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Bombardier's Hot Wheel
Anonymous Chris writes "Following the release of the Segway, Bombardier (the makers of such things as Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles) announce their prototype Embrio - a motorcycle-like unicycle that uses gyroscopes to balance itself and runs off hydrogen fuel cells. It also features a landing gear that automatically retracts once you reach 12 m.p.h. The story is at Forbes. You can also get more information directly from their website."
This is just the perfect thing for everyone who already has a motorcycle, and has been routinely frustrated with their inability to donate organs.
These things are interesting yes, but are they really very likely, at all to become popular?
How much is such a thing going to cost. It's hard to buy a $300,000 vehicle on a college student's budget. But one day...
Amazing, somebody actually came up with a vehicle that offers less protection than a motercycle. Call me less-than-adventurous, but I'll stick to my good old-fashioned collision-survivable car.
Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
This reminds me of the unicycles in The Venus Wars (aka Uinasu senki).
That is the most silly looking thing that I have seen in quite a while.
/ducks
God you must look like a bit of a kook crusing round on one.
I can just imagine the local Poindexter being beaten up for riding such a device.
I wonder if it has a firedire / UBS interface too?
The design is really, really cool. But other than that, I don't really see the advantage of this. It seems to give no advantage compared to a normal bike, and has quite a few disadvantages (less space, more complexity). Throwing in a fuel cell-based drivetrain could just as easily (if not easier) be done for a two-wheeled bike as well - and would incidentally be a pretty good idea (with the electric motors in the wheels, you would get rid of the chain, and could have practical two-wheel drive).
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
Because those segways were selling like hotcakes we thought we'd get in the market too.
Any bets that front wheel was added after Segways with dead batteries started dropping people on their faces?
If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. - James Madison
This just in, thousands of anti-abortionists are protesting outside of Bombardier headquarters, claiming that the Embrio was meant to stay in the womb.
Until Slashdot fixes the funny modifier, use insightful or interesting. The poster knows your intentions.
but I can't see it being stable if you have to stop quickly. How would it resist the inertial force of a 200lb person being thrown forwards?
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
I saw this in PopSci about a month or two ago. Personally, I think this is friggin awesome!!!!! But, it's also dangerous as hell. You think it's hard to see a motorcycle, or hell, even a car in your blind spot? How about someone on a vehicle who's helment (if they so chose to wear one) would probably not even get higher than the side window of car. You'd be sideswiped before you got five minutes from your house.
From the article: The vehicle is designed as a guess at what transportation in the year 2025 might look like.
This might be pretty darn accurate. The thing that sets this apart from the Segway is one crucial element: Speed. If a Segway malfunctions you're not going wery fast... but with a vehicle like this you're pretty much doomed if there is a serious malfunction. At the very least the car behind you will run you over.
Current vehicles like cars and motorcycles can be stopped safely if you run out of power/propulsion, but something like this has to have safeguards which keeps that from happening.
Back to the whole 2025 thing: In order to make this stuff safe it requires testing, testing and some more testing. An that requires time.
Don't get me wrong... I love the idea, but it has to be done correctly and without compromises.
.: Max Romantschuk
From the manufacturers page:
the EMBRIO uses a complex series of sensors and gyroscopes to balance one or more human passengers on a single wheel.
Judging by the picture on the same page, I'm really rather curious where the "or more" would fit.
Let me see... one wheel... rider above wheel... "a high-performance braking system,"
Dental insurance?
Now can you show off and do wheelies on that? Probably not but cool idea anyway
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
You can't wheelie it! No peelling out! No donuts! What TF is it good for? Well?
I don't want a pickle; I just want a Motor-Cycle! A four foot cop arrived with a five foot gun!
It's so sad we've come to calling an idea "stupid" simply because it is easily conceivable as to how someone could hurt themselves with it. Whatever happened to assumption of risk? Those hoverboards in back to the future 2 (and 3) could really hurt someone if they're not careful, that doesn't mean it is something mankind should never get to voluntarily experience. Products liability is a good thing, but there has to be limitations. Wear a fucking helmet and don't cry when you get hurt. Products liability is holding us back... it's like intellectual property in that respect. It hinders innovation. Will we get sued for infringement? Will we get sued because people will hurt themselves? The bottom line is unavoidably unsafe products are too risky to develop nowadays, and that's a shame because they're quite often the coolest, most innovative, interesting things man ever makes.
