Believe it or not, the "inverted pendulum" problem is a common problem in any undergraduate control systems lab, So I guess it sorta qualifies as "basic engineering know how". What's difficult is cramming it all into a scooter and having the processing power available to analyze all your inputs (gyros, accels, encoders, etc.)- and making it safe if, say your batteries were to start to die (alot of hobbyists fail to consider this and when their microprocessors begin to lose power, or their inputs devices suffer low voltage the device "flips out"). Now, I'm not saying I could do it- It's tough- It's hard enough to do it when the base isn't moving- but with a couple of months of R&D I'd wager that any undergraduate worth his degree could get one of these things running semi-reliably tethered to a larger computer. (For a fun experiment though, take a pendulum and oscillate the base up and down- It'll stand up. The more power you put into it, the more it will be resistant to you pushing it over. If you steal a spoon from IHOP, flatten it, and pin the handle to a reciprocating saw- that works really well)
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Believe it or not, the "inverted pendulum" problem is a common problem in any undergraduate control systems lab, So I guess it sorta qualifies as "basic engineering know how". What's difficult is cramming it all into a scooter and having the processing power available to analyze all your inputs (gyros, accels, encoders, etc.)- and making it safe if, say your batteries were to start to die (alot of hobbyists fail to consider this and when their microprocessors begin to lose power, or their inputs devices suffer low voltage the device "flips out"). Now, I'm not saying I could do it- It's tough- It's hard enough to do it when the base isn't moving- but with a couple of months of R&D I'd wager that any undergraduate worth his degree could get one of these things running semi-reliably tethered to a larger computer. (For a fun experiment though, take a pendulum and oscillate the base up and down- It'll stand up. The more power you put into it, the more it will be resistant to you pushing it over. If you steal a spoon from IHOP, flatten it, and pin the handle to a reciprocating saw- that works really well)