How Does Vibe Work?

The Vibe self-balances in one axis using the motor power and uses the gyroscopic effect to keep upright while moving, like a normal bike would. In technical terms the problem we're solving is called the inverted pendulum problem.

To help break down what is happening, we can refer to the following illustration.

At t = 0 the Vibe is at it's resting state, completely upright. When the user leans forward this induces a tilt (t = 1) in the vehicle due to the center of mass falling off the axle vertical line. The tilt is registered by the IMU and the motor controller applies power to the motor (proportional to the tilt), inducing a correction to reduce the angle ø to zero, trying to bring the vehicle to its vertical position (setpoint). When this is done hundreds of times a second, the vehicle starts moving in the direction the user is leaning.