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
looks cheesy. Give me a monocycle any day. Or even an eco-conscious (pedal-powered) one
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
Hordes of clowns have been waiting YEARS for innovation in the unicycle industry.
Vehicles like this are more for entertaining their inventors rather than becoming the next big thing. We all know driving around small vehicles at high speed is dangerous. My guess is this would be marketed towards thrill seeking individuals who need a little something extra in their drive across town (note: not city). Besides, it's impractical and cool as hell...what else could you ask for?
It has a rather striking resemblance to T-Bob from M.A.S.K. doesn't it? That's cool - now I want one. :-)
zWhat would an EWOULDBLOCK block, if an EWOULDBLOCK could block would? -- me
Why does everyone keep developing these things without roofs. If they want to really change the way we get around, they're going to have to make these things useful on a daily basis. That includes the days when it's raining.
I would expect this out of the Segway, but give me a break. Bombardier is Canadian. We have harsh winters. This thing is going to be completely useless 6 months out of the year on most of the country.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
In the Roads Must Roll, they travel underground on uni-wheeled scooters called tumblebugs. Seems to me that these vehicles would be great... so long as you don't commit them to traffic with SUVs driven by people talking on cellphones.
A few quibbles I have with this story. First, the term "prototype" infers that it is either a working model or close to it (it is not). Second, you want to talk about vaporware... it's a concept vehicle set in 2025!
uses gyroscopes to balance itself and runs off hydrogen fuel cells
"runs off of hydrogen" is correct when talking of inanimate objects.
The basic design is very similar.
probably for the money they are charging I could buy a crotch rocket of some sort and even have a chance of killing myself.
Just imagine what the clowns could do with all the custard pies they could carry if the unicycle they're on can balance itself!
It's somewhat interesting that the two main axes of control (hand motion and leaning) are conceptually reversed as compared to the Segway. On Segway, the hand turns and the body controls forward/backward. Here, the hand controls forward/backward and the body turns.
I rode a Segway for the first time a few weeks ago, and it was pretty intuitive to move around, though the hand turning took a bit to get used to.
I get the sense that turning by leaning might be more intuitive, but also much more error-prone and dangerous. For example, if I accidentally lean forward on Segway I'll go a little faster, but accidentally lean on this thing and you might turn into a wall at 20 mph.
They're already shooting for the nerd market. Why not just go all the way and make it look like a lightcycle from TRON?
Recreational vehicles are supposed to be tough and reliable. Reliability is very much a part of the stability and dependability of your vehicle in adverse conditions.
In this case, instead of having 2 or 3 or 4 wheels to support a passenger in an accident or a lose of control, you only have one. I wouldn't like to be caught on an ice patch, a slick roadway, or an unsure trail off the road. The potential to lose control and have an accident must be greater with only one wheel. Of course, you could always jump off, but that is defeat in the eyes or a responsible operator, plus I wouldn't want to get in an accident in a cool(expensive) little monobike like that.
--"The perfect example of the man of action is the suicide." - William Carlos Williams
"a guess at what transportation in the year 2025"
By then they'll have phased out a few things like:
- the weather
- sand and gravel on roads
- need to carry anything more than a briefcase or purse?
The future is going to be WAAY cooler than I thought....
-Styopa
With some decent flywheels inside, a monobike wouldn't really need the 'stabilisers' out front.
On braking from speed, it would throw the rider back and behind the wheel immediately prior to braking.
On stopping, it could continue to balance the rider atop.
On dismount, it would gracefully (magically) lower the rider to the ground, and probably rest in a 'laid down' position.
On mount, the flywheels would fire up, and with a nice bit of internal braking, raise the rider up into the riding position.
I'd say it'd also be neat to escape the 'motorcycle' riding position, e.g. hands free, with all control being achieved by the machine interpreting postural changes by legs and torseo, i.e. detecting the rider's intention (perhaps like well trained horses can).
this is just the first logical step until we are all driving vehicles like the one Mr. Garrison invented on South Park... all it needs is anal intrusion.
I thought Bombardier sold their recreations devision cause the margins weren't there. Anyone know?
I can't wait until Maddox gives this thing the sort of treatment he gave the Segway. =]
How to Render the Segway Obsolete
This /. poster has misunderstood the meaning of the term "prototype". Bombardier has not announced a prototype. A prototype, from an engineering perspective, has to work. This is a design concept. Which means it is about as operational as a Star Wars X-wing.
