The Weird, Wonderful Science of How Bicycles Balance Themselves

There's a whole new science of how to balance bike-share stations. The idea may sound overly academic, but there's a practical outcome: an empty station means no one can rent, and a full station means no one can drop off. We joked that the ideal solution would be bikes capable of riding themselves to different stations—except that they'd fall over on the way, for lack of (yes) balance.

Well it turns out some bikes are actually quite good at balancing themselves, and that there's a whole science devoted to this area of inquiry, too. Just have a look at the following video, courtesy of Cornell robotics professor Andy Ruina and Arend Schwab of Delft University of Technology. Here, a dinged-up, seatless, mustard-yellow, otherwise unspectacular old bicycle somehow rides itself all the way across a parking lot—no human required: