The BowGo Project       

[Overview | Articles | Pictures | Message Board | Q & A | Details | Contact]

---

      Performance

While a traditional pogo stick allows hopping 3-6 inches (foot clearance) off the ground with great effort, the BOWGO (patented) carries the rider to 10-20 inches or more almost effortlessly, allowing new patterns of play and sport. Maintaining balance during the long flight phases challenges the rider's sense of balance and provides a rewarding skill development. The sustained ground times allow the rider to substantially employ the muscles of the leg and body, providing a vigorous workout without the harsh pounding experienced with conventional devices. Our primary test riders (Illah and Ben) weigh about 130 and 150 pounds, and have "logged" probably a dozen hours of riding each. We find it easy to hop in place 15-20 inches high for periods of a few minutes. Moving laterally requires more effort and substantial body motion to sweep the foot of the plunger sideways each hop. Going uphill requires much more effort, while going down grades of a few percent is enough to maintain hopping energy. We routinely jump 24-inch-high (foam-core) hurdles, and Illah has cleared a bar 42 inches above ground! We've covered 40 feet in 7 strides (about 6 feet per stride), and should be able to do better with focused practice. Other challenges awaiting: broad jump, 100 meter dash, sequences of hurdles, slalom, fewest hops over 1 minute (max. average flight time)…
 
 

---


The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University was established in 1979
to conduct basic and applied research in robotics technologies. It is part of the School of Computer Science.



---


 This project was supported through the generosity of the Vira Heinz Foundations. Questions? Comments? Contact us at bowgo@cs.cmu.edu