If this was something more than a clay mockup and some clever writing, it might actually be news. As it is now, it's just plain stupidity let loose by a bored marketing dept.
Neat design.. but at a touch over 160kg, what's stopping me and a friend from waiting until you park it, then picking it up and throwing it in the back of a truck while you're not around? I mean, really, at that size, weight, and shape, it's pretty much a theft magnet.
The Bombardier website notes that a digitally encoded learning key will start the engine, but who cares? Somebody will crack that.. 'they' always do.
Thanks, Slashdot, for giving me a good chuckle first thing in the morning (waddaya mean, 10:30am isn't first thing?!)
Very amusing. It'll never work.
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
I realise that a photo showing a real, live human being on it might detract from their carefully composed marketing cool, but hey c'mon guys! Where do I fit on it? How do I fit on it? Where do I put the babe in leathers with a taste for high-tech exotica?
I think it looks cool! It seems practical as well, there is only so much time before increasing population, and Americans need for bigger cars renders traffic unbearable. This would allow allot of people to ride tightly packed through traffic. Sure it will probably go at a lower top speed (at least safely) but how often do you hit the top speed in peak hour traffic. It looks like a little fun; it gets you out doors, and is more convenient than public transport. Sure weather could be a problem but no more than on a motorbike. I'm sure in time they will make modifications like a partial cover like the new scooters in Europe, and some more carrying space. I look forward to seeing these being a trend and hopefully replacing the fuel guzzling truck.
VENI, VIDI, VICI, DIXI
It's not a prototype, it's a concept. They've not actually made one.
So you have a unicycle that retracts its wheel when you reach 12mph, awesome!
They actually make those all the time.
I love watching the elderly on their Rascal scooters on the road -- god love 'em, more power to 'em, I hope I'm like that at their age. So, I was watching these two old ladies haul ass across the road the other day, and I was thinking: They need more power.
:-) I think they'd love it.
What we need is a Rascal that can go about as fast a moped and we'll make them wear helmets. Just like riding mowers got more powerful, why not give grandma a souped up rider? No reason not to let them enjoy the benefits of technology
In a sense, you can call the Bombardier concept vehicle the perfect followup to the segway in the sense that the Bombardier concept vehicle and the Segway are both big sellers in an alternative universe.
In this alternative universe--where mechanical complexity is viewed as the most esthetically pleasing art form--the Segway's problems are completely negated by the fact that it is an expensive, non-functional item.
In quantum anomaly MH-16607G, the fact that the Segway is too complex to be functional and robust enough for it to be a commercial product in our universe is one of it's greatest selling points and, in quantum anomaly MH-16607G, the Bombardier concept vehicle is a brilliant product, available today as an empty shell that opens to reveal a seven-hundred and sixty page bound volume of Rube Goldberg cartoons which give the owner some clue as to how the thing might be made to work decades ahead in the future.
In the America of MH-16607G, the Bombardier concept vehicle outsells the segway three two one.
To mail me, remove the 'mailno' from my email addy.
"Yeah. It smells, too..."
Oh, this is great, eh. Bombadier invents the anti-snowmobile.
Well, that's not entirely true... it's got a lot in common with the snowmobile:
It's useful for a whole two months out of the year, it kills half the people who ride it, and only costs a bit more than thirty years' infinite travel on the TTC.
The US Army: promoting democracy through unquestioned obedience
As an avid unicyclist, I'd definitely buy one. But only if I it lets me turn off the gyros to give me manual control.
SHould have some kind of foot rest so I can still pedal grab onto park benches as well.
Well, I understand how you can turn to left or right, when you are at full speed on this wheel, but how can you turn instantly, when you have no speed ? Example- you are on crossroad - and the traffic light light goes on, and you want to turn to the right, you start the engine and then - lean, lean, lean and ?? fall ??
And how much leaning would it allow? How would it know the difference between turning and falling over?
For those that don't know uni-cycles are turned rather forcibly by pulling a kind of jump twist with your body when standing still or very close to it. Usefull for showing off, hardly something you want to do while parking this thing each day.
So anyone around a little brighter then me? Does the machine take over the forces you excert with your body in a traditional unicycle?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I figure if we can't get people to ride an already "ecologically safe" vehicle capable of going x mph (depending on the rider) and healthy to boot, this has no chance of succeeding.
