TEOSS [gd0037]

Me: Casually scanning through a website I just discovered called This Is Why I'm Broke

HOLD UP!

DOUBLE HOLD UP!! This is the exact line I'm trying to drive here!! How long has this been a thing?!!?

3 weeks ago?!?! Well at least I wasn't out of the loop or anything when I started thinking of this project over 12 months ago. Why do I, a single person, have to be split amongst a dozen and a half projects again?

Anyway, I'm watching the video and other than the whole battery life question, I'm noticing that the floor in most shots are very nice and flat. That... that uh... yeah that's not really the standard in UK pavement technology. It's uh... it's pretty rough. The kind where 5" scooter wheels are going to feel giga-impact if there's no suspension.  I'm also trying to be a bit igcognito here, whereby there cannot be any wheels/springs/etc visible on TEOSS. I don't want to be having to take them off like the woman at 2:54 every time I go into a shop.

At least now I know it's 100% possible to obtain a solution and I've got a price target, which is £1200 (the expected non-kickstarter price). I expect TEOSS to be >£600, and it seems that all my solutions so far are 2x what I expect, so £1200 is probaby in the final solution ballpark BOM. The inventor also said he's been trying to obtain a solution for 5 years and had the assistance of others, so me, singular, only 1 year in isn't too terrible.

I can also start reading the comments and start taking some notes to refine a solution.

Not sure why it took a year of this project sitting in the back of my mind and working on an unrelated project (#Tetent Timespy [gd0136]) , but I just realised that "Timing belts are made of rubber, right? Wouldn't a big enough one be as wear resistant as a regular tyre?"

I wouldn't be suprised if I thought about it briefly but then dismissed it because I was worried about stones and dirt touching the drive gear(s). With a roller scrubber, I doubt it'll be an issue.

They come in a variety of different widths and (more importantly) lengths and they're much cheaper than I was expecting. In the concept, the belt was 100mm. That might be a bit wide. There's always the optiion to go dual 40mm belts for a 80-90mm track, but considering that bike tyre's are nowhere near that, I wonder if a wide track could bring in issues with turning and obstacle avoidance. On the other hand, the thinner the track, the harder it is to balance when stationary or emergency-dodging an obstacle. Since a thin sole reminds me of the shoes below and reduces both cost and complexity for the prototype, I'm going to opt for a 50mm belt.

Next, I looked at the technical specifications of the 8M belt:

All I could tell from the internet is that the UK legal limit for a motorcycle is a tread depth of 1mm (unless it's under 49CC, then as long as it's visible). so I assume >3mm treads when new is good enough for science. Next, I searched for "Neoprene tyre" and the results look promising.

[T] = Thoughts

I'm thinking of not worrying about the grippiness of the track right now so that it doesn't stop me from designing other parts of the boots. As long as it's grippy enough to test as a minimum viable product, it should be good enough.

For the motors, I'm thinking of using these.

For the batteries, I'm thinking of using an 18 - 20S battery along with a 48V voltage regulator. Motor power consistency is important for this specific project. 

For the colour, I'm thinking white. There will also be a strip of bright LEDs for additional visibility.

I'm also low key thinking of picking up this project and merging it to work with TEOSS and gd0039.

I already have an idea of all the other components needed for the project, but the main item, a rubber track that acts like a regular shoe sole when TEOSS is off, is the main hurdle.