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Bombardier's Embrio: Sexier Segway?
Ridgelift writes "Articles at Wired News, Popular Science, and Forbes are covering Bombardier's Embrio. It's a single-wheeled, hydrogen fuel cell-powered, gyroscopically balanced concept vehicle. While the Segway tops out at 6 mph, the Embrio 'hits 35 mph in the learning mode alone.' Very cool -- looks like something straight out of 'Minority Report.'"
deja /.
Yeah, Embryos don't create themselves.
All the same I bet it's a fun ride.
than what they called one of their other products - Sea-Doo Speedster 200
Video Game cheats, hints a
The Embryo is a concept. Until it is realized and a prototype is built, it is as good as any notebook sketch. The numbers quoted for speed are estimates. Given that, it is ridiculous to compare it to the Segway, which is in production.
A blog like any other.
I noticed no specs on stopping distance. Just from the physics of a unicycle wouldn't rapid stopping be a problem?
Hot Stuff and more
Linux and Mozilla customers get 5% off.
If you look at the specs this thing is really heavy, I don't think I could lift 360 pounds so to me it more like a motorcycle then a segway.
This is just the perfect thing for everyone who already has a motorcycle, and has been routinely frustrated with their inability to donate organs.
Aimed at the 18 to 45 age group
...but the only people who can afford it are wealthy old men with rollercoasters in the backyard and robotic butlers that answer the front door, I'm sure.
---
Never criticize religion on Slashdot. You will be modded down for "Troll" no matter how factual it is.
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).
I love dupes, you get the opportunity to use other people's comments to achieve mod point heaven.
Jerk store Jerry, Jerk store! Jerk store!!!
--"The perfect example of the man of action is the suicide." - William Carlos Williams
Because those segways were selling like hotcakes we thought we'd get in the market too.
This just in, thousands of anti-abortionists are protesting outside of Bombardier headquarters, claiming that the Embrio was meant to stay in the womb.
Finally my childhood dreams of joining the M.A.S.K. team can be realized!
What happens after 45? Im only 30 and need to know if I need to prepare myself for after 45.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
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?
All I want for Christmas is my Embrio
...
Urgh. Now there was an image I didn't want
Robert Anton Wilson
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.
It says the Segway tops out at 6 mph. In reality, the number is 10 mph for the P Series and 12.5 for the I and E Series. (source: Seqway Specs.
Get your facts straight!
A blog like any other.
But this statement fails to mention the main objective of the Embrio's "learning mode": To instill in the trainee using adverse experience why it's a bad idea to exceed the maximum recommended operational speed of 6 mph.
Same (news) as it ever was. - Jesper
But from the practical POV, this thing is a no-go. Anyone who ride motorbikes probably would agree. The mechanics of braking is none too gentle, and even if your bike has two wheels (and you on top, which is usually the case ;-), it can easily fight the gravity. And if anyone thinks that the riders of this Embrio will never exceed 30 mph, and will never need deceleration more than 1g, for example, they haven't learned a thing about humans :-) Fact is, humans tend to go as fast as they can, and as result they need to stop equally fast too.
Besides, what's the point? A motorbike (or a bicycle as its little brother) is already perfect. It exists pretty much unchanged for how much - 100 years? It's fun to ride, it's reliable, it's powerful (kW per pound ratio is good!), and it's small - so you can park it anywhere. You only shouldn't ride it in winter; but this Embrio is not any better traction-wise.
So again, why? Why exactly two wheels are bad? Why exactly it is so inherently evil to lose power and still be able to coast safely to a stop anywhere you choose? Why it is so bad to be able to brake hard when you have to? Why it is ungood to be able to fishtail on a wet road but still stay up & smiling? There is no such explanation in the article. My guess is, they made it because they could.
But as I said, the design is cool. Hydrogen fuel cell should be used in other vehicles (bikes #included). That would be good for the planet. But one wheel ... leave it for the circus.
Also, "the Segway tops out at 6 mph", isn't its top speed 12 mph?
Tierce
Who sponsors your feelings?
A simple search for "Embrio" in Slashdot's older articles would tell you that this had already been covered on Nov 12th.
You guys spend so much time looking for new things to submit, but you're not willing to take the time to see if it's already been posted.
Quite frankly, I find that idiotic.
This is just asking for a comment along the lines of "But what about a goatse.cxier Segway?"
...but really, why?
What advantage comes from having just 1 wheel? With 2 or more at least you get built in redundancy...if the electronics fail you have the laws of physics working for you, not against you.