Not to mention, not trying to be smart, but what's the point? Can I go to the grocery store and pick up a few bags of food? Throw my briefcase and gym bag on it? Go clothes shopping? At least with a bicycle, I can still do these things.
Other than being useful in certain industries (I recall that the Postal Service was testing out the Segway - not sure whatever happened with that) and perhaps for people with disabilities, the main market would seem to be those who are too lazy to walk down the street. Or people who aren't very pragmatic, as this device doesn't fit into the current infrastructure.
Remember, they are only -now- starting to put in bike lanes and how long has the bicycle been out?
But one day tuition will cost three times that, so it'll be an extra college expense.
That thing looks super-cool... but here's a question. How do you do a wheelie with that? What would it be like to see a motorcross event with all those things in it? Woah!
stuff |
A motorcycle driver has an order of magnitude more chance of getting into a serious or fatal accident than someone driving a car with equal skill, that's just how it is.
... you are the exception to the rule :)
I know though, you are such a good driver that you can use the greater greater manouvrability of your motorcycle together with your ESP to save you from any potential accident
You all are till you end up under our tires.
I saw this in Popular Science a while ago and still have the same objections. I can't see how it could actually work at highway speeds. Think about it. The way the segway-like acceleration mechanism works is that the vehicle moves to stay underneath you. You accelerate by leaning forward, forcing the vehicle to catch up. If you want to accelerate fast enough reach highway speed without pissing off your fellow drivers you will need to lean forward pretty hard, but then what happens if the car in front of you stops suddenly while you are still accelerating? You brake by leaning back. But if you are in a hard acceleration mode where you're center of mass is ahead of the Embrio? Until it gets underneath you, you will be unable to tell it to stop.
I just think the segway balance mechanism becomes unstable at the kind of accelerations you need to avoid being a menace on the highway. The presense of that small retractable front wheel will still not allow it to accelerate like a highway vehicle.
Of course, the thing to realize is that the Embrio only exists as a pretty CG picture. I had the strong impression from the Popular Science blurb that it was designed by artists. The PopSci blurb quoted them as saying something like "we can't wait to find someone to build it for us!"
From their press release:
"Technology will be used to harness the laws of physics"
Yes, dear. I'm sure it will.
just how in the hell can you use such a strange contraption...
_ 3- 4.jpg
http://recreation.bombardier.com/_Images/embrio
i think i will stick with either walking or driving a 4 wheeled vehicle (my chevy pickup)
Personally I dont see where the fun is. I prefer bikes to cars because your more connected to the physics when cornering / braking etc... your body position is a key part of the steering and control of the thing.
With this, the segway and any other 'actively balanced' machine this MUST be lost to a great extent - or at least diffused. I want to be able to see how fast I can push a corner without falling off - I have a good feel for that when Im dealing with road + tyres + speed + lean - add in a shitload of processor time, gyros, and servos and I've lost my intuitive feel for the thing. Get it serviced and they update the firmware it potentially suddenly behaves VERY differently on the limits - just like changing tyres but less predictable.
Scary things - no fun - give me a decent mountain bike any day!
Don't want to be a kill-joy but the direction new transportation devices is going in is "pick the most artistic looking but technically lacking design which will have the worst stability, centers of gravity etc etc and rely on a computer to keep it up-right." Should we be relying on a complex system to do so much? If a wheel falls off your car you have a hope in hell of getting it safely off the road and stopped but if something happens on one of these new fangled things and the technology dies you could have problems unless there are mechanical backups. In the future people could be running around with EMP devices or microwave magnatrons or even just VB scripts! do you want to risk it?? think of the childeren!
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Now I realize that it was all part of a larger trend to give our vehicles fewer and fewer wheels. At this rate, flying cars can't be far off.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
In 1937 Joseph-Armand Bombardier took out his first patent on the snowmobile, which looked a bit like some science fiction car with treads and skis...later he build a smaller version, and that was the brith of the SkiDoo, and thus a phenomninom was born.
ttyl
Farrell
CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
I seem to remember one of harry harrison's
earlier stainless steel rat books had cops
riding powered unicycles like these. Pretty
cool, but someone needs to change the
(car OR truck)+(bike OR unicycle) = vegetativestate,
equation before I'll start riding again.
There's some really old prior art (remember B.C.?)
This is clearly a cool concept vehicle, who cares if you can go from zero to dead in less than 2ns?!?
I will buy one of these as son as they go GA.
Live a bit for christ's sake!
-- "So, what's the deal with Auntie Gerschwitz et all?"
