
Besides learning to use the toilet properly, the
ability to ride a bicycle is one of the most important early-childhood accomplishments, but unfortunately, the current
use of training wheels for practice does little to prepare kids for life on two wheels. Well a start-up using
technology developed at Dartmouth College is aiming to eliminate the rolling crutches that are training wheels, and
replace them with a gyroscopic flywheel that attaches to the front wheel and helps a bike steady itself whenever the
rider loses his/her balance. Expected to retail for around $40 when it hits the market, the GyroBike by the company of
the same name works by spinning in conjunction with the wheel it's attached to, using natural physical properties to
turn the handlebars towards the direction of an impending fall. GyroBike also claims to be in talks with the top six
manufacturers of kids' bikes, so you may soon be able to buy a model with this technology built-in instead of
retrofitting one you already own.
[Via
Cnet]