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Prix2001
Prix 1987 - 2007

 
 
Organiser:
ORF Oberösterreich
 


DISTINCTION
Powersphere
Martin Leonhartsberger


Powersphere is, to put it simply, a remotecontrolled vehicle, which differs from conven-tional vehicles available on the market in its form and type of construction. The sphere itself consists of two Plexiglas halves. The two halves are joined through the main axis and the bearing units on the left and right. The sphere draws electricity from two battery blocks. There is a drive controller and a receiver between the two batteries.

A drive unit that hangs from the ball-bearing central axis propels the friction wheel that turns on the inside surface of the sphere. The momentum from the weight of the drive unit moves the sphere. It is steered through the main shaft. The servomechanism moves the two weights out from the center. This shifts the sphere's center of gravity. Consequently, the sphere turns over. Since the sphere always moves around the center of gravity, it rolls a curve.

The project Powersphere was originally made as part of construction exercises 1999/2000. The assignment here was to construct a remote-controlled vehicle. Since our group (five people at that time) found this too boring, the idea of the sphere was born. A prototype was built that year in the workshop. I picked up on this idea again for the competition Cybergeneration u19 Freestyle Computing and constructed the vehicle completely new on the computer using the 3D CAD software Pro/Engineer. My aim was to visualize the ball in 3D and calculate the components. In this way, I got rid of the errors of the first construction and changed the basic technical concept in several places. I also refurbished the prototype.