Contrariwise, fighter pilots commonly maneuver their aircraft with astounding precision, even though their actions are mediated by the flight control computer.
Go watch the Blue Angels and tell me that they're worried about the plane not doing PRECISELY what it's told to do.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
pretend I'm B.C. in a re-enactment of the classic video game "BC's Quest for Tires".
Now if they could come up with something like that I'd be impressed :)
...20 yards in front of you a bus pulls out in front of you and stops.
You JAM on the brakes.
What happens?
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
This from those wonderful folks who managed to get a 23 year-old killed in testing the AIRTRAIN at JFK Airport:
http://www.airtrainjfk.com
I wonder how many they'll kill with this??>
(you should have seen how fast the "ENGINEERS" >
involved with the aforemntioned JFK death >
got transfered to CANADA...)>
Anyone who has played Nintendo's "Kirby's Air Ride" game (I have a 10-year old son) will instantly recognize this as the Wheelie Scooter, one of the vehicles available to drive. Lawsuit, anyone? ;-)
Though a real-life Rex Wheelie (much bigger) would be pretty cool....
Isn't this what the guys in the comic strip "BC" ride on?
-----
Sorry, I'm only a 1336 h4x0r.
"We need a bombadier!"
Hmm, I kinda miss Tribes II... haven't been able to get it to run without crashing my Linux box hard ever since I upgraded to the GATOS project's XFree86 4.3.0 release on my ATi Radeon 7500 AiW. I should probably bug them about that...
The vehicle is designed as a guess at what transportation in the year 2025 might look like.
I think it looks more like a guess at what a bad ass kangaroo with wheels might look like. And it looks frikin' awesome!
Remember the maid robot on the Jetsons, looked crazy with a single wheel? She could really move, now all we need is to add the smarts from the Israeli chopper, a duster activator and volia!
Like there would be anything usable left of your organs
Technoli
M.A.S.K., one of those great 80's cartoons, had a young kid character who rode around on one of these things, except that it was a robot also. If I recall, he did some pretty stupid stuff on it but never fell over. That must mean the design is sound, right?
The pain was excruciating and the scarring is likely permanent, but that just means it's working.
The thing about this unicycle was, the rider sits inside the wheel, over the engine, rather than above the wheel. The obvious disadvantage is that there is no visibility ahead of the driver where the wheel blocks his or her sight. Maybe with modern technology, this design could be used by incorporating a camera and screen to improve the visibility.
Am rushing to school, so don't have time to search for a link. If interested, the term velocipede might bring it up.
Having just read through quite a number of trolls interspersed with very many people shocked and highly suspicious that a vehicle with one wheel could actually work, and at the same time pointing to the Segway as somehow being Much Better(TM), I think I should point out a few things.
All those who think it is somehow unnatural for a vehicle to have one wheel (it's actually very much like a motorcycle at speeds below 12mph) have never seen anyone ride a unicycle. The ability to stay upright on a bicycle is due to the gyroscopic effect of the wheels turning, something which overweight geeks on their underexercised behinds perhaps have yet to discover. On this device you have the same effect while in motion plus there is an added horizontal gyroscope that spins up as the vehicle moves. That gyroscope tends to keep the vehicle upright although there are probably added sensors to adjust for rapid acceleration and braking.
Overall this device has a simpler and more natural approach to motion than the Segway, which suffers the fact that it has no natural gyroscopic effects to stay upright and must use a computer throughout. The person who claimed that the Segway's approach to motion (leaning forward to accelerate, backward to brake) is somehow better than this, apparently even at highway speeds (you're leaning far forward and someone abruptly stops in front of you? I'd love to see you gracefully stop either device in such conditions) should do some personal testing on the highway to see just how messy that could get, on either device.
So Segway has 2 wheels, Embrio has 1 (or 1.5 if you prefer), what's the logical progression?
No wheels!
Wait, I guess we've already done that...
SQUEAK, the Death of Rats explained.
The Segway weighs like 70 lbs, and it's designed so it can be folded up and put in the trunk of a car, or brought inside with you. This weighs "only" 360 lbs, obviously not something that you could put in your car, or carry up stairs. Instead, you'll have to find a place to park it, and put some kind of bike chain on it. No idea how expensive it will be, but I'd bet you'd want a pretty big chain. In any case, it's not even in the same league as the Segway as far as convenience/utility.
