Meet the one wheel balancing scooter: suck it, Segway

A guy called Ben Smither from Norwich in the UK has put together a hot-as-the-sun personal scooter / skateboard that takes the totally scalable motorized gyroscopic stabilization concept from Segway, and does it with only a single wheel. In all, the project cost about £300 (~$580) in parts, although Ben didn't elaborate on how long it took to put together. You'll also need to have some level of expertise in electronics if you want to build your own -- test yourself: can you say what a H-Bridge driver is without Googling it? -- although we're sure that before long Ben or someone else will use their capitalist prerogative and start selling flat-pack kits for a premium (if they do, then they better watch out for Sony and their Segway-esque skateboard patent application). Until then, we'll have to keep traveling to places using our legs: oh, what a bore.

[Via hackaday]

[Stu L Tissimus @ Mar 9th 2007 4:31PM]

That looks like a lot of fun.

[John @ Mar 9th 2007 4:33PM]

Some university has released instructions on how to build one of these. I just can't remember the exact name.. argh... They also had videos of chairs and stuff balancing on it.

[Gil @ Mar 9th 2007 4:34PM]

okay then... how do you turn?

[Nathan M @ Mar 9th 2007 5:15PM]

If you watch the video you can tell that it turns just like a skateboard, for the most part.

[psychofire1 @ Mar 9th 2007 4:49PM]

whats the top speed? and...damn now i wanna take one of those and just see how much of a beating it can take...how fast how sharp of turns ....it just looks fucking fun

[Bob @ Mar 9th 2007 6:11PM]

"motorized gyroscopic stabilization concept" or as we engineers like to call it, a simple inverted pendulum.

[Reese @ Mar 11th 2007 1:15PM]

cool... but does anyone else think leaning forward in that position would get tiring fairly fast?

[Bjet @ Mar 9th 2007 7:29PM]

that could definitly take on the segway(not to put down the segway or anything, it was a great invention and all...). why?
1. its not big and ugly.
2. its skateboard style, who wouldnt want to ride that?
3. seems like its alot lighter than a segway too. means easy transportation.

Just slap a patent on that thing, pretty it up and go global!

[T-Will @ Mar 9th 2007 6:25PM]

Are these going to take over the world like Segway did?

[LordJohnWhorfin @ Mar 10th 2007 12:45AM]

It needs flexi-grips. They're painful, but it beats getting raped by the airlines.

[evo @ Mar 9th 2007 7:40PM]

If you really want to make this a blockbuster product, make it go faster then send a batch to the Jackass guys.

[evo @ Mar 9th 2007 7:48PM]

He needs to put small wheels or roller bearings on the front and back so that if you tip too far in one direction you won't get thrown off by it catching on the pavement.

Those of you comparing this to a Segway, remember that skateboards can't be used on sidewalks either in most places.

[Jeff @ Mar 9th 2007 8:41PM]

looks like a lot of fun, but not even remotely close to being marketable to the same demographic as a segway.

i'd buy one if the price was right.

[Jeff @ Mar 9th 2007 8:43PM]

A far cooler project:

http://lifehacker.com/software/diy/weekend-project-diy-drillpowered-skateboard-242444.php

:)

[Xee @ Mar 9th 2007 11:13PM]

Eh. That thing looks slow. If I wanted to spend money on something like that, I'd get one of the powered skateboards from e-glide.com or exkatemania.com

[Alex @ Mar 10th 2007 8:41AM]

Anyone who says "this isn't worth what it costs" need to remember that this is an experimental project, that the motor on it is basically the cheapest one the guy could find on ebay, not some high-power brushless, that the wheel is not designed specifically for the thing (look at it, its a wheel from a go-kart), and several other factors, so don't bitch.
Also, I want me one of these.
PS: what on earth are flexi-grips?

[Ken @ Mar 10th 2007 2:12PM]

If I remember correctly it's a Southpark reference to the "IT" episode.

[Alex @ Mar 10th 2007 8:25PM]

OK, thx
*looks for that episode*

[Duke Ionescu @ Mar 10th 2007 10:56PM]

Awesome! Looks very easy to control. Because of the safety and weirdness factor it may not catch on, but I sure as heck would like to have one.

[Strike One @ Mar 13th 2007 1:05AM]

Great for experimental, not so great for potential sales. They might want to take a look at Dean Kamen's original patents for the Segway. If I remember correctly, this design was basically already laid out in that patent app. So.. congrats for building it and showing it off. Not so much for the "original idea".