Omnidirectional Remote Control Skateboard

Most skateboards go forwards under human power, while a relatively small number add a motor or two to make them go automatically. Proto G Engineering’s custom sheet metal skateboard, however, can travel forwards, backwards, left, and right, while rotating in either direction. In fact, it moves more like a “land drone” than a skateboard, as demonstrated in the first video below.

The trick to this skateboard is that is employs four hoverboard-style brushless hub motors, with 3D-printed Mecanum-style “treads” on the outside. With these mechanical bits worked out, all that is needed to accomplish its unusual movement is the proper input mixing. This is achieved here via a Taranis remote control unit, and an Arduino Nano is used for each of the hub motors to translate the RC PWM signal into the proper format for the motor drivers.

Two 18V Makita batteries are wired in series for power, which produce 21V each, or 42V total, when fully charged. A GoPro is mounted to a gimbal to give Proto G a remote first-person view when driving, with the video signal transmitted over a 5.8 GHz wireless link.

It’s amazing to see the device moving around by itself, however, the question you’re probably asking is “can you ride it?” Since two hub motors can move a human by themselves, four provide more than enough power. However, the motor drivers in use now don’t perform well enough at low RPMs to use safely. Proto G “may” have found this out the hard way, and at this point he’s waiting for the NearZero2 drivers to be available to create a more rideable version!

You can see it demonstrated in the videos below, and even more can be found on his recent YouTube uploads.