Tightrope Walking Cheat Device
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
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It’s pretty hard to walk on a tightrope but I thought I’d have a go. I set up a bar which is a steel scaffold pole and tried my best to walk along it. Sometimes I could almost make it to the end, but most of the time I did far worse than that. It’s a bit easier if you crouch right down and use your arms to help you balance, but standing up tall makes it even harder. Standing still on the spot for any length of time is practically impossible.
But could I make a device that would help me balance?
I’ve built a couple of projects that used reaction wheels to make a device balance on the spot. This is a wheel which rotates and dynamically accelerates in either direction based on the angle of the device. Force equals mass times acceleration, so we only get a reaction force when the wheel is accelerating or changing direction.
But how big would a reaction wheel need to be to help me balance so I can walk all the way down the beam?
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XROBOTS
Former toy designer, current TH-cam maker and general robotics, electrical and mechanical engineer, I’m a fan of doing it yourself and innovation by trial and error. My channel is where I share some of my useful and not-so-useful inventions, designs and maker advice. Iron Man is my go-to cosplay, and 3D printing can solve most issues - broken bolts, missing parts, world hunger, you name it.
XRobots is the community around my content where you can get in touch, share tips and advice, and more build FAQs, schematics and designs are also available.
No officer, I'm not drunk. See, I can walk in a straight line! *Proceeds to put massive spinning reaction wheel of doom on back*
☠️
"sir that's my gun belt"
The moment i had the same idea, your comment scrolls into my view.
Sometimes i think TH-cam orders comments using mind telepathy!
@@TheRainHarvester
"Mind telepathy"
If that different than "penis telepathy"?
We need a follow-up to see if it helps when you get shit-faced
I have been welding all day and for some reason when you started welding I immediately shut my eyes for fear of damage, sleep deprivation is a hell of a drug
Never welded in my life but I did instinctively look away from the monitor when he started welding LMAO
throwin on the safety squints
Good instincts, though!
I watched this video for the second time and each time I squint and hide my eyes/close them, my brain just won't let me. look.
Go to bed instead of watching YT then!
Your hips are like a hinge, which allows the device to think it's upright as long as only your upper body is upright. But if your legs are at a slight angle still, you're not balanced. You need the device to instead stabilize your hips, to keep your legs upright. Not your torso.
Yeah, like either attach the IMU to the legs, or use an RTK solution to keep the center of gravity above the rope/rod.
yeeees :D A tens EMS unit sending Electricity to legs so they are upright
or maybe put the sensor on the hips to get better tilt data?
like a tail? ;-)
@The Lone Creator stop advertising your shit on other people's channels and in unrelated discussions. it's poor form and very rude.
I love your balancing machines! Suggestions for this one:
1) Ring of mass instead of spinning death flower. Reduce the mass for same moment of inertia. I would have tried a bike wheel with a vinyl 2" tube filled with wet sand, capped on each end and zip-tied in place of the tire. Respect for the max effort approach, but man that is a lot of cutting drilling welding screwing for the world's most deadly social-distancing encouragement device.
2) Accelerometer mounted on chest to decouple angle changes of the backpack relative to torso.
3) Ankle supporting work boots to help avoid breaking or spraining an ankle.
4) Control test with static mass on backpack instead of control test with no mass on back. I would guess it's even harder to balance with 30kg load on your back. So the improvement would be much larger than you seemed to observe.
Keep up the great work! You are inspiring!
I laughed out loud at “spinning death flower” hahaha
Real tight rope walkers hold onto a very long bar to balance. You should make a "virtual" long bar. It would be a short bar with reaction control wheels on either end of it to keep it perfectly level and then you hold onto that. When you feel you are tipping one way you would instinctively push or pull the opposite way and the reaction wheels would push or pull back hopefully keeping you upright and balanced.
Just a massy bar that shifts side to side should do it...
i like this idea a lot.. it would almost be like you have a rail to hold onto, only that it's only fixed in one of the 6 degrees of freedom. Would be an odd experience I think.
@@thewillderness7852 A longer bar of the same mass has a greater moment of inertia, and thus undergoes less rotational acceleration with the same moment/torque applied.
Cool idea.
One works just fine so lets make two and mount them at the ends of a pole to add weight, cost and complication to the job.
Says the reaction wheel salesman.
I think that with the amount of practice you put into balancing with your compensator you would likely be able to cross the bar without a huge contraption on your back. Good fun watching the build. 😁
Good point! When I was around 16, a friend and I would walk up to a store regularly. On the way there was a metal railing fence about 15’ long. One day we got the idea to try and walk on it (was about 3 1/2’ high if I recall) and each of lasted only a few steps. We tried some more…then went on.
But after that whenever we walked up to that store we would give it a try, maybe a few times. Was decades ago, but I recall in about a month of this, we were regularly able to walk the whole length about 50% of the time, and even when we didn’t we got pretty far usually before falling off.
Someone doesn't understand engineering. Why would you spend 5 minutes fixing a problem when you can spend days solving it?
lol that was my thought obviously in jest but itd be like a dude designing robotic legs to run a mile faster 😂
A ring of mass would be much more effective than radial spokes of death. The radius of gyration of a ring is pretty much R, while the radius of gyration of a bar placed from the rotating axis to the outer radius is R*(1/sqrt(3)). That means for a given diameter and weight, you are only getting 58% of the rotational inertia you could be getting. Put another way, you could probably reduce the weight from 30kg to 20kg with the same inertia by using a ring design.
They weren't from the rotating axis though, they started most of the way out so not really "spokes", I imagine the radius of gyration wasn't far off of the radius of that wooden wheel with that setup
You are absolutely right. I can't belive he didn't design the mass placement this way
Thanks for this comment
@@stenzenneznets It's fairly easy to see how he wound up with those long spokes:
James is well aware that ring mass distribution is better as demonstrated by his previous 3D printed flywheel designs - they aren't perfect but definitely move the mass outwards
This is the first time he's been moving this much mass around with a reaction wheel, so his initial guess at the required performance was low
Using his initial guess, he built a flywheel with the mass more or less towards the outside, within the limits of a project he needs to build, record and edit in less than a week with room to spare
When that wasn't enough he added steel bar stock to the outside of the wheel
When that still wasn't enough he decided the wheel diameter was too narrow so the next load of weight he added also extended the radius, and then a bit more on the outside
Basically every time he's added weight he's put the new weight as far out as easily possible, he's just been stuck with the existing limits of the design without modifying the already complete parts. I expect if he did a v2 that it would be a larger diameter ring with better mass distribution from the get go. This is just an inevitable consequence of seeing projects like these - since it's just effectively a hobbyist proof of concept you will inevitably see far from optimised designs even from engineers who very much know all the ways the design is suboptimal.
@The Lone Creator super lame, I hope everyone reports your trash for spam
As a physiotherapist, this is very interesting to watch. Your body´s ability to maintain balance is highly dependant on accurate feed-back and feed-forward information, but also the coordination between these two types of information. I guess the same principles can be applied to the device on your back. You basically have two systems trying to do the same task... But without knowing how to work together.
Could this type of device be helpful for any of your patients? Also saw someone suggested a waist height version
@@Idekbru the problem is this works with mass, and patients who are struggling to walk will also struggle to walk with 30+kg on their back
I was thinking this as well, it would be very confusing having both a reaction wheel and your natural reaction against falling. Maybe if it were manually hand controlled, although it would take a lot of training and practice to be able to correct yourself by hand
As psychotherapist, i am very interested too!
@@xXChipsAndGravyXx 😂😂😂
"Now I can safely walk the tightrope"
Halfway, the tightrope breaks under the immense weight.
And this is why tightrope walkers have a really long bar. I think it would be much better with a weight on the end of a bar swinging side to side like a pendulum. If it could extend as it pivoted then that weight can be smaller because the lever will be longer, I hope you revisit this.
This is why the comments are so important. As I too was wondering if what you suggested was a possibility.
Just a little feedback from a physiotherapist on this cool project:
Maybe Put the wheel down at rear center waist level near the body's COG,and shrink it's size and weight by increasing RPM?
It looks like many of the failures to stay on the bar, specially the earlier tries, occur when James instinctively tries to absorb the pushing force by moving his shoulders and hips in opposite directions and thus shifting his center of mass.
If you try to visualize the imaginary people standing on either side pushing him back, I'm pretty sure they would find that pushing his hips is more effective than pushing his shoulders in keeping him balanced.
So I definitely agree that this would probably work much better with the reaction wheel at or slightly above waist level.
@@iwanwesterduin It would also be more practical for someone to nudge him in the hips or ribs, compared to the shoulders, if the bar is more than 15 cm off the ground. So that would probably seem more "normal" if he's perceiving this as "helpers pushing him back up".
