The few sketches I have seen don't show any large gyros (reaction
wheels), just small sensing gyros.  I think the only hefty motors are
the ones driving the traction wheels.

Ginger would be a neat platform for building a home robot on.  But most
home robot builders would rather start from closer to scratch.

Sherpa Doug

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roman Black [mailto:fastvid@EZY.NET.AU]
> Sent: Friday, December 07, 2001 9:39 AM
> To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: Re: [OT]: Did someone think?
>
>
> Russell McMahon wrote:
>
> > How well it stops depends on how good the control really is.
> > To the uninitiated it would certainly be scary.
> > Once you get it REALLY leaning backwards you could
> conceivably decelerate at
> > a healthy fraction of one g !
>
> Whoa! I doubt it. I decelerate at 1G regularly
> on my racing motorbike and it's not a force
> to be taken lightly. :o) NO WAY that 2 wheeled
> Ginger thing is going to decelerate as quickly
> as a normal car, or even a good bicycle, never
> mind a racing vehicle at 1G!
>
> Max acceleration and deceleration must be a force
> determined by the power of the gyroscope, and
> 1G with that rough vehicle and rider weight would
> be close to 70kW. And WHAT happens if you exceed
> the ability of the flywheel??
>
> I'm really curious about the REAL performance of
> this "vehicle". How good is energy efficiency per
> mile compared to say a Californian electric bicycle??
> What is the steepest grade? Max accel/decel?
> What's the max gyroscope power? How does constant
> use affect the flywheel bearings? Any accel/decel
> will cause nasty precession forces on the flywheel
> bearings, what life will they give?
>
> And why does it need active feedback? My toy
> gyroscope stands perfectly on a pinpoint (or one or
> two wheels if you like).
> -Roman
>
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