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eBall - new device with investors behind


OliverH

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On 10/19/2016 at 4:46 PM, Jurgen said:

If they would go for multiple small balls ( 3 for stability )  that are below the level of the feet, now that could be promising for use in area's with smooth surfaces (shopping malls, clean warehouses, hospitals, etc.)

 

 

On 10/20/2016 at 3:26 AM, Jurgen said:

 

it will be limited in application, and will work best in more specialised areas

 

Yes the smaller wheel application would definately be limited to smooth surfaces. Case and point, in the mid 1990's  I was involved in developing the 'Cole Carrier'. It was a one man stretcher designed for the military that would allow a single medic the ability to transport a casualty from the battlefield to a waiting helicopter.

The modified stretcher contained a removable 12" wide x  4" diameter wheel  that clamped onto the end of the stretcher's two handles.  My stretcher prototype was tested at an army base on a specific course similating a battlefield. After 2 months of waiting to see if my invention would be accepted I was notified that the design had a major flaw: the wheel was too small in diameter to navigate over unlevel terrain and would create a 'snowplow' effect on soft surfaces.

Unfortunately for me funding for military procurement dropped off the following year and my new larger wheel prototype was never tested? The Bigger The Better?

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This thread discusses the way how eBall works or if it can work. Forget about this.

The story is: A german developer was able to develop this fun device and he got 500.000 EUR invest to finish his product and got access to design and ODM manufacturer. Do an EUC manufacturer got this amount of invest money in the past?  Would he get money like this if he shows up a safety/ PLEV compliant EUC?

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Cool idea, looks like a giant mechanical computer mouse, I used to take the ball off those and play with it!

They sure have a lot to work to do on it though. I'm not sure how the friction pads on the motors will interact with the ball when you ride on wet surfaces, and it is pretty noisy right now due to the staggered rubber pads around the 'gears'.

I don't know if it would be helpful for cargo with just one wheel, because the load would stay static, so you'd have to balance it, and once balanced, it couldn't move anywhere. I guess if it was like an assisted cart that you would tilt where you wanted it to go, but not by itself on one wheel (it could work on 3 wheels though, but at that point it's something different).

Like everybody else, I also wonder how the turns work, look a this video. He's turning, but I can't tell if it's on purpose:
 

 

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On 10/19/2016 at 7:07 PM, John Eucist said:

I posted about this concept May of last year.  Glad it has become a reality.  Hope it's not patentable.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ElectricUnicycle/permalink/810423175722314/

Copy and paste of the contents of that post:
May 6, 2015
Colin Heng mentioned "UniBall" as a joke regarding the design of a euc (in another post) that looks almost ball-like. That got me thinking. Perhaps a Self-Balancing UniBall can be created so that you can ride and lean any direction and it goes that direction. Standing in place will be easy too. I hope posting this idea here can prevent anyone from PATENTING and monopolizing this idea. I hate patents on things people can naturally think of.

Clarification: When I said "things people can naturally think of" I meant "things EVERYONE can naturally think of".

In the USA everything is patentable if one has sufficient cash that is one reason the Chinese ignore the US patent system since it has become a joke that is used for making money. All it does is grant a monopoly in exchange for money same thing the mafia does in many countries the mafia calls it insurance but in the end is money in exchange for the priviledge of having a monopoly.

Even the Linux OS was patented by some unkown guy who was not the creator, patent which became void after a very expensive legal process by several companies. 

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