This Mechanically Stable Robot Wheel Is Just Plain Fun To Watch

James Bruton is a bit of a machine himself, he never stops. I’m frankly in awe of the frequency at which he shows off complete complex robotic builds. His latest is no slouch, being really fun to watch.

We’ve probably all seen monowheels, and yeah, they’re neat, but Bruton wanted to try a different approach to this fun project. He wanted to combine the concept of a monowheel with a mechanical device called a Pedrail.

The Pedrail aspect of this is that it has all of these little “Feet” that can move in or out, effectively making the bottom of the wheel flat. This has all kinds of benefits in other uses, so Bruton was curious if it would work well for a monowheel.

The more pedantic of you will notice that Bruton immediately makes this robot have two separated wheels, which no longer makes it a monowheel. I know the pedantic gremlin on your shoulder is screaming, but just get over it. It’s still fun to see what he did here and where this mechanical concept holds up and doesn’t hold up.

While it is mesmerizing to watch, I’d argue that Bruton has shown that the pedrail system doesn’t really improve the monowheel performance at all. However, if the whole thing had a little more mass, maybe that would do better? I’m not sure, but I do know it was a pleasure to watch this one come together and see what the results were.