-3Suns
~~~~
The Revolution will be Slashdotted
http://www.spscriptorium.com/Season5/E511script.ht m
..if they include all encompassing airbags so when you hit a rock and go flying, you can bounce and tumble across the landscape like the Mars rover.. and walk away.
This looks like something Masamune Shirow would have designed for his Appleseed series. I want one.
Of course I prefer the Tractowheel
||| technological transcendentalist |||
The point is to think creatively. One way to do this is to imagine what something would be like if you remove one of your assumptions (e.g. that a motorcycle should have two wheels).
This kind of thinking produced the snowmobile and the jet ski; you may hate each of these things, but they're great products for their manufacturers. On the other hand, this kind of thinking can be dangerous if you become too enamored of originality for its own sake. I think the Segway is a brilliant concept, but I doubt it will approach the practicality of the bicycle in my lifetime.
This device I actually think is more promising than a Segway. Segway is impractical as a commuter vehicle; the idea that the Segway will transform cities somehow imagines that people are magically transported into the city, Segway and all. It takes the pleasure of strolling out of city life but leaves the hard work of commuting unchanged. On the other hand, this motorized unicycle fits into the current transportation paradigms well. It would be wonderful if people carpooled and used public transportation, but the reality is except under extreme duress a sizable fraction of Americans will insist on having personal transportation. I can imagine that in the future, car pool lanes are replaced with lanes dedicated to less polluting, high efficiency, low footprint personal transportation. This might include vehicles like this one, or perhaps more likely some small car-like vehicle with an enclosed cabin.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Of the Southpark "It" episode. "Now this mechanism slides into the rider's anus and safely locks him in place... Oh yeah, take it!" "Wow, do you think customers will pay for that?" "It's still better than dealing with the airlines." "Oh, yeah..."
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
one day my friend's mom brought home a unicycle. I couldn't even get both feet on it without falling flat on my face. Now i have something that does all the balancing for me!
Personally I think the idea behind this thing is cool. Looking at this the way I do my motorcycle, as a recreational vehicle, not a practical means of transportation. In that respect, I get excited about stuff like this.
... The brake is activated by a trigger on the right handlebar." in a paragraph titled "A Rider-Friendly Vehicle". For those who do not ride, this is exactly opposite of the way the controls of motorcycles and most other hand controlled vehicles are operated today.
But I get depressed about the survival of our society when I read things like "To move forward, the rider activates a trigger on the left handlebar.
This is even worse than the creativity that todays auto makers use in positioning controls for headlights, turn signals, windshield wipers, etc. This trend has even found its way into the cockpit of commercial airlines. Sometimes things need to be changed to make their use more efficient or to make the appropriate control obvious in an emergency situation, but more often than not, it comes down to one designer who wants to be different or has a bizarre personal reason for altering the layout of the controls.
Is one of the designers named Mr. Garrison?
It looks like a monowheel
Be sure to check the 1932 Dynosphere.
the F/A-18 is known for having one of the best fly-by-wire systems in the world, so that's not the best example. I'd be more worried about the Thunderbirds with their F-16s.
I still remember what the Audi Quattro did to other rally cars, and now all top-class rally cars are 4WD. (I don't know how much Rallying you see in the USA, but in Europe the idea of doing 100mph on twisty dirt roads is popular, for some reason!)
(this is not a
Obviously, no sane mammal should ever rely on something as silly as two-legged locomotion with dynamic stabilization. If either one of your legs were to fail, you'd fall down, probably breaking something and being eaten by the next carnivore passing by--absolutely deadly. To avoid falling, you'd have to control your legs with incredible precision--you would need a brain bigger than the size of a pea and much of your muscle mass would have to move to the legs. And then just look how high your body would be above your legs: if you are running and try to stop, unless you stop very gradually, you are just going to tumble over head over heels--highly dangerous. You can't even stand up still without a dangerous balancing act--how are you even going to sleep?
I'm telling you: two-legged locomotion with dynamic stabilization is just never going to make it. Any mammal that follows down that path is going to become extinct instantaneously. Don't be stupid--be a four-legged mammal. It's safe. It's stable. Mooo.
