Sometimes we discover our sandals in unexpected places, such as KEEN Newport H2 on Bainbridge Island, Washington with a robot.

A Bicycle Built for Two: One Rider and One Robot To Do All The Work

The project began as a challenge. Carl Morgan’s son Justin, recalling how he used to have to crank up a nasty hill outside their Bainbridge Island, Washington, home every day, asked his dad, a retired electrical engineer, if he could build something that would take care of the pedaling for a lazy biker. The “yes” arrived about a year later- an electric-motor-powered tandem bicycle featuring a gleaming robot named Joules.

Morgan spent months modeling how to transform a motor’s spin into pedalpushing legs. The motor inside Joules s torso turns a series of linked belts and chains that transfer power from one area of the robot to the next. Each upper leg pivots at the hip, raising and lowering its knee and forcing the lower legs to turn the pedals. He also added “bones” (rods on the outside) for needed stiffness.

Morgan was nervous when he climbed in front for the final test, but Joules easily cruised to the top of the hill. The bike could probably do more, even hit 30 mph, but Morgan says he doesn’t plan to find out: “Abject cowardice on my part means we’ll never know for sure.”

-GREGORY MONE

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