Hmmm...built in redundancy. Sort of like slashdot! bwahaahhah...sorry, it's late.
My favorite concept vehicle remains the General Motors Firebird III. That was a working vehicle. Turbine power. Automatic driving. Joystick steering. Huge tailfins. 1959.
Don't get me wrong, I love concept designs but this one is *really* impractical.
I mean, it only takes a minute of looking at its configuration with the heavy gyroscope package in the centre of the wheel to realise that changing a tyre is going to be monumentally difficult.
Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
Or "The Jetsons"
How to render the Segway Obsolete
All I have to say is, BAM, third wheel!
Looks like exactly what Heinlein called "tumblebugs" in "The Roads Must Roll". As he described it "...the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized on a single wheel." Personally, I think I'll hold out for the flying car.
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
nt
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
Don't moderate on this topic, this is a dupe, and everyone is just copying comments from the previous story to get mod points, I know this sounds stupid, but if I had mod points, I wouldn't waste them on this discussion.
Sig: I stole this sig.
The Segway does NOT top out at 6 mph. That's just plain wrong, and I would've thought someone would've picked that up before it made the main page.
Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
Don't worry...by 2025, active radar, proximity transponders and pro-active avoidance systems will be all the rage. This thing isn't planned for today's asphalt jungle, by any means.
There was some anime called "Big Wars" i think that had lots of these things in it... haven't seen it since probably like '95
Paizurishitetai desu ka?
Reminds me of the thing from this Southpark episode
____
i noticed in the quicktime video from the wired site an old looking picture of a powered unicycle from the 1900's. has anyone seen it before?
Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Embrio
Because a Segway isn't expensive enough!
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
No one will buy it.
Hey, want to spend some money? I got a "pets.com" mascot I want to sell you. And this IPO I want to release for my new cream soda delivery service. Oh and some $800 office chairs. And this other thing, well, we don't know what it does, but give me some money.
I think that that's what was really keeping the Segways from taking off. =)
Embrio will be shite if their servers are any indication.
Bombardier, is already well-known for its illegal export-subsidies given by the canadian government.
They also don't have problems bullying its competitors (and involved countries) with the little help, again, of the canadian government.
I'm talking about that Bombardier/Canada vs Embraer/Brazil thing.
Click here if you don't know what is this all about.
I have to say the big downside (other than price obviously) about segways was that at 6 mph you wouldn't get there any faster than walking - which meant, for practical purposes it was only suitable for lazy ass bastards who couldn't be bothered walking. It was not a revolution in means of transport.
As 35mph, on the other hand, you can actually get somewhere. Effectively that puts this in the unicycle-moped range, which starts to look interesting. As people have pointed out, crashing at 35 mph could be unpleasant. Mind you mopeds and scooters routinely run around the city at up to 35 mph without anyone being too terrified. You still want to wear a helmet though.
So it all comes back down to price again - and the question is, simply, how much is this thing going to cost, because you can always get this for about $3000.
Jedidiah.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
What's the point of a bike if you can't burn rubber?
The ______ Agenda
Didn't I see these in Dominion Tank Police or something?
Seriously, it's an interesting concept, but let's say you're cruising at 35 M.P.H. or more, your one wheel hits a patch of ice or something, you go spinning across the road and get hit by a Mack truck. Not such a big deal you'd think, until that Hydrogen fuel cell ruptures. Then...BOOM!!! I think I'll stick to 4 wheels surrounded by a half ton of Detroit steel, thank you very much.
"I like you, but I wouldn't want to see you working with subatomic particles."
linky
dupe
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the
Yeah, that sounds safe.
Yes, I know it has a "landing bar" that retracts at 20 Km/h and the wheel is wide and flat, but the braking and acceleration forces have to go somewhere...
Very cool -- looks like something straight out of 'South Park'". http://store.wush.net/tmp/entity.gif
wush.net - svn hosting
Slashdot editors actually give a shit about quality anymore? It's all about the dollar and fat capitalistic complacency. Fucking assholes.
It's nothing but a CAD illustration. And a dupe to boot.
I can see it now...
Officer: You know the speed limit is 25 in this neighborhood?
50 years ago, if you wanted to build a car/motorbike you would need to draft plans, then have a prototype built/tested before it ever hit a real assembly line. This would also generate tons of paper which had to be stored and secured. If you wanted another plant to have your plans you would have to mail them, train workers, ect. Changes and customizations took weeks or months, depending on how much training was needed for the workers and how much retooling was needed for the line.