I think the best part of this whole thing is that it runs off hydrogen fuel cells. This may be kind of like nasa in the past few years, its not so much IT, but what the technology we get from it. With nasa, we got velcro, maybe this will improve the use of hydrogen fuel cells. Its wishful thinking
Today's motorcycle has developed into a safe and efficient product. Two wheels means redundant systems. A failure of any one process at speed, power, brakes, tires, is not only survivable, but will probably result in no injury at all. Even a steering failure can be handled safely due to the gyroscopic action of both wheels. The problem with the Embrio is no redundancy. A system that fails WILL result in injury. Imagine the power, brake, tire, computer or a gyroscope failing at 65mph. The result is another highway statistic.
Hi there,
Does anyone have (or know where to find) a high-resolution image of the picture that is shown (or another one of the embryo vehicle?
I would really appreciate it!
The vehicle is designed as a guess at what transportation in the year 2025 might look like.
In short It aint gonna happen.
I live in Toronto, I would be able to drive one of these about 8 months a year, and then only when it didn't rain. Not everyone lives in lives in a place where it never rains or snows. When people are thinking about how much Segway will change transportation they seem to neglect this fact.
Now having said that, they are damn cool and I wouldn't mind one for recreation purposes, but I'm not going to be commuting with it.
just = (My)Opinion.toCents();
It also looks a lot like the monobikes from the animated version of "Venus Wars". I wonder how long it'll be until we have crazy rollerderbie-like monobike races. That'd also be kind of cool.
Sadly I can't find a good image from the series, just the coverart for the DVD.
The Embrio has been in the news for the past 4 months and /. decides to post about it now??? It was on SE (Sensible Erection) way back in September... Get your shit together!
Props to SE, real news, at a real pace AND pr0n...
SE Link
My name is Steve Jobs. I got a private demo of this product and let me tell you, it is so mind blowing that I am sure we are going to have to re-think the way we design cities!
user@host:/usr/bin$ whatis
java: nothing appropriate.
This project was conceived as an exercise in forward thinking: what will the future of recreational transportation be like?
Apparently, a lot like the anime Venus Wars (here for a better picture).
Dirt bike Trial racing is done at just a few mph and having an extra powered wheel could be great. But trials bikes are specialized and of next to no use to an ordinary rider.
Most people are after good suspension and a good power/weight ratio. This technology would have to be really something to avoid contradicting those goals.
Why do I have this? I don't smoke.
The vehicle is designed as a guess at what transportation in the year 2025 might look like.
This is very interesting considering that this vehicle was first conceptualized in 1957 by none-other than Dr. Seuss. All the Whos down in Whoville rode these unibikes. I am surprised and shocked that there are no attributions listed in the article.
I got all excited when I read the headline that I would soon be able to have my very own miniature New York City Subway car and Long Island Rail Road car. Thus being able take out any commuting frustrations in the comfort and safety of my home. :)
The opinions expressed above are those off one side of my brain, the other side and my employer may not agree.
With that said, I would hope it could go 25-30 mph...any slower and I might as well just ride my bike.
Overall, I think it's a damn fine concept and shows that there's always room for creative thinking. But why do images of Tron keep flashing in my mind when I look at this thing??
Your mare needs no gyroscopes or hydrogen cells!
Bombardier invented the Skidoo (they own the trademark), Seadoo's too. Outboard motors. In short, loud fun machines that aren't very safe.
It's hard to find another company to compair them too. They're like a Harley-Davidson that also makes areospace equipment.
Very interesting. I assume there were no gyroscopes or anything involved? Must have been tricky.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
...straight out of Akira! Cool! I'll get one when they come out, if I'm not dying of ostioperosis by then.
If it can go wrong it wnetscape: Segmentation Fault, Core dumped
Just a random musing from an anime/manga fan... :)
(oh yeah, and to pre-empt the usual replies, you 'anime iz just pr0n and/or anime fans are freaks/faggots/pedophiles/whatever' trolls can all just fsck yourselves. Have a nice day.)
There's no wrong way, to eat a Rhesus...
My recommendations (taking into account that my only aviation experience comes from reading magazines and a 1 hour demo flight) are:
Zenith Zodiac CH601XL for something good, but simple and inexpensive (about $40K)
Glasair II for the latest in hifg speen cruising (Costs about twice as much, tho)
that's the first thing i thought! i love that movie, and i always thought the monocycle was such a cool concept, yet wondered how it would be possible. it's awesome to see another area of science fiction becoming a reality, especially because that thing is soooo slick looking. i'm sure even the guys at apple are drooling over it. ;-)
hydrogen fuel cells? Thats what the terminator is powered by in T3 we're revealed. I wonder how soon till the military looks at using that in their autonomous weapons division.
