SelfBalancing
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Solowheel self-balancing unicycle is as easy to ride as it is to afford (video)
If a company makes as bold a statement as "we reinvented the wheel" when introducing a gadget you know we've gotta check 'em out and see what the hubbub's about. Well, at the International Toy Fair in New York, Inventist has introduced its "Solowheel" product, which is essentially a self-balancing unicycle for personal mobility. We've seen similar products before, but the convenient carrying handle and lack of seat make it decidedly more portable than the competition. This $1,500 Segway-esque transporter uses gyroscopes to stay balanced, but places your legs on either side of a single central wheel. It's said to have a max speed of 12 miles per hour and a battery that should last for about 12 miles. We tried out the interesting device and found it entertaining, albeit quite a bit difficult. Getting started is the hardest part -- especially if you don't have anything to lean against -- but maintaining balance and still trying to lean your body to turn takes quite a bit of practice as well. That's right, there are no physical steering controls whatsoever and instead you use your body weight to control direction and speed. We could barely get going in our brief attempts on the device, but the rep on the floor was more skilled and made us realize we really need to build up our street cred. The whole concept is really a bit wild, and the company envisions people using these to do things like get to the train instead of on a bicycle or in a cab. We're not quite sure your average person is ready to slim down to one wheel in life just yet, but maybe in the future they will be. Still, as a toy it's most definitely intriguing, and you can see our horrid attempts at riding it in the video posted after the break or hit the more coverage link for another video of more skilled riders in action. %Gallery-116652%
Honda's U3-X Personal Mobility Device is the Segway of unicycles
Yeah, we've seen a self-balancing unicycle before, but the brand new U3-X from Honda takes it to another level. A creepy-sterile, awesomely futuristic Honda level, to be precise. What makes the U3-X particularly interesting is it has the regular large wheel of a unicycle, but that wheel is actually made up of several small wheels in a series, which can rotate independently, meaning that the device can go forward, backward, side-to-side and diagonally, all being controlled with a simple lean. Honda credits its ASIMO research for this multi-directional capability, though we're not sure we see it -- ASIMO is biped, after all -- but far be it from us to discredit an excuse to keep up the good work on the ASIMO front. Right now the "experimental model" of the U3-X gets a single hour of battery and weighs under 22 pounds, with a seat and foot rests that fold into the device for extra portability. No word of course on when the thing might make it to market, but Honda plans to show it off next month at the Tokyo Motor Show. A devastatingly short video of the U3-X in action is after the break.
