the payload stay upright like a weeble doll thing you used to play with when you where litte?

That thing looks like its going to twist around on itself if there is only two wheels especially with hard stops.

hmmm, I think the only way it would tip over is if it actualy went so far forward that the center of gravity was closer to the ground.... maybe if I put something in to stop it from going forward so far.

Yeah if you add something to stop it from tipping it should be ok. A castor would work. By the way what are you building? I am curious.This is powered right?

My brother and I are just tooling around with a segway-like designed HT... just a summer project.

Ahhh cool. I love summer projects. Me and my friends are doing lots of things like building a Tesla coil. I want to build another robot over the summer.:p

That all depends
 

You would need measurements, loads, accelerations or initial and final velocities before anybody could solve this. I THINK if the radius of gyration of the base exceeds the radius of gyration of the wheels then you should be able to stand on it without it going in a circle, if that's what you're asking. I'm not sure though, if I think anymore during finals time I'll go nuts. Look in a dynamics book. :confused:

If ours can balance, I don't see why yours can't. One bit of advice--I hope you are planning on using a stalk or some device where people can put their hands and help balance themselves.

Good luck, and if you have any questions you can ask our mentor Mr. Dave Fahringer!
Stephen

I have a question did you use a gyro on yours. How do you stop the motors from torquing the whole thing up and around?

No gyro yet ... but seeing how that pesky robot season is over we might find time to put one on! As for the mechanism torquing itself, we simply lean forward and use our weight to counterbalance the torque of the wheels. If the mechanism starts rotating back, we simply slow down. You have to have a gentle hand to ride the thing, but it's great fun, and anyone could do it given proper training/time.

For the interested, there is an article at www.pitnews.org.

Stephen