Engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA), under the leadership of Associate Professor Joohyung Kim, have created a monowheeled robot, Ringbot, which in the future will be able to work in the delivery of goods.
In this case, a unicycle refers to a vehicle in which the driver sits on a motorized platform mounted on a ring-shaped rail – this rail forms the inside of a large wheel. The platform remains parallel to the ground, the wheel rolls around it, and the car moves forward.
The Ringbot is equipped with a 515mm wheel, which includes a nylon-carbon composite rim and a solid elastomeric tire. Inside the rim there are two motorized drive modules connected by a spiral cable – they rotate the rim using small gears. The modules also contain robotic legs that can extend to the sides. If one of these limbs is extended, the center of gravity of the machine shifts, and the moving wheel makes a turn. When Ringbot is at rest, the extended leg serves as a stand, a means of lifting from a horizontal position or turning around in place. During the tests, the car was able to accelerate to 5 km/h.
In the future, the author of the project believes, Ringbot can be built on a larger scale, and the mechanism can also be equipped with a camera, sensors and a satellite navigation module. Such a car will be able to freely overcome a traffic jam as a deliverer of goods – it will be an autonomous analogue of modern couriers on bicycles and motorcycles. The study was partially funded by Hyundai Motor Group.
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