Each foot has a ski length thing with a small bicycle wheel
at
each end a handle comes up from the base. Unlike a
scooter,
the handle extends from the from to the back of the skate,
so
it's like a handrail. The wheelbase is long to prevent them
tipping forward or backward, and you can hold
onto the
handrails to prevent yourself falling forwards or backwards
(rather than depending on your ankle). Your ankle doesn't
prevent falling forward or backward, because a hinge
allows
forward-backward tilt of the ski part to be independent of
your foot angle. The hinge doesn't allow for sideways tilting
though, it can only tilt sideways along with your whole leg.
You wear boots that give good support.
The wheels are ratcheted so you can push against the
ground
to move forward, either in a running or sliding motion. The
weight distribution has the centre of mass of the "scooter"
at
the foot hinge, so there's no tendency to tilt forward or
back
when it's lifted off the ground and moved forward or back.
You can tilt it forward or back using the handle however.
There's a brake hand control on each handle, and
accelerator.
Use of the accelerator is optional as the ratchet mechanism
lets you use it as a human powered system.
The steering mechanism steers the front wheel in the
direction you tell it to turn, and the back wheel the
opposite
way.
The steering control is by turning your foot left or right. If
you're already moving, it just steers with the wheels. If
you're
not already moving, it depends how far you turn your foot.
At
first it just steers the wheels proportionally to how much
you've turned your foot. Once you've turned far enough to
rotate on the spot, the steering stays there for a bit, so you
can turn using the ratchet mechanism. And when you go a
bit
further than that, it powers the wheels to turn you. The
steering input is scaled so you don't have to turn your foot
90
degrees or further to rotate on the spot.
You can use scooter skates in several ways:
Hold the brakes and walk. Slide forward and back using the
ratchet. Run using the ratchet (this may be tricky if you're
letting go of the handles). Drive along using motor power,
then step over obstacles.
The idea's loosely inspired by Tachikomas from the TV show
Ghost in the Shell. They were quadruped robots with feet
that
also functioned as wheels. It made a really versatile
combination. Ever since seeing them I've been trying to
work
out a wearable way to combine wheels with the stability of
4
wheels instead of 2, but keeping some of the versatility of
legs/feet instead of having fixed wheels like a skateboard
or
car.