Originally published at: Two-wheeled self-balancing gyro car | Boing Boing
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Damn, that’s loud and impractical. Beautiful, though. Can we have it back as a modern electric version?
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There was a 1912 version too.
Apparently the problem being addressed was that of off-road driving in rough terrain. Which has some merit I think.
And the approach angle looks good. The departure angle not so much. The break-over angle sucks though.
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a magnificent example of inventing a problem so that you can invent its solution.
Kinda. But look at the form factor. If these were narrowed a bit and widely deployed, the current road capacity would essentially double.
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yeah but you would need more cars to transport all the people. This would hold 2 at most. Also it is like 2 cars long.
That is just awesome. I wonder how fast you can take corners? Now all you gotta do is get two, connect them together and you can drive to Bespin.
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The outrigger tells me that it only kinda works.
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a magnificent example of inventing a problem so that you can invent its solution.
Humans have come so far, and still know so little.
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I’d drive that.
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Dang nabbit, now I’m hungry for a gyro…
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Its inelegance in an otherwise elegant shape suggests it was added later. Or meant to be temporary while development was going on.
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What percentage of cars on the road do you see with more than two people? And what percentage with more than a single person? The carrying capacity of cars is generally underutilized, making the roads themselves underutilized.
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I have not yet embarked on an observational survey of automobile utilization, nor do I even look for the most part. I do know, however that if I would like to take a family of four anywhere this would be sub optimal. Yes if you could make this more like the length of one car, and eliminate all the larger vehicles, including buses and trucks, you could fit more cars on the road. I conceded that point.
Could be a kickstand? I imagine it’s not gyroscopic when parked…and it might need a little wheel so you can get up to speed from parked.
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Average vehicle occupancy (US data) is < 1.6.
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The start of the video showed kickstand wheels at the rear corners. I suspect the mid-wheel thingies were to provide stop limits for banking at high speed on corners.
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Very cool! thank you. Heck, I signed up for the Fact of the Week newsletter. It’ll be nice to mix some facts into my current “Updates” inbox of Opinion of the Minute and Urgent Fundraiser of the Week emails…
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I am struggling to understand why a self-balancing two wheeler is desirable. As a motorcyclist I wouldn’t want to have to struggle against the forces of a (huge) flywheel to turn and braking must be exciting.
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