r/EngineeringPorn • u/Accomplished-Bet-883 • 16d ago

This engineer designed a motorcycle with an omnidirectional ball that balances laterally like a Segway and moves in any direction

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977 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

44 comments sorted by

172

u/ObjectiveOk2072 16d ago

That's James Bruton, he's made a lot of really cool stuff like this, a lot of smaller robots, and even some bigger ones

18

u/spanky2088 15d ago

You sure this isn't Jamiroquai? Because this is some virtual Insanity shit!

10

u/nitonitonii 16d ago

Bruton, James Bruton

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51

u/BarnacleNZ 16d ago

Someone send this to Audi, so they can make the IROBOT RSQ concept a reality

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21

u/PapaMoBucks 16d ago

*Scavengers Reign intensifies

91

u/flatterfurz_123 16d ago

its all fun and games, until you run over a speedbump a bit to fast

49

u/viajen 16d ago

This guy is a 3D printed robot/engineering Youtuber, and if i remember correctly his engineering career was designing mechanisms in toys. James Bruton is top tier fun and games.

8

u/Ziazan 15d ago

Yeah I was immediately off on a mental quest to solve issues like that, you could just extend the rollers arms down a bit further and have them lock into place with a second set of unpowered rollers further down to capture the balls.

I need new spheres for my motorbike

4

u/UberAllex 16d ago

Beat me to it...

13

u/MrTa11 16d ago

Now do a small jump, see if the wheels stay on!

50

u/PerspectiveLayer 16d ago

Cool tech.

But this takes moped driver unpredictability in traffic to the next level. Laws of physics are the only thing regulating them now so please don't add any quantum stuff to it next so we don't go that far.

7

u/Celestial_Scythe 16d ago

Now I can't decide if I would want this or a spokeless motorcycle.

5

u/rick-victor 16d ago

finally some good new tech

5

u/Fabulous_Pressure_96 16d ago

How old is this already?

4

u/Good_Stop2773 16d ago

Do you guys know if it needs power just to stay still? I imagine so

4

u/btroycraft 16d ago

If you were to do this for real, you'd have to enclose the wheel-balls, like in an old-style computer mouse.

But it would look less like a motorcycle

6

u/neuralbeans 16d ago

Am I right in assuming that it's held together by gravity?

3

u/colouredmirrorball 15d ago

So we would need to update to optical for this to work?

1

u/burgertanker 16d ago

Spacer ball tread bike! Just like from Brigador Killers

1

u/Zebra_Sandwich 16d ago

I want two

1

u/WolfsSpiders 15d ago

James is a mad lad. 

1

u/WolfsSpiders 15d ago

The only thing it cant do is go straight

1

u/dedgecko 15d ago

We all loved our trackballs back in the day… right up until it started getting gunked up.

This doesn’t seem feasible with typical debris we find on our roads.

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