Awesome Balancing

Engineer James Bruton adds to his collection of unusual vehicles with the creation of a single-seater that rolls on four 3D-printed mechanum wheels. The not-quite-a-bike uses motors and an inertial measurement unit to remain balanced. By changing the speed and direction of each wheel, it can move forward, backward, sideways, and spin around on a dime. Its agility is quite impressive.

This electromechanical plaything from Nikola Toy automatically steadies itself and balances on its point. Its curved Reuleaux triangle shape allows it to teeter while sensors, circuitry, and a spinning wheel help hold its position. It also has built-in RGB LED lighting.

Recently, engineer James Bruton put together a self-balancing vehicle using a hoverboard and omni-wheels. Now, he’s transformed that strange-looking machine into something that vaguely resembles a Star Wars speeder bike. It’s easier to steer now and can travel forward, but it’s not exactly something you’d fly between the trees on Endor.

This talented and athletic performer shows off her leg strength and balancing skills by lying on her back and spinning objects with her feet. She starts out by spinning a flower pot, then ups the challenge to something a bit less symmetrical – a table. She can spin things in circles too.

After building several self-balancing machines, engineer James Bruton wanted to see if he could make one that could help him walk across a narrow beam. It uses a large motorized wheel that changes direction based on the angle detected by a sensor. The trick is not letting his body compensate too much for its motion.

Spinning a cheeseburger on an umbrella sounds like a ridiculous and unnecessary endeavor. But after watching juggler Michael Rayner balance one on edge, spin it around, and separate its pickles, we’re all for the concept. The only thing better than this video is watching it at 5x speed.

We imagine it’s hard enough to walk on level ground while balancing another person on your head. Giang Quoc Nghiep and Giang Quoc Co pulled off the trick while climbing up 100 stairs. They did it in record time, ascending to the top of the staircase in just 53 seconds.

There are robots out there that can walk on two legs and drones that can fly. But Leonardo can do both, using its rotors to help it balance while walking. It can even skateboard and slackline. Veritasium takes a look at this unusual hybrid robot being developed by engineers at the Aerospace Robotics and Control Lab at Caltech.

It’s pretty tricky to balance a cube on one of its corners or edges. But ReM-RC shows off a really cool machine they built that does just that automatically. The system uses an ESP32 controller, an MPU-6050 gyroscope-accelerometer chip, and a set of three servo motors that spin wheels to maintain its balance.