A robotics expert has created a motorised bike that has balls instead of wheels.
James Bruton, based in Hampshire, has created what he calls an ‘omni-directional’ bike, which uses the same balls used by circus acrobats.
Bruton told the BBC his drive was to create videos people want to click on – and he has succeeded.
The YouTube video documenting how he built the bike has received 8.5m views since it was published three months ago on Bruton’s channel, which has 1.37m subscribers.
Bruton, who used to work in IT and was a toy maker before becoming a content creator, has previously built three other omni-directional bikes, which grew in complexity.
The first simply adapted a standard bike with a motorised ‘omni-wheel’ at the front, the second was a bike with two omni-wheels, and the third had four wheels and could move in any direction.
For his latest omni-directional bike, Bruton used 11 3D printers. He had to import motor parts from America and the 2ft balls from the Netherlands.
The bike uses omni-wheels, which are essentially wheels with smaller wheels around the edge, to drive each ball and prevent the bike from falling over.
Bruton’s description for the video documenting his invention says: “This bike balanced like a Segway sideways, and drives in all directions, which makes it the ultimate drift bike!”
