Japan's Honda unveils futuristic unicyle (w/ Video)
September 24, 2009
Honda President Takanobu Ito displays the prototype model of a personal mobility device called the 'U3-X', at the company's headquarters in Tokyo. Honda Motor on Thursday unveiled the experimental electric unicycle with inbuilt balance control, a bit of advanced technology Honda borrowed from ASIMO, its humanoid robot.
It looks a bit like a plastic figure of eight, and its Japanese designers say it could revolutionise the way we get around, in total comfort and without breaking a sweat.
Honda Motor on Thursday unveiled an experimental electric unicycle with inbuilt balance control, a bit of advanced technology Honda borrowed from ASIMO, its humanoid robot.
Riders steer it by shifting their upper body to move in any direction -- forward, backward or diagonally.
"We believe this is the first step in realising the fun of human transportation and expanding the joy indefinitely," Honda president Takanobu Ito told reporters taking a glimpse at Japan's latest high-tech gizmo.
The U3-X moves forward and backward with the use of its single wheel, which in turn is made up of a string of perpendicular smaller wheels that can move the vehicle left and right. Combine both, and the vehicle swiftly moves diagonally.
It can run for one hour on a single charge of its lithium ion battery which propels the device at roughly the walking speed of an adult, six kilometres (3.7 miles) per hour.
The U3-X is 65 centimetres (about 26 inches) tall and weighs less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds).
Its chief engineer, Yasuhisa Arai, said Honda had no immediate plans to sell the device but was looking for fun for potential uses.
"Today is the first day we have presented this technological achievement, and we look forward to receiving lots of ideas about how to use this, particularly from the younger generation," Arai said.
Honda said it would continue its research and development of the device, including some real-world experiments, to verify its practicality.
In a visual presentation, Honda pictured some fun uses it imagines for the U3-X -- a group of people on an outing, a teenager using it for skateboard style acrobatics, and even a rider-less version serving up cocktails.
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(c) 2009 AFP
Mar 31, 2009 |
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Just like the Segway did, right? Oh wait.
Expensive was the initial complaint of most, but this legislation basically killed the idea.
However, there are some Segways available for hire in Lisboa for the tourists to get around the old city, where traffic is minimal and the Segway takes the effort out of the steep hills.
If the Segway can be made legal for 'sidewalks', and the price made more comparible with a motor scooter, I still think there is a great future for such products.
Segway is dead? Long live the Segway, (and similar electric uni-person transportation).
For this thing to find applications in robotic it might need to be incorporated with something like really long arms for self-righting.
Agreed. Same in many cities in USA. You can only ride them on the road which = death trap.
I'd say its primary purpose is as a long-term R&D project, a concept most Americans seem to have forgotten. They're doing the R&D for the sake of doing the R&D, with no regard for its immediate applications. All that really matters, in the end, is that they now have some new tech and solutions that they can add to their toolkit... this could serve as the basis for the transportation systems for robots, nanobots, or any number of potential practical applications.
In the end, when someone says "Crap, we need a way to get this thing around on one wheel, and it needs to be totally upright like a human", Honda will have the solution.
Kudos to Honda, I'm glad somebody is still doing it!
Anway I really respect Honda, I love seeing these technologies they create, and you just know a couple of decades down the track they and other technologies will come together into something great.
This Honda unicycle has uses, but faces some of the same questions. I would like to see a video of one of these traversing a real-world city-scape.
But I hope they keep working on it. It looks like fun. One bit of advice: they need to raise the rider about three inches. People's toes are too close to the ground and will catch on uneven surfaces. Ouch!