[sandworm101]

>> The actions only differ in how the handlebars are pushed at the first instant: pushed left, pushed right, or not touched.

Have the authors ever ridden a bicycle/motorcycle? The handlebars are not the primary controls. As evidence, I say watch this clip. Handlebars are not needed for cornering. Into a 45* lean angle, standing up on the pegs. Hands are optional.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Gyt9DLfYOdU

[lloeki]

> We do not have great insight as to how we ride a bicycle, and we do not have much useful advice for someone who is learning.

I indeed balked at this, finding both of those sentences wildly incorrect, as someone both having been taught as well as having taught multiple people myself.

Also: https://ciechanow.ski/bicycle/

It seems that it is something that is forever doomed to be forgotten and then rediscovered over and over.

[sandworm101]

What we forget is that two-wheeled vehicles drive themselves. There is a stable feedback loop built into the geometry, akin to an aircraft with a good dihedral wing. You have to force the machine to corner, then back off to allow it to do its thing. See the rider in red in the above video. He leans the bike to initiate the turn but then is actually leaning the other way once the bike is cornering/slowing due to the gyroscopic forces now pushing the bike deeper into the corner. Cornering a two-wheeled object is vastly more complex than handlebar pushes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersteering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihedral_(aeronautics)

[orbital-decay]

The author is using an oversimplified model of a bicycle without a rider. This hypothetical bicycle robot has no way to shift the center of gravity and has to rely on handlebars to indirectly control the lean angle.

Of course any realistic bike+rider model would have a lot more degrees of freedom and require a lot more neurons to control.