Homebrew self-balancing propulsion unit (i.e., a Hillbilly Segway)

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Scooter Labs claims to offer tutorials on building a 2-wheel, self balancing scooter, or a self-balancing propulsion unit. This is a homebrew version of the Segway. Another site, Suicidebots, conducted an interview of the founder. Oh, to be a fly on the wall the day the injunction arrives from Segway.

5 thoughts on “Homebrew self-balancing propulsion unit (i.e., a Hillbilly Segway)”

  1. Hap

    This is just asking for a Darwin – homebrew Segway + alcohol = insta-Darwin Award! (if they haven’t already spawned).

    Heck, that works with a commercial Segway. I hope they’re more useful than I think they are.

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  2. gaussling Post author

    I’m waiting for NASCAR Segway racing. Or a Segway with a trailer hitch for pulling a boat. I wonder if a Segway has made it out to Bonnyville for speed trials yet? Good way to become a folk hero, Hap.

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  3. Hap

    I think it’s time to quote Husker Du: “One thing I know for sure/Heroes always die.” I am also mechanically incompetent, so I might not even get to the stage of winning a pseudo-Darwin.

    If Segways and their clones get big, though, there’s always Segway tractor pulls, although they aren’t quite authentic if you don’t feel woozy and frozen at the end of the night from exhaust fumes and cold. Another option: strap them to bombsXXXXXvery large nitromethane-powered engines and drag race them. Watching the races would be like watching a very large rifle firing tracers…though the supply of tracersXXXXXXXpilots would probably get short after a little while.

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  4. gaussling Post author

    When I was a skinny farm kid in Iowa in the early 1960’s, I went to a tractor pull where the tractor pulled a sledge between 2 rows of farmers. As the sledge passed by, the farmers would hop onto it and weight it down. The winner was the one who could pull the most old farmers.

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  5. Hap

    I went to one in Columbus in January (eight? years ago). They evaluated pulls by distance (so I assume they pulled a fixed weight). If they wanted to do the older way, though, I’m sure we could provide lots of ballast. EMTs have terminology for those that appear at ERs here.

    I have a feeling that no useful plowing would be done by the tractors I saw – I don’t think they like leaving rubber-coated streaks in the soil.

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