What is a monowheel?
A monowheel, as the name suggests, is an unique type of motocyle with only one wheel. Compared to an ordinary bike, on which the rider sits on a seat above the drive wheels, a monowheel rider is instead seated inside the wheel's inner hub.
Monowheel designs have evolved over the years, from early pedal-powered versions built in as early as the beginning of the 19th century to more advanced and motorized versions during the early 1900's to today! However, as unique as they may be, monowheels have never actually caught on as a serious and accepted method of transportation...
Hopefully... we're about to change all that!
Project Zero, as it is known, is our quest at solving the various issues involved with monowheel designs in the past (these include such things as stability problems, engine configuartions, steering, etc), and hopefully finding a way around them.
The plan, as it stands now, is for the fabrication of two, fully functional, radio-controlled models. They are:
1. The Zero: This will serve as our prototype and testbed model on which wil be carrying out our initial stability, steering, and drive line tests. Presently, the plan is to make this an electrically powered version.
2. The Motion Zero: The results and lessons learned from the prototype tests will be finally incorporated in to the building of a second, more updated and refined version of The Zero. Our goal is to make this model much easier to control, and try to eliminate the major issues encountered with the previous version.
In the end, if all goes well, this project will (hopefully) be entered into the 2009 Bell Science Fair in Montreal.
Wish us luck and see you there!
Here you go, made this quickie sketch using Metasequoia, an excellent (and easy to use) 3D-imaging software made by M. Osamu Mizuno.
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