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Comment by tankbot | Hacker News Reader

> But those are both issues inherent to two-wheeled vehicles, and adding gyroscopes won't solve either.

Did you see the part of the video where they pulled the bike sideways with another vehicle and the gyros kept it upright? If the gyro tech they're using is good enough then the issues you mention are exactly what it will solve. The project still seems to be in its infancy though. They need an investor to come in with some money so they can build more test machines and destroy them with high-speed cornering on slick surfaces and side impacts from larger vehicles.

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Are you saying their bike will regain traction in a high speed turn by maintaining the lean angle? It'd be interesting to see how it handles that situation, because it would result in a pretty violent high-side on a normal motorcycle.

In that pull test the straps were attached to the bike below its center of gravity. Regaining traction in a turn would be like pulling it with the straps near the top instead, and it could cause some serious problems if the person inside isn't wearing a helmet when that happens at high speed.

You seem to be stuck with the idea that this would be like correcting a traditional motorcycle in a bad turn. This is not a human knee-jerk reaction to overcorrect we're talking about, it's a computer that is constantly making minor corrections on a very short interval, before, during and after the corner. The bike never gets that far out of balance, so there is no violent high-side.

It would maintain traction by not laying down and skipping across the pavement, keeping rubber against asphalt (likely to be better in the traction department than plastic/metal against asphalt). If the tech works properly the bike would slide in a fast corner similar to a car in the same situation.

I still think the project is really young, and their reported 2013 release date is super optimistic. This machine needs a lot more testing before it can be unleashed upon the roads.

Yes, but you still run wide into oncoming traffic or into that tree. It's not the laying down/sliding that kills you, it's the sudden stop.

I think it's rather telling the video doesn't show it negotiating a corner at a lean angle. Presumably that's quite a problem.

Having said all that, whereas I doubt I'd buy one as a motorcyclist, I might be tempted as a commuter if the price was reasonable (which, to be honest, it isn't).

> I think it's rather telling the video doesn't show it negotiating a corner at a lean angle. Presumably that's quite a problem.

I would expect that it is eventually intended that it leans in a corner, it would just require a controlled reorientation of the gyroscopes, it looks as if they're mounted on gimbals already (to provide reactive counterbalance to any attempt to disorient it). I'm just guessing they need more money/time to research and engineer the right control system to handle the right gyro control for the measured lean based on data from accelerometers.

I can't see why you'd have a profiled (i.e. not flat) rear tyre if it was going to remain upright all of the time.

If they did engineer it to lean then I'd love the chance to terrify myself going down the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca on it...

Running corners too wide into oncoming traffic or trees is a concern, but not more than with cars, etc. If you're driving too fast, you're driving too fast. I don't see that it's more of a concern with this vehicle.

I assumed the same as you that cornering is still a problem since they didn't show it in the video. I think this project still needs a lot of work. The same project was on HN a couple of months ago and it was really no different except for the slightly more polished exterior. Basically they showed that gyros can keep a 2 wheel vehicle upright, but we haven't seen the thing in motion at all. This is why I think 2013 is way too optimistic for a release.

The price does seem a bit high, but it should come down over time.

I think high-siding happens when you, as the rider, try to correct, and end up over-correcting, for the soon to be low-side (you do get a choice at some point to push the bike into a "safer" low side and crash or risk the high side and maybe crash). From what is almost no grip comes massive grip. Over-correcting causes that excess momentum to swing the bike full up and sending you on a short trip in the air to finally make contact with the really hard ground.

I've done this a few times and did the over-correction thing helping me realize just how hard the ground really is (only on the race track - never on the road).

I do think a computer could monitor grip to a much finer accuracy and save the bike from a potential low side. In fact, with the electric motor, the computer could even adjust the spin rate, and thus angular momentum, of the wheels if need be.

A high-side requires chopping the throttle, maintaining lean angle and speed let the bike slide around the outside, and it won't regain traction until the rear is back in line. You can watch the pros drift corners all the time like that.

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