Increasing rpm brings the issue of acceleration time. In order to gain the appropriate effect you'd need a motor that could reliably bring the reaction wheel up to top speed in a short time. And he already seems to be using a pretty powerful motor, with a 2:1 reduction as well for extra speed.
when i saw the steel pipe you balanced across, i thought you made a mechanism to roll the pipe back and forth to help with balancing, that would be really interesting
I have 2 suggestions.
1- Instead of extending the force arm, you can reduce the size of the disc in half and increase its weight.
2- You can use 2 separate motors and balancers. When you want to turn in the opposite direction, you cut off the power of the first motor and start rotating the second motor, that is the disk.
I'm watching with pleasure. Good work
I know I’m late and people probably already told you, but when tig welding you should keep the gun on the weld after you stop the current, the gas will flow for a few seconds as the weld cools and no air will get into your freshly laid bead. 👍
I would recommend a linear mass, instead of a wheel:
In a rigit robot, the wheel applies a rotational momentum, which directly transfers (by friction to the ground) as a lateral force compensating the fall. In a soft body like a human body, most of the rotational momentum just transfers as bending force on your spin, which is mostly absrobed by it and the legs, putting very little lateral force on your feets.
If self-balancing is produced by an horizontal linear actuator (imagine a heavy horizontal bar, that the motor is moving left or right). I believe this would much better transfer as a help to keep balance for your upper-body. Obviously, it can't keep moving left/right indefinitively, so the software must overshot slightly to then recover the center of the axis.
You can test this manually, by handling the horizontal heavy bar yourself with two hands. You will notice how easier is to keep the balance with the help of the bar.
A linear mass on a single axis would still apply a significant torque to your hips so would have a similar problem but also be far more cumbersome. IMHO 2 key things would make this work far better - a more optimised flywheel as mentioned by others and just a bit of practice, letting his brain get a feel for walking with the wheel on. Admittedly practice would also make him better at walking a tightrope without a flywheel, but it would likely take *a lot* less practice to get good with a flywheel than to walk a tightrope without one.
Isn't that what tightrope walkers do with a long balance pole?
@@1944GPW Yes, but using a flexible pole that hangs below them to lower their COG as much as possible. James doesn't have the space for such a setup. In that case the walker is also the one in control, having it computer controlled would be much trickier to learn to walk with I imagine
"I'm so good at walking on a tightrope that I can do it with this giant machine on my back 😎"
Maybe it's cool for crossing a beam, but imagine this for a person who is trying to walk again after an injury (or paralysis)-they may be strong enough to bear the load of the reaction wheel, but lack the fine motor control to do it.
A man walked across two buildings
James: walking in a straight pipe is impossible
I think it would be really cool to see a wearable robotic tail that mimics how other animals use theirs to help keep you balanced. I've seen a few designs but most of the ones I've seen are closed source prototypes, and I'd love to see how you'd approach it. I personally would find that rather useful as I have horrible balance 🤣
make it plug-in type too to commercialize it ;)
@@treasure8213 you look like the type of fella to be into that
Want tail!
Humans don't need a tail. We gave it up for a phat a$$ that does the same thing.
No, really, we have big butt so that running is easier.
The issue is lack of feedback to the brain from the tail. Tails work because of the way the brain views things attached to its spinal column.
My mom broke her tailbone, and it healed crooked. As a result, she stands and walks crooked because her coccyx healed crooked, and her brain is trying to orient herself according to the angle her coccyx healed in
I've really been enjoying all of the larger-scale projects with the other workshop. Nice change of pace!
Wouldn't a gyroscope based balance system be better? You can compensate for lower mass by spinning it faster. Also mount it lower, closer to your center of mass. Great video.
Also, one in front and one behind to compensate for the torsion that must be generating.
Came here to write the same thing, but knew already someone though about it so kudos to you my friend. :)
Less mass more speed.
i doubt this would work. two gyroscopes spinning in opposite directions would cancel the torsion, but also cancel the gyroscopic effect. the smart way to do it is to have a gyroscope ring around the waist. but be careful because you might end up gyroscopically precessing on the middle of your tight rope.
I've seen a lot of completely pointless inventions, but this one definitely crosses the line !
Awesome !!!
