ElectricUnicycle
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Ford concept turns your car wheel into an electric unicycle
There's an irony to driving downtown: since you frequently have to park well away from your destination, there's a real chance that you'll be slower around town than someone taking the bus. Wouldn't it be nice if you could have private, motorized transport for the entire trip? Ford thinks so. It recently obtained a patent for a car wheel that turns into an electric unicycle. You'd only have to detach the wheel and slap on a kit that gives you the controls and seating you need to get moving.
I learned to ride an electric unicycle
As a beginner, stepping onto an electric unicycle is equal parts frightening and exhilarating. There are no handlebars to grip or a saddle to clench between your thighs, just two narrow pedals separated by a small motorized wheel. Leaning forwards or backwards propels you in that direction, while tilting to either side, similar to a slalom skier, allows you to turn. These delicate bodily adjustments sound simple enough, but actually performing them on the Uniwheel, the first of its kind designed and engineered in the UK, is another matter entirely. You can fall off in an infinite number of ways and for the first few hours, you will. A lot.
MIT scholar builds a self-balancing unicycle to roll fast and furious around campus (video)
Sure, we've shown you the goofy SBU v2.0 unicycle, but what's better than a glorious DIY project? MIT student Stephan Boyer has built his own electrical uni-ride, which he's dubbing the "Bullet." The single-wheel transporter packs a custom MIG-welded steel body, two 7Ah 12-volt batteries, an ATmega328 chip and a 450-watt electric motor. While the Bullet isn't the speediest of solowheel demons (15mph max), it's on par with its $25,000 Ryno Motors counterpart. As far as power efficiency, the Bullet can go up to five miles on a single charge -- more than enough juice to hit a few classroom round-trips. There's some "Learning to Ride" tips from the creator himself at the source link, but in the meantime you can watch this unified purple rider in action after the break.
Focus Design's SBU self-balancing unicycle hits 2.0: faster, stronger, sleeker, zanier
And here you were thinking Focus Design had thrown in the towel after producing just one self-balancing unicycle. Silly you, huh? Nearly two years to the day after the aforesaid company cranked out the goofiest transporter since the Segway, along comes the SBU v2.0 to rekindle our hope in humanity. According to the outfit, this newfangled edition is sleeker, safer and more powerful, and better still, it should be "much easier to learn." Focus is also tossing out a somewhat ambiguous guarantee, noting that it'll most certainly be "an instant crowd-pleaser." The newly designed motor packs 1,000 watts of power (compared to 350 watts on v1.0), and the more powerful battery will keep you cruising on Ventura Boulevard for at least a few more minutes than before. Control freaks will appreciate the addition of three gyro sensors (to monitor pitch, roll and yaw), lowered foot pegs and a regenerative braking system. This marvel of modern engineering is expected to start shipping next month, with just $1,499 and a willingness to try something your mother wouldn't recommend standing between you and... well, something that your mother would never recommend. Vid's after the break.
Enicycle, the electric unicycle, gets ridden on video
While the Enicycle may look eerily similar to Focus Design's SBU unicycle, it's decidedly different when looking at the nuts and bolts of things. As of now, just two of these devices exist in the entire world, and one Ortis Deley was able to scoot over to Italy in order to give one of them a ride. Thanks to what is described as "a clever system of gyroscopes, embedded processors and a 1,000W hub motor," the bike was said to be exceptionally easy to control, and the foot-steering apparatus seemed to also work quite well. We'd say that this doesn't really have a chance in hades to make it in the commercial market, but if the P.U.M.A. can find buyers, absolutely anything is possible. Check the exhilarating vid in the read link.[Thanks, Steve]
Focus Design's SBU self-balancing unicycle: because you didn't look dumb enough on a Segway
The world of personal transportation, with few exceptions, has littered the earth with embarrassing paraphernalia. In-line skates, pogo sticks, the recumbent bike -- all disasters to personal style. Mix in electricity and you get the Segway, or alternatively, Focus Design's SBU electric self-balancing unicycle. The SBU can be steered by leaning left to right (like a regular unicycle) and uses Segway-style gyroscopes to power your lazy ass forwards and backwards. Not a new idea by any stretch, but Focus Design is actually crazy enough to be working on bringing this thing to market. Focus hopes to do a limited run of ten SBUs next month, at $1,500 a month. Peep the video after break to see if you can handle the shame.[Via Hack a Day]
Uno electric unicycle gets spiffy new body, still terrifying
Last we saw the Uno electric unicycle it was looking very much like the prototype it was, but as you can see above, it seems that the teenage engineers behind it have been doing anything but slacking in the ensuing months. As Motorcycle Mojo reports, the third incarnation of the vehicle recently made its debut at the 2008 National Motorcycle Show in Toronto, with it sporting some custom-made wheels, a stylin' new body, and a few changes under the hood as well. That latter bit apparently even included a trip to a robotics and gyro expert in California, who helped to fine tune the two gyros the Uno uses for turning and forward and backward motion (something you probably want to get right). There's still no word as to when or if the vehicle might actually enter production, however, but you can at least now get a great look at it courtesy of the generous batch of pics Motorcycle Mojo has provided at the link below.[Via Digg, thanks Daniel]
