FURI | Spring 2019

Balancing of a Stationary Bicycle Using a Control Moment Gyroscope

By intuition, people steer their vehicles to the desired direction. However, on a bicycle, the gyroscopic force of the front wheel creates an angular momentum that will lean the vehicle to the opposite direction of the steering. The objective of this research is to create a control-moment gyroscope (CMG) that can sense and control the attitude of the bicycle. With this balancing mechanism, the user can practice bicycle maneuvers that are normally impossible at low speeds. These maneuvers include counter-steering and swerving, and it can be executed at lower and safe speeds with the help of the CMG. In the future, the project will combine the robotic steering control with the CMG,