Very cool to watch. It seems like when the wheel changes its direction, it somehow push you out of your way. I would suggest to use two wheels, one spinning clockwise, and the other anti-clockwise, at the same time. In doing so, you will have a much more quick response to maintain the equilibrium. (Adjust the angular velocities in such way that the total angular momentum can change quicker).
the reaction wheel works on acceleration, not speed. it is instantly providing torque regardless of if the direction changed yet
I am loving your projects branching into more wood and metal working. It opens up so many doors for you going forward. Great work james!
I just found your excellent channel!
Having practiced and thought about balancing (myself, using myself, with varied and escalating challenges, tools to assist and give feedback) a lot, I LOVE and am inspired by this idea (and it gives me some new ones)!
A couple thoughts that might be helpful:
1. As you said, our squishy, twitchy, uncalibrated, non-rigid bodies tend to react somewhat chaotically w/re: handling sudden, unexpected changes in acceleration..well, to do what gymnasts do, these things are controlled with strong, simple body postures and muscular tension..effectively reducing the number of moving parts while increasing robustness of postural integrity..which simplifies force handling.
In your case, consider these tips:
- Hips tucked
- Tight core
- Squeeze glutes
- Knees slightly bent
- Arms straight
- Head neutral
If you spend a little bit of time practicing this posture..going over the points of focus repeatedly, trying to strengthen each one and your ability to maintain them all..I think you'll find that it makes your body more straightforwardly compatible with your device.
2. Rather than making your weights heavier or the arms longer, what about maximizing weight distribution toward the ends of the arms?
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Great stuff - subbed! ,{^_^}"
It would be interesting to see how this does compared to a simple balance compensation pendulum. You could get that by simply removing all the weights on half the reaction wheel. Let the weight sink to the bottom and then program the controller to swing the weight from side to side to keep your balance.
That would also be a lot less dangerous, if it worked, but I suspect it would saturate really easily because of the restricted range of motion.
@@mal2ksc Well, think about it. It is the same as shifting the weight of a balance rod from side to side of a traditional walker. The only problem is if you start to fall faster than the correction can match the rate of increase of angular momentum. But, if it is tracking that all along the way, that should not happen.
i don't think that's safe, you change a spinning wheel that's really dangerous, with a hammer that swings in the back.
and it need more force to move a big mass needed to compensate the force and gravity of a single heavy object.
i don't know how hard it's to make something like that accurate enought, but sure it's a interesting idea.
1:33 But who sponsored.... the... 3D printing... filament...? for this episode?
4:06 Oh, thank goodness! This really is a James Bruton video
Next step : Slackline !
hang the mechanism under the slackline to control the slackline and not the person. Beware of falls.
something like this on a spacesuit could be lifesaving
You know I can appreciate the sketchiness of this project, nice job!
love how he actually welds and not the start stop stuff of other videos
I'm sure these have great effect, but I'm curious to see how your abilities on the bar improved after walking it a number of times improved compared to how the machine was assisting.
I think attaching the devise a little bit lower than now, to a weight point, can increase capability of that device and improve stability of the user. Because in that set up that is pushing shoulders and that is too high and can be reason to fall cuz of out of balance
This is brilliant! My Dad could have done with something like this in his later years as he was getting unsteady on his feet due to vascular dementia. Perhaps instead of scaling up the wheel and mass, you could increase the acceleration instead, and as other people have said, move it lower down to avoid the "squishiness" of your core.
And you really think He (ur dad) will be comfortable with all the weight of this device?
@@MichelAngeCalderon That's why I suggested not scaling up the mass but focussing on increasing the acceleration. He was a pretty strong old bloke when his balance started going.
you made my day :)
like futurama, where the professor explains his new engine is moving the universe, but not the spaceship.
" i dont need skill, I need SCIENCE"
This is like some insane steampunk weapon. Imagine tackling someone while wearing that while it's spinning.
I feel like filling the box steel up with sand or metal beads would have been a good way to add more weight.
Could I add a bunch of 18650s for power and weight.
Perhaps put something a bit safer like a ring of cast metal like an actual flywheel.
@@jtjames79 some depleted uranium should be pretty heavy
As an alternative design option that would allow for more power for lighter weight / weaker motor input:
Imagine to counter-rotating flywheels which you spin up to speed slowly before even starting. You siphon energy off of them by applying a break to slow them down this is the instantaneous 'jolt' you're looking for to push yourself in the opposite direction (ideally it's a weak break or a very brief one, so you only take a portion of their energy). A smaller motor can continually rev them back up to speed - this will take a longer time than the breaking so it won't apply as much of an off-balancing force during the rev up part of the process.
