Would it even be possible to ride an EUC that had reversed controls?

[LanghamP]

Like if you leaned forward it would go backwards, and if you leaned backwards it would go forwards?

I don't think such an EUC can be ridden.

[kasenutty]

It'd be like a robot banana peel. 

[LanghamP]

19 minutes ago, kasenutty said:

It'd be like a robot banana peel. 

That's exactly what I was thinking! 

It'd be awful, it'd be funny, it'd be awfully funny. Just watching an experienced rider trying to relearn it would be worth paying admission. 

[kasenutty]

It would be very funny to watch. 

[Keith]

40 minutes ago, LanghamP said:

Like if you leaned forward it would go backwards, and if you leaned backwards it would go forwards?

I don't think such an EUC can be ridden.

Reversing the steering on a bicycle is a common trick often seen at fairgrounds and village fêtes with the public challenged to win a prize if they can ride it which, like almost anything, can be learned - see below. In reality, I know this is easily learned as it is exactly like learning to fly my model helicopter upside down where everything except roll control, including throttle is reversed. I did need to practice a few hours on a simulator first but I can do it with ease now.

 However reversing forwards and backwards would be quite a different thing, leaning back to accelerate forwards would push you further back accelerating harder, pushing you further back until you come off. I think @kasenuttyis spot on, it would shoot out from under you just like treading on a banana skin. I’m not at all sure anyone with less than superhuman abilities would be able to stay on such a machine.

 

[kasenutty]

@Keith That video was awesome, what an interesting experiment. Our bodies can acclimate to any nonsense. How cool. 

[meepmeepmayer]

That would not work by principle. Self-balancing means, if you lean, the wheel counterbalances by going into the lean direction. If you reverse that, you lean (forward, for example) and the wheel makes it worse (going back, here). Self-unbalancing You can't balance on something that by definition works by actively removing any balance (well, except when you're exactly upright and still). Not just a banana peel, an actively malicious banana peel. You step on and kiss the ground because it specifically wants you to, that's what you can expect.

[LanghamP]

3 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

That would not work by principle. Self-balancing means, if you lean, the wheel counterbalances by going into the lean direction. If you reverse that, you lean (forward, for example) and the wheel makes it worse (going back, here). Self-unbalancing You can't balance on something that by definition works by actively removing any balance. Not just a banana peel, an actively malicious banana peel. You step on and kiss the ground because it wants you to, that's it.

Would the EUC even be able to balance on its own?

[meepmeepmayer]

No. How? As soon as it leans, it automatically leans more. That won't end in balance (unless you count lieing on the ground as "balanced").

[Mono]

10 hours ago, LanghamP said:

Like if you leaned forward it would go backwards, and if you leaned backwards it would go forwards?

I don't think such an EUC can be ridden.

I am pretty sure it can be ridden. To understand why, it is import to make a distinction between leaning and pedal angle. The only input the wheel has is pedal angle. Under reverse control one would need to push the heel down to prevent falling forward and vice versa. That's probably about as difficult as to learn the reverse bike (which is pretty difficult).

EDIT: A funny difference to the usual control is that the pedals would be super soft. 

[LanghamP]

1 hour ago, meepmeepmayer said:

No. How? As soon as it leans, it automatically leans more. That won't end in balance (unless you count lieing on the ground as "balanced").

Argh, I cannot imagine this clearly as I can convince myself one way or the other.

Like in one scenario I can imagine the wheel going in the opposite direction of your push (it pushes back against your hand).

In the other scenario I see the shell immediately unbalancing and slamming into the ground when you turn on the wheel.

Someone make a backwards wheel, pretty please?

[meepmeepmayer]

I really don't know if it would be just really really hard, or physically impossible in the you-can't-lift-yourself-off-the-ground sense.

My guess is the second, at least in the long term sense (aka it should work theoretically forever, nothing like an auxiliary jetpack keeping you upright that runs out of gas or any such helper).

[meepmeepmayer]

1 minute ago, LanghamP said:

Someone make a backwards wheel, pretty please?

If you rotate the board in your wheel along the vertical axis for 180°, that should do it. Who wants to get a screwdriver and go for it? Not me.

[LanghamP]

2 minutes ago, meepmeepmayer said:

If you rotate the board in your wheel along the vertical axis for 180°, that should do it. Who wants to get a screwdriver and go for it? Not me.

Let's think about this. If the board thinks it is slightly unbalanced then it moves the wheel to rebalance itself but if this is done, then the wheel, once even slightly unbalanced, keeps moving in the opposite direction of imbalance until the shell slams into the ground.

I think you could change the software so the wheel balances itself when there is no rider, but when a rider is detected then it actively counterbalance itself until the rider is thrown off, then the wheel would go back to its normal balancing mood.

This is a Satan wheel.

[duaner]

People learn to ride reversed "two-wheel" manual unicycles, so I'd bet one could learning to ride a reversed EUC.

 

[Mono]

1 hour ago, LanghamP said:

Would the EUC even be able to balance on its own?

No, it wouldn't balance on its own. Possibly, depending on the specific geometry and the controller, it could balance on its own if the shell were heavy and had its center of mass below the axle (like it is the case for floating unicycles).