Aussie Diwheel Is Perfect For Professor X's Nemesis Professor Triangle

This contraption is called a diwheel and they have been around for a long time. This particular diwheel has a new wrinkle in its design that cars have today with stability control. The diwheel reminds me of something that one of the X-Men would ride around in. Both of the large wheels are on the same axel and the very cool vehicle comes from students at the University of Adelaide in Australia. The idea is that this diwheel might be the perfect vehicle for travel inside cities in the future.

The two wheels in the design have a little cockpit between them where the operator would sit. The risk with the diwheel design is that the driver might end up like a hamster that suddenly stops running on their little hamster wheel and spin around uncontrollably with the wheels rather than remaining stationary. Typically, with diwheel designs the drivers just end up rocking around though, which can be a bit uncomfortable I would imagine.

The diwheel created by the students uses computer hardware along with special software to control the movement of the wheels and the movement of the frame to maintain a smooth ride with no rocking or spinning around for the driver. The vehicle the students designed can hit a top speed of 40km/hr and move up an incline of no more than 12-degrees. The special stability system is called Electric Diwheel with Active Rotation Damping or (EDWARD).

[via Physorg]