Two wheels so you can break one or the other based on which direction you need to tilt towards.
The only thing I'll note is that a design like this starts to pose a safety hazard if your fly wheels are holding enough energy, it'd be more applicable for some of those robot designs than as a wearable device for humans.
Super cool!
Would be cool to see you try out more designs and have a longer beam to test on. Would having more wheels spinning help with reducing the mass?
Now this is an interesting idea! I’m looking forward to any improvements on this reaction wheel balancer lol
If looking for ideas for an updated version: Perhaps a ring of mass would be safer to rotate than the current box tubes, maybe moving the reaction wheel toward the hips would allow for better transfer through center of mass and increase accuracy as the leg angles and torso angles are different for balance
We've come along way, since that photo called "Lunch Atop A Skyscraper".
That's a frightening amount of energy very close to your elbows!
Good to see all the safety gear at work during the build though, something that is often missing from TH-cam content.
Tilt your head back too far and you're going have a bad problem (and will not balance on a bar today).
This needs to be in a movie
a lesser ratio and larger speeds would accomplish the exact same thing as more mass.
Reducing the gear ratio to increase the reaction wheel's top speed also reduces how quickly the reaction wheel can accelerate. It looks like James struck a pretty good compromise between acceleration and top speed, but it's hard to tell just by watching.
@@liambohl but the reduced mass increases acceleration so they cancel out just now with less gearing and less overall mass but the same effect on his body.
Great Video. Glad you stepped away from 1 wheeled robots for a bit. My favorite line: "But yea, I started to add some more steel to that"...
Get rid of the box steel near the center of rotation. Put all the weight on the outside of the circle. The pack will weigh less and have more power to balance you.
Incredible engineering. If the motor was powerful enough, the impulse, or jerk from the flywheel spinning up could mean that less weight would be necessary. Great idea for diving suits.
If that motor had more torque that would be neat.
Would allow a diver to maintain balance especially against tidal forces.
Looks like a massive quality of life improvement for walking while drunk enthusiasts!
You want drunk people with high speed wheels of spinning steel chunks stumbling around the street...?
The momentum is made by the X-distance between the tube and the centre of the body mass. While the current device detects the angle of Z axis of the body. So the device won't help when the body is falling strait. Also, it will push the balanced body when it is tangled. Even more, when the body is just started falling and is tangled in a different side, the device will help to fall faster.
no officer i am not drunk - I can walk perfect straight line ( puts on gyroscope backpack)
this is one of the coolest ways to break a rib i have ever seen
3D print yourself a spacer (like washer, but about 50x thicker) you can fit over your drill bit so when you drill through some hard surface (steel) you don't ram the chuck of the drill into the steel, and/or ram the drill bit into the other side on the inside of the steel bar.
James Bruton: *" **-Making a Tightrope Walking Device-** Making a Giant Portable Sundial"*
An OSHA manual caught fire during the making of this video.
Similar idea, something that help you doing back flip.
What
As a bonus, you can slot knives into the box sections to defend against malicious persons trying to push you off the rope.
As impractical and dangerous as it would be, imagine a tall building that used a system like this that was balanced on a small point.
nice work! by the end of the video you should have tried walking on the rod without wearing the mechanism to compare to your balance skills at the beginning of the video. so we can see if it really worked or if you got good at walking on the rod.
In this episode: James Bruton constructs his Iron Halo.
for your next project, maybe make a self balancing monocycle, the giant ones used in circuses
Sometimes I feel like I am listening to a NASCAR driver giving an interview with all the sponsor spots this guy has in his videos.
Yeah, I'm with the other commenters, what you need the reaction wheel to push against is your hips, so that's where it should be attached. Additionally, I don't think you need a complete wheel, you could accomplish the same thing with a heavy pendulum. You're still getting a reaction-wheel-like effect, but you're also getting a reaction mass effect (heh, mass effect). As you fall to the right the mass will be turned to the left which will not only give you a torque that pushes you left, but the mass will shift your center of mass to the left as well. Basically, I'm suggesting you create a mechanical tail.
My main mean of transportation is actually a electric unicycle. 50 - 100 km range depending on riding style costs around 50 cent. My wheel is a Leaperkim Patton.
*device malfunctions and flings James into a wall*
Sports doc here... love this. Try to put the reaction wheel at your center of gravity. My take would be that this was too high.
Gonna walk around with an entire ass gyroscope in my arms from now on because falling over would make me stand out and be embarrassing
As someone who are doing slackline, I can't relate to the idea of not being able to stand in one spot on a rigid rod :D Nice video though!