Now you can design it in cad. Without even building a prototype you can test the handling inside a computer, then when your cad drawing is exactly how you want it, outsource the assembly it to a foriegn factory. Thanks to the lovely internet you can have your plans get there in hours. Changes can be made on the fly because workers have been replaced with robots. Japan is still ahead of the game in robotics, that's why I predict they will be the first to specialize in these types of "Just in time" assembly lines.
As reliable as current automotive robotics are, I think that we will see companies like Honda building entire factories filled with Asimo robots. Since the human body is designed so well for so many tasks, it makes sense for them to use humanoid robots for more general tasks like the current human population is used for today. Yes despite robots in factories now, we still need humans, but I don't think it will be too long before we have robots doing these tasks.
The bottom line to all this is once the ball gets rolling from these independant outfits like segway building vehicles, we'll see more variety on the road, and not just the gas guzzling oil dependant combustion vehicles we have today, but neat stuff like this self balancing unicycle.
Bush will hurt himself really bad this time!
I can't wait for the footage of George W. Bush falling off of one of these things!
We can already tell at the embryonal stage.
(For the clueless: the story is a dupe.)
That is the coolest thing I have seen in a long time, and fuel cell powered too. Sadly I can't see it getting into production.
A few things that the ghostrider gets to play with. Here's a site with some specs on his Suzuki GSXR1300 Hayabusa Turbo Special. If you look around you'll find some videos of nutjobs trying to push the redline in 6th gear on their turbo's busas.
How can a bike like that push 400hp at 14,000 rpm without exploding into lots of tiny pieces???
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
If they get this off the drawing boards, and solve the problem of a user eating pavement in the event of a hardware failure, they should probably market this in asia first.
Think about it. Asian cities are much more crowded then north american cities, and have much worse traffic problems. The appeal of rapid personal transportation over there would be much greater, I think.
I for one like the idea of using Embrio type personal transportation combined with mass transit for longer distances.
END COMMUNICATION
isn't the niche this thing would fill in an awkward slot just above (and overlapping) the segway, and just below (and overlapping) those scooters which sit below - and slightly overlap with motorbikes?
relatively short, and speedy trip from place to place in the city I'd use one of those things versus a big motorbike (scooters just look a touch to fey - well, more than a touch).
So is the vision of the future one where we have a different vehicle for every trip distance and speed?
how far are we going? not far - segway? no, bit further - car? naw, bike? maybe the embrio, but we'll have stuff to carry? stuff it, kids get in the flying car
"For now though, this Embrio is still in utero --no working model yet exists."
-From the PopSci article
--My sig won't stop picking it's nose
Current pricing is definitely a turn off..
I totally hate the idea of the Segway: it's too slow to be on the motorway, too heavy and quick to be safe on the walkway (and yet, it -is- allowed on the walkway), and it's realy bad on your knees.
This thing, however, addresses all my issues with the Segway: it's fast enough for the motorway and you can sit, reducing the strain on your knees.
If this thing takes off, it could reduce congestion and pollution caused by cars. That's almost utopian.
Sigged!
Doesn't Segway have a patent on something like this? Maybe that's why it wont come out till 2025 - wait for the patents to expire. Of course, by then, Segway would prolly just use the DMCA as a defense... ;-)
Here is a monumental safety imporvement to any low speed scooter, like a balancing scooter, a segway, or something else:
Problem: In a low speed (under 15 mph) failure of the equipment, the passenger will continue to move forward after the vehicle has stopped. The safest and most reasonable thing for the passener to do when the vehicle halts is to step off the front. However the front handlebar of these scooters eliminate that option, and as noted by the first reference, and more publicly by Mr. Bush, you will be thrown down on your face.
Solution: Remove the front handlebar. You could implement the controls on a rear handlebar that wraps arround the sides of the rider. It would make the vehicle less natural to mount (you step into it backwards) but much safer to bail off of at speed. If this is unacceptable, (or if passangers need to be able to bail off of an out of control scooter without being run over by it), provide the controls above one or two handlebars on the sides of the vehicle.
Better Idea Forget the whole self balancing nonsense as proposed by the third reference. Tricycles, however, are very unstable when turning. Make a quadricycle with no stearing column or handlebars. Put a pressure sensing pad on the top - transfer of pressure in any direction indicates a desire to exprerience acceleration in the opposite direction. The rider only fails to communicate with the platform if she has lost her balance and her center of mass is no longer "over" the platform (with respect to gravity and any pseudo forces she is experiencing), i.e. when she has already comitted herself to falling off. The vehicle automatically stops when the platform is vacated.
