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Here's next week's video, early for Patrons. This one goes out publicly on Tuesday 14th. I thought this was a good test to see how much reaction wheel we need to stabilise a walking machine ;-)

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Balancing Cheat Device - PREVIEW VERSION

It’s pretty hard to walk on a tightrope but I thought I’d have a go. I set up a bar which is a steel scaffold pole and tried my best to walk along it. Sometimes I could almost make it to the end, but most of the time I did far worse than that. It’s a bit easier if you crouch right down and use your arms to help you balance, but standing up tall makes it even harder. Standing still on the spot for any length of time is practically impossible. But could I make a device that would help me balance? I’ve built a couple of projects that used reaction wheels to make a device balance on the spot. This is a wheel which rotates and dynamically accelerates in either direction based on the angle of the device. Force equals mass times acceleration, so we only get a reaction force when the wheel is accelerating or changing direction. But how big would a reaction wheel need to be to help me balance so I can walk all the way down the beam? You can support me on Patreon or buy my Merchandise: *************************** Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/xrobots Merchandise: https://teespring.com/stores/james-bruton *************************** Affiliate links - I will get some money of you use them to sign up or buy something: *************************** Matterhackers 3D printing supplies: http://www.matterhackers.com?aff=7500 Music for your YouTube videos: http://share.epidemicsound.com/xrobots *************************** Other socials: *************************** Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xrobotsuk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/xrobotsuk/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/xrobotsuk *************************** CAD and Code for my projects: https://github.com/XRobots Huge thanks to my Patrons, without whom my standard of living would drastically decline. Like, inside out-Farm Foods bag decline. Plus a very special shoutout to Lulzbot, Inc who keep me in LulzBot 3D printers and support me via Patreon. HARDWARE/SOFTWARE Below you can also find a lot of the typical tools, equipment and supplies used in my projects: Filament from: https://www.3dfuel.com/ Lulzbot 3D Printers: http://bit.ly/2Sj6nil Bearings from: https://simplybearings.co.uk/ Lincoln Electric Welder: https://bit.ly/2Rqhqos CNC Router: https://bit.ly/2QdsNjt Ryobi Tools: http://bit.ly/2RhArcD Axminster Micro Lathe: http://bit.ly/2Sj6eeN 3D Printer Filament: http://bit.ly/2PdcdUu Soldering Iron: http://bit.ly/2DrNWDR Vectric CNC Software: http://bit.ly/2zxpZqv Why not join my community, who are mostly made up of actual geniuses. There’s a Facebook group and everything: https://www.facebook.com/groups/287089964833488/ XROBOTS Former toy designer, current YouTube maker and general robotics, electrical and mechanical engineer, I’m a fan of doing it yourself and innovation by trial and error. My channel is where I share some of my useful and not-so-useful inventions, designs and maker advice. Iron Man is my go-to cosplay, and 3D printing can solve most issues - broken bolts, missing parts, world hunger, you name it. XRobots is the community around my content where you can get in touch, share tips and advice, and more build FAQs, schematics and designs are also available.

Comments

Adam Purdie

You really need a drillpress :)

Anonymous

Lol - would like to see you try it on an actual tightrope! Or maybe even slacklining!

XRobots

If it's tight enough it would probably work - but it's pretty hard to set up. I think a slack line would perform differently, it might get quite chaotic!

Philip Brechler

I think you should add some form of cage around the wheel. This could very quickly become a finger shredder

Anonymous

Is it possible to increase the speed of the rotation (more powerfull moter) to get more push without adding mass?

Dean Edis

Very cool! It’s great to see how you’re scaling up your old projects to ‘human size’!

XRobots

Yes I could have run it on more batteries, or got a faster/higher KV motor. Increasing the diameter would have a big effect though.

XRobots

Thanks, yes that's the general plan for now. I'm trying to keep them having some active electronics in them also.

Andy Ihnatko

What if you had two wheels, on outriggers? Something like a conventional tightrope walker's pole, but much shorter and with motorized wheels at the ends that turn weights to tilt you in a helpful direction?

XRobots

I think that would probably work, it might also work with two Control-Moment-Gyroscopes - at least the fast spinning parts would be far away from me!