It is a closed loop control system, basically an inverted pendulum.  It
will do everything in its power to stay upright.  The only limitation to
staying upright in your situation is motor strength and available power.

Having said that, notice that each motor is actually dual winding (two
motors on one shaft essentially), and the thing can run on one motor,
and the batteries are NiCd or NiMH, which can deliver a lot of current
very quickly (compared to alkaline batteries).  I would assume,
therefore, that between the four motors and the batteries, the system
would still stay up, especially since your own control system is
balancing to keep you upright.

An inexperienced rider would likely not go that fast, and an experienced
rider will be watching for such obstacles and leaning in the appropriate
direction in order to make it over.

It'd be fun to mess with the compensation circtuis, though, and add a
little ringing...  Watch the person come to a stop and sway back a forth
a few times before actually stoping...  ;-)

Or modify one I ride to sway as it goes forward.  It would be freaky
watching it.

Of course, this has great implications for halloween - imagine a ghost
that actually looks like it's gliding along...

-Adam

Michael Coop wrote:

>RE: Segway...
>
>What happens when you're barrelling along at 12mph and hit a decent positive
>going edge (e.g. raised sidewalk tile), and the rider/control stalk tilt
>forward aggressively...   the inertial compensation loop must be pretty good
>otherwise the rider would be flung off backwards at a great rate of mph
>(certainly greater than 12mph, as the compensation curve (spike) must occur
>at several orders of magnitude to the actual forward ground speed)...
>
>Any suggestions - or does it just give up and let you fall flat on your face
>?
>
>--
>http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
>ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.
>
>
>
>
>

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.