A few years ago, I did a project with an engineer who worked on the ones without hand-controllers.
The algorithms were very fiddly, since they had to detect (in realtime) not only changes in terrain, but figure out your angle of lean forward and back, and translate that to throttle or brake. Last thing you wanted was a software crash that either locked up the wheel at full speed, or created a runaway. I was way too paranoid to try riding one. Still am.
These share a lot of similarities with Segway, and the inventor of that was a pretty smart, stand-up guy. Still, he died tragically riding his Segway off a cliff.
A few years ago, I did a project with an engineer who worked on the ones without hand-controllers.
The algorithms were very fiddly, since they had to detect (in realtime) not only changes in terrain, but figure out your angle of lean forward and back, and translate that to throttle or brake. Last thing you wanted was a software crash that either locked up the wheel at full speed, or created a runaway. I was way too paranoid to try riding one. Still am.
These share a lot of similarities with Segway, and the inventor of that was a pretty smart, stand-up guy. Still, he died tragically riding his Segway off a cliff.
Every time I see one of these, my brain goes between that story, and https://southpark.wiki.gg/wiki/IT
If I remember correctly, it wasn’t the original inventor of the Segway that fell off the cliff, but the CEO who has bought the brand.