I wouldn't even buy the official frenchise of that crappy movie.
Unlike a slow segway, if it fails while you're going top speed in that thing, you might die. If you're on a motorcycle that dies, at least you don't lose your balance.
The Wheelman is much cheaper and appears to have about the same risk level. Its only $1500 for a motorized device that you stand on and doesn't have anything to hold on to. I've seen these in action and the seem to work well.
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.
...the Bombardier engineers just read his book, drew a nice sketch, and thought up some numbers to go with it.
I vaguely remember alien beings from Polar Star with one naturally evolved gyrostabilised wheel, described in Piers Anthony "Cluster" series.
When Flint, book hero, incarnated through aura projection in the alien body, he cant even stand up. why, for the god sake, we have to abandon useful, nice pair of legs? we're not Polarians.
'Sexier' means better suited for sex. You think it's better suited for sex than mares?
Bombardier's Hot Wheel
Visit CryptoGnome in his home.
Note, this vehicle is not intended for Americans who, given the choice, would put on full body armor and climb into their tank to go buy milk, just in case some fly hits their windshield and causes an accident that would be fatal were they not protected by a tank and body armor. Bunch of overweight paranoid wimps.
This is intended for the sane world, the world outside of US.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/down/guide.html?id =511
and
http://images.southparkstudios.com/media/images/51 1/image_07.gif
I've seen this somewhere recently..I think it was slashdot...Might've been Wired....IDK, cool either way.
nothing.can.stop.me.now
That's why they say:
"Somewhere in Texas, a village is missing its idiot."
It's Duh-bya.
"Changes can be made on the fly because workers have been replaced with robots."
That's got nothing to do with replacing workers with robots, and everything to do with just-in-time manufacturing. What makes it hard to change things is inventory... all the parts that are now the wrong shape will have to be discarded, whether they're assembled by robots or factory workers or trained monkeys.
"Since the human body is designed so well for so many tasks, it makes sense for them to use humanoid robots for more general tasks like the current human population is used for today."
The only task the human body is particularly better designed for than R2D2 is moving around in a human world. Factory robots don't need to do that, so they have no need to have all those complex components in arms and legs. The ideal robot shape there is a tea trolley with attachment points for manipulators, because a cube lets you fit more robot into less space and makes storage and assembly easier.
Humanoid robots simply slotting into human jobs is science fiction. And it was a science fiction writer who explained why, Anthony Boucher, 1943, wrote about Quinby's Usuform Robots and how they ended up replacing Robinc's humanoids because the human body *is* such a poor design for a robot.
And yes - when it crashes (often) you have the reboot the train.
The bl**dy thing can't even be diesel shunted if it breaks, there's no way to get the brakes off - not even a hand valve.
This is also the train that went through a period of having dead multiple unit trains if they coupled two sets together that have different versions of the software as the inter-train interface presumably changed(!). Bombardier's answer was to require all units reload their software over radio every 24 hours. If the 24 hour period expires, brakes go on, you go nowhere.
At least it's failsafe - just rather more than one would hope.
Source of the above info - various guards and drivers who staff these things.
Why can't women be like Hedy Lamarr - beautiful, talented and inventors of frequency-hopping spread-spectrum techn
This is frustratingly typical of what passes for journalism in this world. When you consider that the press is critical to the proper functioning of a democracy, it's frightening how really bad they are at their jobs. Between the general incompetence and some people's active efforts to skew the truth, it's a wonder we ever get anything right.
For instance, I'm pretty sure there are journalists who have had enough exposure to George W. Bush to have made an informed decision on this very important question: is he stupid, or is he malicious, or is it a combination of the two? But, we'll never hear the truth from these people, because their continued access to the White House, and hence their jobs, depend on them placidly following the scripts they are handed.
I don't know what can be done about this situation, but it's the kind of thing I had hoped the internet would help with, and so far there doesn't seem to be much improvement.
Oh, and by the way, Bombardier is a publicly-held company. The reason the Forbes writer couldn't find them on the NYSE or NASDAQ is that they have the temerity to list their shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Is the name. Unless they're making an obscure reference to Benjamin Franklin's "What good is a newborn baby?" and a nod to the observation that it's not quite that far along yet.
American and Euroean always copy Japaneseidea.
you can't turn in place with a third wheel, can't you?
