Bicycle self balance
Producer: TEDx | Lecturer: Prof. Arend Schwab
Why bicycles do not fall
Arend Schwab is professor in theoretical and applied mechanics from Delft University of Technology.
He runs the bicycle mechanics lab and teaches mechanics.
Whenever Arend comes up with an assignment for his students, the hallway of the faculty is crammed with all sorts of very strange objects that resemble bikes only slighlty. Considering bicyles constitute 40% of the Netherlands traffic making it the bicycle capital of the world, his work is very interesting not only for the dutch people but anyone who ever rode a bicycle.
Amongst his fields of interest are: Multibody Dynamics, dynamics of flexible multibody system, finite element method, legged locomotion, speed skating, and bicycle dynamics. In particular the treatment of contact phenomena like in collisions and rolling (non-holonomic constraints) is his special interest. He has given academic talks related to his area of expertise in various universities all over the world.