Hoverboards As Fast As Possible
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2016-05-06
·
944 words · ~4 min read
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okay first off everyone needs to come down i know it's not really a hoverboard
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and i agree with you it's a stupid name
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it doesn't hover i get it they're on wheels nothing has
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to do with hovering around the office we usually call them swagways but the
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internet seems to have decided that they are now called hoverboards and outside
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of that there doesn't seem to be a universally accepted name other than
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self-balancing boards which is too long and not catchy and no one calls it that
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so we're just going to call them hoverboards so that it's easier for everyone to understand so with that
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being said hoverboards are essentially a horizontal
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self-balancing board with wheels on each end controlled by the rider's feet and
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as cool as it is the technology that makes up the hoverboard hoverboard
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whatever is not that new other devices
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using similar technology have been around for consumers since around 2001
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when the original segway was unveiled this segway had two wheels one on each
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side was self-balancing and had a set of handlebars so that the rider could
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balance more easily and although hoverboards don't have the handlebars
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both vehicles operate off a concept called the inverted pendulum which is a
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pendulum that has a center of mass namely your body above its pivot point
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amazingly enough inverted pendulum devices have been around since the early
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1970s though it's not surprising you didn't see people riding them down the
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streets back then you see the processing needed to make quick corrective
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calculations has to be extremely fast and accurate not only that but the
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equipment has to be highly sensitive all of these things add up to what was until
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recently a very expensive combination
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another inherent property of the inverted pendulum is that compared to a
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standard pendulum it's incredibly unstable therefore the pivot point aka
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the board must make constant corrective movements to balance the center of mass
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which is the rider almost like balancing a pull on your palm and having to run
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around to keep it upright so how does a self-balancing device counteract this
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well with a crap ton of math first off but we aren't going to get into that
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mainly they use gyroscopic sensors which use multiple gimbal rings to determine
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an angle you can learn more about gimbals here and an accelerometer based
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on leveling sensors to detect the board's pitch and angle the board uses
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this information to take corrective measures and keep itself upright for
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example if you start to lean forward the board will try to start rolling forward
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at the exact speed necessary to keep you from falling on your face unless you
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straight up try to fall on your face then that will probably happen
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interestingly enough these boards have two sets of these sensors on each side
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with a joint in the middle separating the two halves this allows the size to
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move independently so if you want you can say spin in a circle if you just
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lean one foot forward and one foot backwards pretty cool right so what's
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going to happen a few years down the road well since self-balancing boards
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just kind of became popular recently there might be quite a few possibilities
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since these boards are now becoming affordable we might see many other types
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of self-balancing devices in the near future like the self-balancing unicycle
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we did a video on not surprisingly though these devices have been banned in
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many major cities in the u.s and uk due to safety concerns these bans are
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limited to public places though so i wouldn't worry about having a swat team
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techwiki in the how did you hear about us section alright guys thanks for
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watching i thought about doing this video on a hoverboard but they've been
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more or less banned at the office so i don't know like the video if you liked
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it dislike it if you disliked it check out our Channel Super Fun video where
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we've made videos on hoverboards including jousting each other also
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comment in the video and not in the video description comment in the comment section down below with any other videos
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