Electric push stick for in-line skating

[John Doe]

Took it out for a test drive today, a few miles. It was okay,
probably very good for the first experience.

The idea is like a hobby horse or a witches broomstick, except the
handle goes around instead of through my legs. There is a motor
driving a wheel on the bottom rear end of the push stick where it
meets the road. I found that the handlebar can be very low,
pushing against the rear of my knees without causing instability,
the vertical location for pushing is extremely flexible. The thing
definitely puts a different strain on my ankles and feet,
different than ordinary in-line skating, it will take some getting
used to.

There are lots of possibilities for design of this thing. One of
the first and most obvious is to drastically reduce the weight (I
am using a scooter motor and its SLA battery). As the wheel gets
closer to my feet, the angle gets steeper and the wheel is pushed
harder into the ground. So even a very light setup should work to
maintain wheel traction on the ground. Another possibility might
include firmly attaching it to my leg(s). Then again, too low and
the maneuverability of in-line skating is lost, like putting a
motor directly on an in-line skate.

[John Doe]

Post by John Doe
There are lots of possibilities for design of this thing. One of
the first and most obvious is to drastically reduce the weight.

Has anybody made a small and light version of a push stick? may be
something that can be used similar to a push stick for a boat,
maybe with a claw to push against the back thigh of one leg.

[John Doe]

In the process of making a light version that can be handled with
one hand/arm.

Starting with a 125 mm scooter wheel that fits into a skate frame.

The motor and motor shaft will be held so that the shaft presses
against the wheel using an automatic gripping method. The rotor
meets the wheel at an angle so that any wheel resistance causes
the rotor to dig into the wheel, and conversely when the wheel is
moving freely, the rotor naturally stops digging into the wheel.

An aluminum tube will go from the wheel and motor up just past my
left rear thigh.

A support, like a curved/bent aluminum flat bar, will cup my rear
thigh so that forward push from the stick will be comfortably
applied to my left leg. I suppose the contact point will be
anywhere in my upper leg area.

The aluminum tube will extend past my left thigh, where the motor
speed controller will be controlled by my left hand. From there, a
brace might be useful. That would be similar to a brace for a
crutch. If that is necessary, it will help keep the wheel in line
with the ground.

The planned version should be extremely light. Not sure if it will
be fully usable with the current motor, battery, and drive system.
But it should do well for a prototype.

Apparently, a trailing wheel that is pushing something is led by
the contact point on the thing it is pushing. Seems to work that
way with my functional but massive version of a push stick.