Urban Wheel: Revolutionizing Mobility with Self-Balancing Technology

Designer Weinan Yang's Award-Winning Electric Unicycle Redefines Urban Transportation

Observing existing self-balancing vehicles such as unicycles, scooters, and hoverboards, Yang identified an opportunity to enhance the user experience. The Urban Wheel, unlike its predecessors, is designed for a sitting posture. This allows users to place their feet on the ground when necessary, making it easier to learn and safer to ride. Despite its compact and ergonomic design, the Urban Wheel retains the advantage of portability.

The Urban Wheel is a testament to the power of self-balancing technology. It is constructed with an injection-molded plastic housing, a leather seat, and an aluminum alloy footrest. The product dimensions are 292mm x 372mm x 713mm, with the wheel measuring 118mm x 356mm x 356mm. The battery and controller dimensions are both 55mm x 90mm x 190mm.

When riding the Urban Wheel, users rest their hands on the rear handles. This provides balance on both sides of the center of gravity and allows for easy forward and backward movement. The design process, which took place in Hangzhou from January to May 2015, involved building functional prototypes and testing them with users. The findings from these tests informed the final design, which was exhibited at Zhejiang University in June 2015.

One of the main challenges in designing the Urban Wheel was finding a posture that allowed users to balance stably and control the unicycle flexibly. After numerous adjustments to the position and proportion in the functional prototypes, Yang arrived at the chosen posture. The Urban Wheel is a bi-wheel unicycle, which reduces the difficulty of balancing on the left-right axis.

The Urban Wheel was awarded Silver in the A' Vehicle, Mobility and Transportation Design Award in 2017. This prestigious accolade is given to top-of-the-line, creative, and professionally remarkable designs that demonstrate outstanding expertise and innovation. The Urban Wheel, with its strong technical characteristics and splendid artistic skill, certainly fits this description.