Mega-Wheelie places Onewheel skateboards to disgrace

What’s the naked minimal you want for a viable automobile? When you have the suitable expertise, the reply is “a wheel and a spot to place your toes.” John Dingley and Nick Thatcher began constructing such single-wheeled automobiles in 2008 and the fruits of their efforts is the Mega-Wheelie.

The Mega-Wheelie is a self-balancing, single-wheeled electrical automobile that resembles Onewheel’s line of shopper fashions. Due to its self-balancing means, it solely wants one tire and the rider can speed up or flip by shifting their weight. The hand-held controller seen within the video is only a lifeless man’s swap for security, serving the identical objective because the tethers you’d discover on a jet ski or treadmill.

The one-wheel idea is right, as a result of it retains the automobile’s weight as little as attainable. And the massive pneumatic tire helps the Mega-Wheelie roll over tough terrain with ease.

An Arduino board manages the self-balancing algorithms with the assistance of an IMU and controls the Mega-Wheelie’s huge 450W gear motor by way of a Dimension Engineering SyRen driver. A sequence and sprocket gear the output to the tire down additional for elevated torque. Energy comes from a 24V LiFePO4 battery pack.

This isn’t the primary single-wheel skateboard venture we’ve seen, but it surely is among the greatest because of Dingley and Thatcher’s huge expertise on this subject.