#HTE

Inventor Creates Self-Balancing Stick, We Dream Up the Perfect Application

Roboticist Mike Rouleau has constructed, apparently for no reason other than that he can, a self-balancing stick. Observe:

Rouleau calls it a Dual Axis Reaction Wheel Inverted Pendulum. To explain, self-balancing, inverted pendulums are a “thing” among a subset of roboticists and tinkerers, but they typically operate like Segways, where the base moves around to keep the top steady. (This guy even stuck his on a quadcopter.) Rouleau’s innovation is to move the correcting mechanisms up top, keeping the point at the bottom perfectly still.

My first idea for an application: Scale it up to create self-balancing wind turbines to generate electricity! (Of course, the energy they collect will all be spent driving the balance wheels to keep it steady, and that’s if they don’t interfere with the turbines in the first place. Maybe this is why I didn’t get into MIT.) 

Okay, how about:

- Instant volleyball net supports that don’t need to penetrate the ground surface!

- Easy-set-up flagpoles!

No, wait a sec, what am I thinking? Of course the killer app is Selfie Sticks! You wouldn’t have to hold it, just set it up a few feet away from you and stick your camera/phone up top. Now you’ve got a self-balancing monopod, the world’s thinnest cameraman, allowing you to record your self-important monologues while being able to gesticulate with both hands. Just bring lots of batteries to run those balancing wheels.

I think I nailed it, unless you’ve got something better.

In related stick-balancing news, here’s a man of considerable physical fitness trolling the inventor of the pogo stick: