Using a bit of tech to make up for a lack of skill is a time-honoured tradition, otherwise known as cheating among those who acquired the skill the hard way. Learning to wheelie a skateboard is usually paid for in bruises, but [blezalex] got around that by letting his electric skateboard handle the balancing act.
At first glance the board looks and rides like an average DIY electric skateboard, with an off-the-shelf a dual hub motor truck, VESC speed controllers and a wireless throttle. The party trick appears when the front wheel is popped off the ground, which activates the secret self-balancing mode. At this point a STM32F401 dev board and MPU-6050 IMU take over control of the motors, which is in turn controlled by leaning forward or backwards, like a hoverboard. The remote throttle turns into a dead man switch, which cuts power to the motors when released.
[blezalex] says he has had less that an hour of skateboard time in his life before getting on this one, which is a good testament of just how well it works. The biggest challenge was in getting the board to turn while on two wheels, which was solved by sensing side-to-side tilt of the board with the IMU and applying proportional differential torque to the wheels. With a bit of practice it’s also possible to smoothly shift between riding modes while moving.
We think this is a really elegant cheat, now we need to build one of our own. Fortunately the STM32 firmware and instructions are all up on GitHub. Building your own electric skateboard has ..
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