4 ms·

In theory I suppose you could improve the braking ability quite a bit by having a flywheel spinning about an axis perpendicular to the axis the main wheel rotat

by elihu 5y ago

In theory I suppose you could improve the braking ability quite a bit by having a flywheel spinning about an axis perpendicular to the axis the main wheel rotates at, to act a gyroscope and prevent the "gerbiling" problem the article mentions.

kurthr 5y ago
That is an interesting design, but the first ideas I had of how to implement lead to the device turning (either Yaw or Roll) when the stopping (Pitch) torque is applied. This seems less than optimal! What I like about that however is that turning (and/or coordinated turning) could be implemented without requiring leaning over... that means you could have extremely tight turning radius! I always thought of these Monowheels as simply a rail car inside a large wheel... which has pretty limited advantages, while the momentum of the outer wheel has definite disadvantages. Now perhaps a flywheel in the opposite direction of the wheel (but planar with it) could be used to apply stopping force (without the yaw/roll) up to the limit of friction? The view issues could now also be resolved by simply putting cameras (or even old-timey periscopes) in so you could see straight ahead.
- arbitrage 5y ago
  You could have two flywheels to balance the forces.
  - kurthr 5y ago
    I'm not sure conservation of angular momentum works the way you're describing (as in their moments would fully cancel). That means that they also wouldn't act to improve stopping force/torque. https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/79699/dynamics-of-counter-rotating-flywheels https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/79699/dynamics-o...
andrewflnr 5y ago
I was thinking maybe just skids or small wheels in front. There's a dual problem of sliding up the front of the wheel when accelerating hard that would also be nice to solve a similar way, though not as critical.

4 ms·

In theory I suppose you could improve the braking ability quite a bit by having a flywheel spinning about an axis perpendicular to the axis the main wheel rotat

by elihu 5y ago

kurthr 5y ago
That is an interesting design, but the first ideas I had of how to implement lead to the device turning (either Yaw or Roll) when the stopping (Pitch) torque is applied. This seems less than optimal! What I like about that however is that turning (and/or coordinated turning) could be implemented without requiring leaning over... that means you could have extremely tight turning radius! I always thought of these Monowheels as simply a rail car inside a large wheel... which has pretty limited advantages, while the momentum of the outer wheel has definite disadvantages. Now perhaps a flywheel in the opposite direction of the wheel (but planar with it) could be used to apply stopping force (without the yaw/roll) up to the limit of friction? The view issues could now also be resolved by simply putting cameras (or even old-timey periscopes) in so you could see straight ahead.
- arbitrage 5y ago
  You could have two flywheels to balance the forces.
  - kurthr 5y ago
    I'm not sure conservation of angular momentum works the way you're describing (as in their moments would fully cancel). That means that they also wouldn't act to improve stopping force/torque. https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/79699/dynamics-of-counter-rotating-flywheels https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/79699/dynamics-o...
andrewflnr 5y ago
I was thinking maybe just skids or small wheels in front. There's a dual problem of sliding up the front of the wheel when accelerating hard that would also be nice to solve a similar way, though not as critical.