I was just reading, and I am not sure about all of the models, but the orginal didn't top out at 6mph, I remember it being 12.5. As a New Hampshire resident I have to defend the good ol' Segway ;)
I dunno, but I think history has the bicycle being more like "Dad" than "Bro."
I've studied balancing machines quite a bit (worked on some too) and I'm not aware of any good way to balance a unicycle at rest without some funny rocking/rotating motions. OTOH, I am impressed at how little of this is required to keep a 2-wheel machine upright. Maybe it's not so bad. I niticed the picture had no rider....
English to all of the French Canadians first?
Clean your own house before you come to criticize me.
Hoser!
It's called the motorcycle.
Oh yeah, but they do have a cool CGI animation! That'll make everything better!
it could reduce congestion and pollution caused by cars. That's almost utopian.
Anybody who rides a motorcycle such as this EMBRIO has to breathe the exhaust of the Ford Compensator in front of him.
a quote from Heinlein's "Rolling Roads":
"Gaines and Harvey mounted tumblebugs, and kept abreast of the Cadet Captain,
some twenty-five yards behind the leading wave. It had been a long time since the Chief
Engineer had ridden one of these silly-looking little vehicles, and he felt awkward. A
tumblebug does not give a man dignity, since it is about the size and shape of a kitchen
stool, gyro-stabilized on a single wheel. But it is perfectly adapted to patrolling the maze
of machinery 'down inside', since it can go through an opening the width of a man's
shoulders, is easily controlled, and will stand patiently upright, waiting, should its rider
dismount."
Just one thing, the Segway tops out at 12, not 6 mph.
Bikes come in two genders....
So here's a question for everyone that thinks this is a great vehicle for the urban commute: What happens when you lose traction? On a motorbike the front wheel stabilizes the machine when the rear wheel looses traction, even if only for a fraction of a second. With the internal gyro on the Embrio, the computer loses basis for comparison and immediately assumes you have just rocketed from 15 kph to 35 kph and the gyro swings the rider forward over the "handlebars" in an effort to correct for the rapid acceleration. At this point physics is not your friend with only 1 wheel...
The second important thing to realise is that motorbikers in genereal already have to ride like we're invisible. We sometimes have to do rapid breaking in order to avoid the idiot turning left at the intersection who cuts us off because hes not looking for bikers. So what happens when you must decelerate aggressively to avoid such an accident? My guess is that with a design like this you are very limited in your deceleration which puts the rider in extreme danger in the event they need to stop rapidly.
As a marvel of laboratory technology this will meet its objective, and sure it's eye candy, but as an urban vehicle I don't forsee a new class of single wheeled vehicles taking over our streets any time soon.
"Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati" -- Red Green
Is it powered by electricity or gas or what? Can we change the power source to other industrially recognized mechanisms / sources?
.. I hate having to charge up .. why not use gas or a safe nuke source?
Why does everything have to be electric
The obvious thing that comes to mind for most people who see this, is how the heck can it stop. The fanciest gryo's and computer control isn't going to stop you as quickly as something two points in it's wheel base, versus one.
Note that this unit has "landing gear" that deploy to help give stability and braking ability. Which all seems to make the elgance of it a lot more clunkier.
I'm wondering if any of the motorcycle manufacturers are considering adding segway-like smarts (gyros, computer control, and such), to somewhat more traditional motorcycle design, giving more stability, control, manoueverability, and such. In the end, the driver is going to be what determins the safety, for sure, but it would seem that some of the segway-like technology sure could hurt to avoid major mistakes.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
Calling it sexier than a Seqway is really not saying very much. A Segway looks like something designed to help fragile old-age pensioners do their shopping. The only time I saw somebody riding one it was being followed by a crowd of laughing children. If you want to look sexy, ride a motorbike. Even a Honda CG125 will make you look better than Brad Pitt on a Segway.
Didn't I see that in Dragonball, once?
I live in Bermuda where getting around by scooter is a very common thing - as opposed to say Boston or Denver in the U.S.
My Vespa with gas and carrying my laptop and rain gear is around 300lbs. That is lighter than the single wheeled beast in this article. My Vespa ET4 is 125cc and can go much faster than 36mph (although there isn't much need for it since the speed limit here is 35kmph and I personally never go over around 50kmph - occasionally 60, but that is considered dangerous here).
Vespa claims that it gets 46mpg, but I have seen it doing better than that, which is good since our gas is well over $5 per gallon.
I would be interested in seeing the price on that singled wheeled unit and trying it out compared to my Vespa - but I would imagine that it can't hold much of anything and is largely a gimmick.
