pic: summer project coming along...

[ZZII 527]

loading photo ...

[AdamHeard]

Looking Good. Can't wait to see it finished!

[Richard McClellan]

That looks like an awesome summer project! I justed watched your short video clip and was wondering...why does the handlebar pivot in two dimensions? Shouldn't it only pivot left to right, and not also front to back? This is what it looked like in the last scene of the video.

[Arefin Bari]

Originally Posted by richardmcc2

That looks like an awesome summer project! I justed watched your short video clip and was wondering...why does the handlebar pivot in two dimensions? Shouldn't it only pivot left to right, and not also front to back? This is what it looked like in the last scene of the video.

If you look at the video from 50 seconds, you will see that the handle is made to pivot left to right. As far as the end scene goes (pivoting front to back), I want to say that they haven't mounted the arm securely just yet.

It is a very cool project. Months ago, when Shane told me about this project, I knew that the students would pull this off. I am glad to see the outcome of the proposal for this project. Can't wait to see it fully functional. Good luck.

[ZZII 527]

The bottom joint is for adjusting the angle of the handlebar or folding it completely flat, but it should be tightened firmly while riding, unless you want it try to surf it like in the video. As for the side-to-side motion, I would have settled for a twist grip or thumb joystick, but the high school students would have none of my compromises, so lean steering it is.

Thanks for the comments! It should be balancing in some fasion next week. (Although I say that every week.)

[joeweber]

Looks great. Looking at your vidio it looks like the pivot low for the handle will make it hard to ballance, if you could make it go forward and back with rotating handle grips that would alow you to lock down the lower pivot point making it easier to ballance it when you drive. With the drive set up it is going to be fast so hold on. check ours out at http://team1322.org/joeway.htm we used caster for ballance. Good luck. Looks like fun.

[EricRobodox]

joe, from first look, your scooter does not seem to be a segway style ride, in the sense of it being an inverted pendulum. The one they are making is, where its only 2 wheels total. That means no casters or anything else touching the ground for balance.

[ZZII 527]

Originally Posted by joeweber

Looks great. Looking at your vidio it looks like the pivot low for the handle will make it hard to ballance, if you could make it go forward and back with rotating handle grips that would alow you to lock down the lower pivot point making it easier to ballance it when you drive. With the drive set up it is going to be fast so hold on. check ours out at http://team1322.org/joeway.htm we used caster for ballance. Good luck. Looks like fun.

Joeway looks like a fun ride! And simple enough to be a nice offseason team-building project. How fast does it go?

The lower forward-back pivot is not a control feature on ours - it is just that the handlebar wasn't secured. The side-to-side pivot for steering is fairly rigid when its bolted together properly (which it isn't yet).

Latest videos (including what I would loosely define as balancing in the third one):
http://techtv.mit.edu/file/263
http://techtv.mit.edu/file/264
http://techtv.mit.edu/file/265

[joeweber]

Watched your vidio, it looks great. I would like to see sombody on it (put a helmet on). We don't have the tech people to buld something like yours. I did see one like that at Huston stack attack many years ago that a guy built and his work alot like yours. Our used the fisher price motors and moved at a fast walk and tended to pull to the right a little. but was easy to build. We are currently working on a four wheel drive one that uses four small chip motors and is much faster. Check the bottom of our web page http://team1322.org/joeway.htm . Note ours is nothing like a segway thats why we call it a Joeway.

[ZZII 527]

As of 8/11/2007:
http://techtv.mit.edu/file/272
I'd call it a Segway.

We also had some time to put together a spoof of Rockwell Automation's infamous video:
The Retro Encabulator

[Nuttyman54]

looks great. I have to say, the original Retro Encabulator video (which I have saved on this very computer) is one of my favorites, and that was an EXCELLENT spoof. Bravo and congratulations. Any chance it'll be making an appearance at the Boston regional this year?

[Billfred]

Looks awesome.

Obligatory question: How are the BaneBots holding up?

[ZZII 527]

Originally Posted by Nuttyman54

Any chance it'll be making an appearance at the Boston regional this year?

Undoubtedly.

Originally Posted by Billfred

Obligatory question: How are the BaneBots holding up?

So far, so good. There are still axial spacing issues, but those are well-known and easily fixed. As for the double-D, the 16:1 mod kits we got are in fact hardened to ~C30. Hopefully they'll hold up. If not, we've still got some tool steel left over... Not to excuse their flaws, but having a compact in-line gearbox was a HUGE plus for this project.

Thanks for the comments!