There's an interesting bit of history that was -never- going to be a decent design for a car. Single-person, low speed, and a high-speed heavy-weight gyro just waiting for a collision to turn it into shrapnel. I'm still trying to figure out how anyone could claim that it wouldn't slide...with only two wheels, it's going to get -far- less traction than a four wheeled vehicle.

Alsaadi Tareq tests Spartan Quark Gyro & Rapicon Fuel - Trex has been added as a related post - related requested by mxxcon.

*related=https://videosift.com/video/Alsaadi-Tareq-tests-Spartan-Quark-Gyro-Rapicon-Fuel-Trex

The recipe shown is http://allrecipes.com/recipe/220274/easy-chicken-gyro/

I'd probably use Cos lettuce rather than iceberg (which my least favourite salad herb).

For a veggie version - http://ohmyveggies.com/grilled-veggie-gyros-with-creamy-cucumber-dill-sauce/

It will be a boon to those with hip or knee injuries who don't want to take the balancing weight at intersections and aren't ready to buy a trike yet.

I'd like to see the gyro setup in this.

"Absolute safety by design"

- open props and the passenger has to pass between them to get into the cockpit. all it takes is a false ignition or some other mistake after it lands , and the person is cut in half.

- drone design. just one of the 4 engines fails, and that shit drops to the ground like a brick, because it has no gliding properties and it can't autorotate like a helicopter or gyro, and at the height it will operate, I doubt a parachute would be of any use.

yeaaaahh... Not really anxious to try one out

Forget about the camera, I want to know more about the advanced gyro-stabilizer installed in the biker...

I think the head is magnetically attracted to the ball with some powerful neo magnets, and the head has enough gyros and wheels to drive around on the ball.

I think the bottom ball has spinning gyros as well used to propel it.

Yeah there are slap bands out there, but they don't work like this is presented to work. The arms would have to bend in multiple dimensions, and then straighten out and be able to provide a stable flying platform. The closest thing I think of for doing something like that is the "bendy" character toys where the metal wire is co-molded inside the body. That is a very heavy solution.
I misspoke on the 2" square, it is 2" x 2", so 4" square. I'm not sure that I agree that theirs is 6" x 3", but even if it is that would mean that the prop size would have to be about 1.25" and that doesn't work for a 6" x 3" vehicle. There isn't enough thrust and the motors at that size don't provide enough RPM's for that kind of weight.
On the electronic side, they show it connecting to a smart phone with video feedback. That means you have to have bluetooth at least, or a 5.4ghz video system if you want more than 30' range. or it has to have a Wifi TX on it. All of those thing require power. Sure it could analyze the video signal to determine subject matter, and provide guidance but you have some very serious issues there. If you do it on board it requires some processor power (More drain), if you do it on the smart phone app it will create lag.
Your phone has over 1,000 mAh in it (1440 in Iphone 5), that is a TON (4-10x) more than what this thing would have. Battery technology may be a big research project right now, but there isn't anything on the horizon that will get them to where they need to be. Most of the tech research is in sub 1C rated batteries for things like full size cars. Something like this needs a 10C rating minimum if not a 20C rating. Unfortunately most of the upcoming technology can not handle drains that fast. Things tend to go "Boom!". When you do something small, and even 6" x 3" is small, you have very serious power vs weight issues. It all comes down to issues of power density, and nothing exists today that will give it to them as they would need..

So right now these guys need to figure out:
1) A new light weight material that can lock rigid but also bend as needed in multiple directions.
2) A new battery technology that allows them to get the power they need, for a 6 axis gyro, 4 motors, control board,a RX, a HD camera and some sort of VTX while reducing weight. How long it powers all of that would be open, but if it is under 10 minutes I think people would be a little disgruntled. Right now people are wanting the video quads to get about 30-45 minutes of flight time on the 5200+mAh batteries.
3) Write code that allows them to analyze video in real time so as to provide object tracking and avoidance without lag while capable of running on a smartphone. It would also need to return to home when the battery runs low. That would be a little tricky on a cliff face, or if you are riding a bike through a forest. Another issue is that they tilt the camera down, they don't say if this is actuated, or done by hand, but it could lead to serious issues with programming object avoidance if you can't see anything above you.
4) Since they show the image as HD on the phone screen, they would also need to come up with a new way to broadcast HD video wirelessly. Right now that system costs $40K and is rather large.

All in all it is a dream product that people are going to get suckered into funding it. Some tech may come out of it that could be monetized, but I don't see the item coming out in this format, at least not in the next 3-5 years. You'd be better off going with AirDog.

Is bikers just like, falling over a big problem or something? What problem is this invention solving exactly? I mean, I guess if it has airbags and a seat belt then it might protect you from moderate collisions and fender benders.

So yah. It doesn't look as nippy as a proper bike, it restricts the bikers vision and it makes you look like a dork. I also couldn't help but notice that they don't show it going around a corner. Or turning at all actually.

Maybe they should just do away with the gyro, add a third wheel an....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5
Oh, nvm then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ9FbGArmZQ#t=52

It's got 2 digitally controlled heavy gyroscopes in it. That link should start it where they show they gyro system.

I've never liked this guy (something about his "inner" voice reminds me of a child-molester), but that he said Gyro inaccurately makes me hate him completely. In a sense.

Just an educated guess but I suspect it's a tiny correction for wind drift which has been exaggerated by the camera angle.

The effects I think your referring to are called the "Coriolis" effect and "Gyro drift" and while they would have a similar effect this is seems like far too short of a range for them to come into play even at the relatively low velocity of that shell. That said its possible that with such a big round like that sabot "gyro drift" and maybe some sort of torque effect from leaving the barrel might be at work...

Gyro drift is due to the fact that the spinning bullet/shell starts to be pulled out of line by gravity causing the originally stable oscillation to slowly get knocked out of whack dragging the nose of the round out of line causing the round to pull slightly towards the direction it's spinning (though with a stable modern round this is very very subtle and only really comes into play at at least 1-2mile plus ranges).

The Coriolis effect is due to the fact that the earth itself is spinning. Over very long ranges the earth itself moves relative to the path of the round and so for 1-2mile plus shots one may need to compensate depending on the velocity and ballistic properties of the round. (this is why snipers tend to operate as a team because the maths and reference material necessary to account for all this plus standard bullet drop, variable wind conditions, atmospherics etc. etc. as well as maintaining situational awareness is a big ask for one person.)

Like I said though it seems unlikely they would have such a pronounced effect at such a relatively short range, the camera angle is definitely exaggerating what ever is going on there.


EDIT: I just watched it again, pretty sure it's just the camera angle (camera is slightly off to the left) I think the shell looks like it's actually travelling dead straight.

Oooh! Want.

Edit: Ok, I don't have 7k, but it's just a gyroscope and a no-tip type assembly, right (like a mini one of those multi-axis spin thingies you can strap yourself into)? Should be easy enough to make something workable.

Edit again: The second video thumbnailed at the end is impressive as well.

And a gyro.