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Onewheel Pint is a more affordable, easier to ride electric board
Future Motion's Onewheel electric boards have added power and range over the years, but accessibility? Not so much. They've still been expensive and intimidating, not to mention clunky to carry around. That's where the just-unveiled Onewheel Pint might help. It's not only more affordable (relatively speaking) at $950, it's gentler on newcomers who'd otherwise worry about crashing out.
There's a battle brewing over one-wheeled skateboards
At January's Consumer Electronics Show, US Marshals raided and shut down a booth hawking the Trotter, a one-wheeled electric skateboard. Officials were told that the device violated patents owned by Future Motion, makers of the rival OneWheel self-balancing board. Bloomberg, however, is reporting that Future Motion has now withdrawn its infringement lawsuit against the Trotter. It's suggested that the company mislead the courts about the strength of its patents, tricking authorities into taking out a legitimate rival.
Federal marshals raid a booth at CES over patent violation
US marshals raided and shut down a booth at CES on Thursday afternoon, serving a court order to the Chinese company displaying a $500, one-wheeled, self-balancing electric skateboard, Bloomberg Business reports. This product may sound familiar -- Silicon Valley startup Future Motion debuted the Onewheel, a single-wheeled, self-balancing, electric skateboard at CES 2014. The company also held a successful $630,000 Kickstarter campaign to fund its production. We tried out the retail version of the Onewheel in November 2014 and had a lot of fun with it. Apparently, Changzhou First International Trade did, too.
Well Balanced: hands-on with the final version of the Onewheel skateboard
When Kyle Doerksen brought his electric skateboard to CES last year, it looked like he stole a balancing prop from a local circus act. The Onewheel is the very image of its name: a single tire flanked by two wooden platforms. It almost looks threatening, but balancing on it is deceptively easy: The Onewheel uses a combination of accelerometers and gyro sensors to balance itself, which lets the rider focus on, well, riding. The board Doerksen showed us in January was a prototype, though -- recently, we caught up with the inventor to try out the final, factory-produced version of the electric ridable.
The Onewheel self-balancing, single-wheeled skateboard comes to CES, we take it for a spin (video)
It's hard not to do a double-take when first laying eyes on the Onewheel. After all, it is a single-wheeled skateboard that uses an electric motor, accelerometers, gyros and a microcontroller to give riders a smooth, self-balancing ride. The contraption's creator, Kyle Doerksen, brought a prototype by the Engadget trailer here at CES, and we couldn't resist putting it through its paces. Although the unit we played with was a pre-production model that still needs refining, you can color us very impressed. If the sight of a metal frame, wooden deck and a chunky go-kart wheel didn't convey a sense of great build quality, laying hands on (and picking up) the 25-pound package drives home its heavy-duty nature. When it comes to speed, the deck can go as fast as 12 MPH, but Doerksen tells us its acceleration is software-limited to allow for better self-balancing (and maybe even to protect users from overdoing it). As for range, Onewheel can go from four to six miles on a single charge thanks to a lithium battery, and it can be juiced up in two hours -- or 20 minutes with an "ultra" charger. What's more, the gadget sports regenerative braking to recoup roughly 30 percent of expended energy. Unfortunately, the device only has about 20 minutes worth of ride time in its battery, though that changes with terrain and personal driving style.
Onewheel is a self-balancing single-wheeled electric skateboard (video)
If the idea of combining a Segway, a skateboard and a unicycle sounds like your idea of fun, you might want to check out the Onewheel. It uses gyros, accelerometers, proprietary algorithms and a single rubber tire to give its passengers a smooth, self-balancing ride that supposedly mimics surfing or snowboarding on dry land. Its direct-drive motor pairs with the aforementioned components to determine the board's speed based on a how you lean your body. Compared to something like the ZBoard, though, the Onewheel seems incredibly lithe; all of its components are stored within the billet-aluminum-and-maple plank, giving it a sleek aesthetic. With an estimated battery life of about 20 minutes per-charge though, the contraption comes off as more of a fancy toy than a means of transportation. Should you fancy taking a (short) ride for yourself, it won't be cheap: The minimum pledge required to claim a Onewheel as your own is $1,200. For that price, you could build about three of Gob Bluth's rides yourself.