Don't worry. The government will give Bombardier all the money they need to produce these, and then STILL charge 100k+ for them. They give them money for anything they want. And if it fails, they still won't be in the hole. Taxpayers to the rescue of corporations.
Remember, that company is from Quebec, so they'll get anything they want. That's how it works in this country.
Erioll
"there are two types of motorcyclists: those who have crashed, and those who are going to crash". I wonder what the parallel saying would be in the one-wheeled world?
"If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. " - Revolution Books, NY
Wow, first time I saw this thing, I'm thinking, "What button do you push to turn this from a motorunicyle into battle armor". Definately anime inspired.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
The F-16's fly by wire system works just fine. The Thunderbirds seem to avoid running into each other a whole lot.
My point is, state-of-the-art flight controls provide intuitive feedback to the pilot. It's silly to pretend that just because a computer's actually calling the shots, that the rider won't feel connected to the machine and to the road.
The two exceptions I can think of are the test of the Airbus A-310 (320? I'm not certain) prototype that flew into the trees, and the YF-22 that crashed on short final as it entered the ground effect zone and started porpoising. Both problems were solved, and both aircraft are now working great.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
We are all already saw many of things from sci-fi novels and movies became reality. And this one is not exception. This thing is called monobike and it can be seen in anime Venus War from 1989. It's one of a classique anime in line with Ghost in Shell and Ninja Scroll.
http://www.sydmead.com/v/01/bookstore/viewer/senti nel-ii.html#
(bottom right)
I just wonder when mandatory EMP shielding will be the norm on civilian devices. If we have a city full of cars with drive by wire brakes and someone sets off a fair sized EMP bomb, thats thousands if not tens of thousands car accidents in the space of about a minute. Can you say crippled infrastructure. Even natural phenomenon, IE an especially large magnetic storm could play havoc with our current technology. Combine all that with an imminently possible terrorist strike using EMP and it sure isn't a pretty picture.
A blog about stuff.
Anyhoo, ever since I first saw the two wheeler, I wondered why the hell it has two wheels. With all those mechanics in the thing, it should be easy to make it run on one wheel and the ride will be better, since it will allow banking in turns.
They do a little more than make rec vehicles. They are canada's equivalent to Lockhead Martin.
They train fighter pilots, make high speed rail. Vehicles for the CF and other high tech stuff.
Powered unicycles were written into both REVOLT IN 2100 and THE ROADS MUST ROLL. Well, all we need now is Neahmiah Scudder.
There is nothing wrong with yr Internet. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling the transmission - NSA
available at Popular Science here. Better pictures.
"It is a solemn thought: dead, the noblest man's meat is inferior to pork."
I always joked that a motorized unicycle would be the next big thing, but then again, I was only joking! Seeing a mock-up of this, after joking about it for so long, is truly a shock to me. I didn't really want it to become reality...
Slashdot's first reaction to VMware
Where's the bits that you insert in mouth and anus?
Let's face it, this is a chance for Bombardier to get some good, positive PR. Maybe it's about time the "concept" er... concept moved beyond automobiles. At least it's something new to talk about, instead of the latest craziest reality show...
Actually, 'your' is, in the place that you note it, emminently correct.
You see, 'You're' is a contraction of the words, 'you are,' and using it where you suggest would be problematic both in terms of sense and grammar.
By using, 'you're' in that position, you would be saying, 'you are missing the gimme in line... is pure heresy.' This leaves the reader to wonder which of the two instances of the verb 'to be,' the reader should refer to while trying to keep his brains from leaking out of his ears from the strain of trying to make sense of what the writer meant.
On the other hand, 'your' is the English possessive and here it makes sense in that the pronoun refers to something which was done by the person referred to, his act of ommission, which logically belongs to him.
The sentence could thus be rewritten, 'your mistake in missing the gimme in line thirteen...' and it would be absolutely, and insultingly, clear--fully the equivalent of saying, 'they tell me you're a little slow, so I'm going to spell it out for you very carefully...'
God, I feel pedantic now!
To mail me, remove the 'mailno' from my email addy.
"Yeah. It smells, too..."
Har de har, har. I get it - I've been trolled.
:-)
JohnPM, if by any chance you really are a physicist I wouldn't advise putting your real name on any of this. It might not be a good career move.
What about the head lights? As the vehicle isn't always in a "vertical" position, you're gonna get a lot of people pissed when it's dark outside.