Engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA), led by Associate Professor Joohyung Kim, have created a one-wheeled Ringbot robot that could work in delivering goods in the future.

In this case, a unicycle is a vehicle in which the rider sits on a motorized platform mounted on a ring-shaped rail; This rail forms the inside of the large wheel. The platform maintains its position parallel to the ground, the wheel rotates around it and the machine moves forward.

The Ringbot is equipped with a wheel with a diameter of 515 mm; It includes a nylon-carbon composite rim and a sturdy elastomer tire. Inside the rim are two motor drive modules connected by a spiral cable; these rotate the rim with the help of small gears. The modules also include robotic legs that can extend laterally. When one of these arms is extended, the center of gravity of the machine shifts and the moving wheel makes a turn. When the ringbot lies down, the extended leg acts as a stand, a means of lifting it from a horizontal position or rotating it in place. During the tests, the vehicle could accelerate to 5 km/h.

The author of the project believes that in the future, Ringbot can be made on a larger scale and the mechanism can be equipped with a camera, sensors and satellite navigation module. Such a car will be able to freely overcome traffic jams as the delivery of goods – an autonomous analogue of modern couriers on bicycles and motorcycles. The study was partially funded by Hyundai Motor Group.