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Construction of an Unmanned Unicycle; a UROP

Michael D. Mendyke

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During the months of February through April of 1989, I was involved in
a UROP in the Aero-Astro Department under Professor Andreas vonFlotow.
One of his graduate students, Dave Vos, was working on a control
system designed to keep a unicycle upright without a rider. He had
also written up some plans for the design of a special unicycle to use
to test the control system when it was ready.

My job was basically to use the machine shop to construct and assemble
this unicycle, subject to the scrutiny and encouragement of Dave.

The plan of the unicycle consisted of two C-beams about three feet
long as the framework. These beams stood upright, with a bicycle wheel
attached at the bottom. At the top of the beams was mounted a
turntable, its axis perpendicular to the plane of the ground. This
turntable would be filled with inert weight and be used as a
counter-balance to maintain the upright position of the unicycle.
The plan also allowed for two large motors to control the motion of
the turntable and of course the wheel of the unicycle. 

During the course of my participation on the project, I designed
most of the essential components of the overall structure. The
turntable was supported by two aluminum plates, mounted into the C-beams.
A Steel rod about a foot long fit into these plates as a mount for the
turntable. 

Most difficult and time consuming was the construction of a collar for
the turntable. This was a solid aluminum cylinder about six inches in
diameter and eight inches long. Using the lathe, I carved out a
precision collar that would fit over the steel rod, rotate with the
aid of several bearings, and act as an overall support structure for
the turntable. 

After about two months of work, the semester began to catch up with
me, and I had to give up further work on the project. As far as I am
concerned, I am very glad to have been involved. I believe that Dave
was satisfied with the components which I had completed. The UROP gave
me a great deal of experience in the machine shop, and also let me
make a great many mistakes along the way. I have to thank Dave for the
patience to let me fumble my way around his project. I still feel that
he would have probably done the construction much faster than I was
able to.

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