A spiked pickup truck and a ball bike: the most unusual developments of designers

Still, the wheel is the most ingenious invention of mankind. Thousands of years have passed since its appearance, but the basic principle does not change: something round is spinning on an axis. Modern wheels differ from their ancient ancestors in the presence of discs and rubber tires. Here, designers are very fond of experimenting with them: they make it softer, then harder, change the tread pattern.

It turns out that the wheels can be triangular, like a figure eight, fan blades, and even pillows. How can a car ride on square wheels and a bicycle on curves? And what do airless and oloid wheels look like? Talks about it program “Science and Technology” with Mikhail Borzenkov on REN TV.

spiked pickup

Long steel studs, rather than the usual studded rubber, are the perfect shoes for a mighty off-road vehicle. So blogger Cody Detweiler decided and equipped his car with wheels that looked more like iron hedgehogs or porcupines.

“It got a little cold at night, the ground is firm, and these are ideal conditions. Gradually it will start to warm up, and we will check how they cope with both ice bumps and mud”says the blogger.

Almost from the first meters it became clear that iron hedgehogs only have an impressive appearance. Under the weight of the pickup, they dug into the ground and lost needles, one bearing flew from the load. And yet with great difficulty, but the car managed to budge.

However, Cody and his friends did not rejoice for long. By that time, it had warmed up, the soil had thawed, and the spiked pickup truck was firmly stuck in the mud.

“The four-inch steel was all bent and even broken. I thought the experiment would last longer. Apparently, such spikes are not the best replacement for ordinary ones.”Detweiler concluded.

Machine on square wheels

Novosibirsk master Vladislav Barashenkov also decided to reinvent the wheel, or rather, to refine it. From what has already been invented, Vladislav took the best: bearings, wheels, rubber. True, I decided to change the shape of the disks and made them not round, but square.

“We got these wheels, funny. The most interesting thing is to test how much power is enough to turn these wheels,” – noted autoblogger Vladislav Barashenkov.

Surprisingly, the car on square wheels, though not fast, but went. Perhaps because Vladislav cheated and made only the rear wheels square. So the car got an undeniable plus – when stopping, there is no need to squeeze the handbrake. On any slope, the car will stand like a glove. Almost ideal transport for mountainous terrain, if not for one “but”.

“On concrete, of course, everything rumbles. You understand, vibration: jumps, jumps”– explained Barashenkov.

Bicycle with curved wheels

Another unusual invention is a bicycle with square wheels. Moreover, the cyclist can ride it without bouncing. The secret is in the right track: each corner falls into a special recess. It turns out that it is comfortable on square wheels and at the same time there is no need to redo all the roads.

The fact is that this is not a square, but a sine wave. This is how the wheels are arranged not only on this bike, but also on some skateboards. California engineers have noticed that this shape improves the handling and speed of the so-called boards. A curved wheel clings to asphalt better and practically does not react to small stones.

“We believe that the shape of the sinusoid was chosen by nature itself. Wherever you look, in nature you will always see the path of a sinusoidal wave: in the ocean, radio waves, the movement of the planets around the sun. Even fish swim the same way, and the gait of people also resembles a sinusoid. Precisely these should be the wheels of cars, especially agricultural machinery”explained Zach Fleischman, head of the sine wave wheel company.

So far, in addition to skateboards, the company has put on curved wheels only a children’s electric car and carts for agricultural machinery trailers. To switch to conventional cars, engineers need to solve the vibration problem. An innovative form is obtained only on solid tires. How to inflate them with air to increase cushioning, the inventors have not yet figured out.

Balloon

Australian blogger Thomas Ward put a bicycle on basketballs. They are fixed in a special cage – a limiter. It is more difficult to fall from such a structure – it is more stable and can move in all directions, even sideways. Thomas started riding balls just for fun. But, it is quite possible that his ball bike became the first signs of the coming wheel revolution.

“Balloons are the wheels of the future. They are incredibly manoeuvrable. With such wheels, new modes of transport can be invented. We propose the concept of a robotic car on “smart” wheels with artificial intelligence that will interact not only with the car, but also with other vehicles and the road environment”– said the technical director of the manufacturer of “smart” wheels Percy Lemaire.

Auto designers from Ohio promise that in a couple of decades, spheres will replace wheels in the form of disks everywhere. Cars will not drive, but levitate. To do this, each area will have its own electric motor and battery. The protectors will become similar to the surface of golf balls. Each recess will be a kind of nest for dozens of sensors. They will analyze coverage, weather and road conditions. But even this revolutionary wheel will have the same shortcomings as its well-deserved ancestor: both disks and spheres with steps and curbs, to put it mildly, are not friendly.

Oloid wheels

Russian scientist Alexei Osokin came up with a wheel that can move equally smoothly both on a flat road and on steps and curbs. After all, it does not ride on them, but rolls over.

“I proposed such an invention, which is a new mover that combines both the wheel and the walking mechanism. It goes forward, waddling, while it does not move like a wheel at each point of its own, but waddling over two points, including wadding over those or some other inconvenience on the ground, and so on”– explained the candidate of physical and mathematical sciences Alexei Osokin.

The invention is based on an oloid – a geometric figure in which two circles intersect at right angles. The oloid was invented and described almost 100 years ago, and even then they were amazed that a strange uneven structure could smoothly roll in a straight line. What is the discovery of Alexei Osokin? Just that he proposed to replace the four standard wheels with two oloids. Moreover, he figured out how to regulate the speed with the help of innovative propulsion devices.

“This distance changes. If the distance changes a lot, very far from each other, then it will go slower, but it will move more reliably. If we have a wheel close to each other, then it will move fast enough”– said the candidate of physical and mathematical sciences.

Airless tire

The wheels of the future should teach the car to fly, according to American auto designers. They replaced conventional discs with propellers, but the rim and tread were not removed. The result is an air car that will be able to move equally successfully both in the sky and on the ground. Moreover, thanks to a special suspension, you can switch to flight mode on the go. First, two diagonal wheels rise, the rotors spin up to the desired speed, the car breaks off the surface and takes off. When landing, everything happens in reverse order.

“This airless tire uses a non-pneumatic design. It is flexible enough to absorb road shocks and strong enough to spin at the high speeds needed to generate vertical lift from the rotors.”– said the vice-president of the manufacturing company Carlos Cipollitti.

With such wheels, people will not be afraid of stairs, curbs, mountains, or stuck elevators. Such a car can be parked not in the yard or underground parking, but right at the window. Unheard of comfort, a real wheel revolution. It is a pity that it is still only in the plans – even a prototype has not yet been created.

About the most incredible achievements of progress, the discoveries of scientists, innovations that can change the future of mankind, see the program “Science and Technology” with host Mikhail Borzenkov on REN TV.