Not sure how but this feels like it could have practical use somehow. Would love to see if a waist version works as someone mentioned above and if it could be more compact with different materials
“Caught beneath the wheel of progress!”
This is really neat! I just happen to see Junkrat when I see this in your back :0
Would the weight at the hips make it more stable? It seems like your spine absorbs most of the balance correction, which may help eliminate some of that dampening if the wheel was down lower; supported by a lower center of gravity. Then again, IDK
The origin story of every super villains back attachments
I couldn't place why your gait with it looked familiar, but you had already read my mind! That's definitely how ASIMO walks.
Look up the Greasy Pole, I would love to use this for that, its happening near me and I am going! Imagine seeing me on tv with that on making it all the way to the end...!
Ok, now make one for my grandma so she doesn't fall anymore... Thanks!
I'm not sure if you're aware but when Tig welding the tungsten should never touch the part. Idk if ur machine is broken causing u to have to start the arc by touching the metal but this is not needed and damages the tip causing awful weld quality. If ur arc isn't starting it's because the tip is not sharp, the tip needs to be very sharp for the arc to start on its own without touching the part
The issue is your sense of balance, and balance is more than inner ear / brain signal chemistry but also hand-eye coordination, muscle strength and conditioning. Especially for your legs and back. Since you are missing that you are essentially addressing the wrong flaw.
I wonder if this could help people with vestibular issues. Very cool!
The force that that device can impart on you is likely limited by the torque of the motor. If you had a stronger motor on the same size unit, it could accelerate the wheel faster and impart more force.
Use two counter rotating wheels, spinning at a speed counter acting each other. Then one spins up and the other spins down to help with the balance. No need to stop and spin the other way.
that's so cool and actually seems useful.
i think tightropes are ropes (aka flexible) so that you can shift the rope itself in order to push your body back toward the center of gravity. In other words, its much harder to balance on a stiff beam than a rope. When you move your feet to the left/right you have a better angle to push against in order to move your body back to the center line. I'm not sure if it makes sense or how to explain it in words
That actually looked like quite the improvement. Nice work
It's so funny where our various areas of expertise take us. A human could do this on their own, or a human could create a robot to help them. It all depends on where you invest your time and energy that determines how you approach solving the problem.
Defo one of the most mad scientist projects you've done... can imagine this demo being a hit at events if H&S allow!!
You know how many tight rope walkers carry long bars? Maybe you could make something that sits at the small of your back that holds a 4-5 foot bsr and uses the same balancing detecting and instead of spinning, it slides the bar between wheels left or right accordingly. I'd think the bar and having it lower towards the rope/pipe would work faster than the wheel on your back. It just isn't as compact. 🙂 Your videos get recommended all the time and they're always super interesting. Between you and stuff Made Here(and many others I don't know about), a budding engineer could really get their creative juices flowing. I think I'll subscribe now😁
Welcome to the channel. If you have a balancing kink, this is the place to be.
...then i forgot those spinning blades on my back, and well, now i have no hands. 🤣🤯
Everytime you walk the pole, you're also slightly calibrating your brain to balance yourself better.
You'll probably get a bigger improvement by putting in a faster, more powerful motor, than you'll get by making your reaction wheel bigger. Just make sure the wheel doesn't fly apart!
Change the axle to be in line with your shoulders and spin the wheel up like a gyroscope. It would work like a spinning bike tire and give you something to 'push' against and you would have no problem.
That looks dangerously fun!
Lower the center of gravity, and you don't have to worry about your body absorbing the reaction. Also, might be able to lighten the load if it's at your hips.
I think the problem is the delay for the wheel to start spinning. I think a gyroscode would be better solution. Have the wheel(s) sping all the time and have movable weight of the wheel operated by (fast) actuators. The weights do not have be huge, the speed of the wheel multiplies the force. ISS weight 420 tons and small (size of truck tire) gyroscope move it.
The walk home from the bar machine
I'm glad you think these things through pretty well. I could just see the headlines now if I were the one to attempt this. "Man attempts to create a backpack robot to help him balance which rips out his spine."
Can we all band together and get this poor man a drill press?
I'm worried you'll swing your arms backwards and the machine will break your arm.
With a compact lightened version I really think this could help people who’ve been through trauma and have difficulty with motor control.
James, another excellent vid. When can we expect another iteration of the flying bird?