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I'm really curious to evaluate the following:

Instead of a remote control with buttons to control the speed/braking of the board...

What if it had a pressure pad on top so that it would accelerate when you put more weight on the front [1], and brake when you put weight on the rear. How would that control scheme compare (after getting used to it)?

[1] - The opposite arrangement wouldn't work, because it would create a feedback loop that'd drop you out of control. As you put more weight back, it accelerates, shifting your weight more back, accelerating even harder.



Zboards do this. In practice, I found the pressure pads extremely clunky. They were very sensitive to foot positioning, and rather all or nothing on the acceleration.

http://www.zboardshop.com/


Cool. But the way I imagine it, it should definitely be a smooth transition rather than all/nothing.


That would probably not work, since braking puts all your weight to the front of the board (which would then make it accelerate). Remote controls works very well in my experience.


Then explain why the Segway works.


You could compensate for that by braking harder.




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