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
As a Canadian taxpayer, I'm peeved at Bombardier for wasting our tax money. They've been heavily subsidized and still fail to return acceptable profits - I think they lost money the last few years . Surpised? No!
Hopefully, if this think actually works, they can actuall MAKE MONEY on it as opposed to the high-speed train, aeroplane and snowmobile divisions.
Good lord...by the time that this thing actually hits the streets in 2025, I'll be old enough to need the wheelchair model...
In other news, BMW today introduced the BMW Aladdin Series, its revolutionary flying car. A representative of BMW says that they expect everyone to be zipping around in one of these cool babies by the year 3100.
Ryosen
One man's "Troll, +1" is another man's "Insightful, +1".
You consider stunning gems of insight like "it has just 2 wheels, and so is a lot like feet", covering an admittedly trollish version of some really, really valid complaints.
The segway is more expensive than walking, but in most senses, it is not as good as walking.
The segway is more expensive than biking, but in most senses, it is not as good as biking.
(Repeat for skateboarding, unicycling, etc.)
Hell, even here on Slashdot, where we masturbate furiously in anticipation of the next Opteron model, the segway's reception was lukewarm. Sure, it has gadgetry, but it doesn't really fill a need, or do it well. (Okay, maybe those people who are too lazy to walk and want to zip around at jogging-speeds on a five thousand dollar, incredibly stealably scooter.)
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
I don't think this thing exists.
The pictures look very much like 3D renders.
I'd like to see video of someone riding on one.
Notice how Bombardier's website talks about it in future tense. Also, the details are very light.
"Technology will be used to harness the laws of physics..."
-ppsssshhhtt-
Slashdot Eds Link Anonymous Posts With Logged Posts
They Are Vermin Feeding On Each Other's Feces.
I Hate \.
> It looks cool but I would need a lot more trust to rely on one wheel
The very principle of this toy is broken anyway.
Anyone who has rid a unicycle can tell you: it won't work.
On such a device, the rear/front stability is easy to achieve, but the real challenge, the one that needs skill and a lot of practice, is *lateral* stability at low speed.
It's easy to understand: when you feel you are leaning on either side, what do you think you can do? Lean on the other side to correct? Nope, that won't work.
Instead, what you do is you slightly turn your wheel in the direction of the leaning, so that it becomes a rear/front lack of balance, and accelerate to compensate.
Once you are stable again, you can turn and follow your initial direction.
No automatic system can do that because direction and balance are tightly coupled.
If the rider does not understand that, he will simply fall, no matter how many gyroscopes you stick in the beast.
Comment Dupe on the Artical Dupe!
I don't need a product like this, but I would gladly pay $20K for a mobile device that allows my mom to move about freely without looking handicapped.
yep. Imaginary vehicles don't have a top speed either.
Flat Tire
Actually, members of the empty set can have any property you want them to.
I bet this will be twice as successful as the Segway was!
An old anime favourite of mine: http://animeworld.com/reviews/venuswars.html Every bike in this in this movie is a gyro-stabilized mono or 'unibike'. This would be really dangerous considering that personal EMP weapons are probably not too far off. I'd hate to be going 60mph and have the computer and gyros suddenly go off line. This article is a dupe if I ever saw one, that prototype is just a clay/rendered model. They probably aren't planning on a working version.
TallGreen CMS hosting
the whellie bike from multiple kirby games
i am the self-proclaimed king of free stuff
It's small, doesn't use much fule, reduces congestion, easy on your knees, stops and goes fast, etc.
Removing one of the wheels and switching around all of the controlls isn't necessarily an improvement upon design.
AND, motorcycles aren't VAPORWARE!
DAn
Yeah, I've seen an old film of a unicycle with a large wheel, with the seat positioned inside the rim. Motor acted [directly?] on the insode of the rim. Seat would slide "up the slope" under breaking/accelerating...
Seeing how a small capacity motorcycle, like those Honda C90s go faster, offer more flexibility, and well over 100 mpg, what's the point? It's not like you can really use these silly personal transport thingies in the tight spaces their compact designs are made for without running over someone. They seem to fit in that world of maybe too far to walk, but not really far enough to justify a vehicle. Hell, I'll stick to my feet in that case!
Get over it people - it doesn't work! This kind of idle design sketch is printed in the likes of Popular Science every month. Bombardier hasn't built anything like this yet. They pulled that 35 MPH number out of their collective ass! Hydrogen fuel cells? Give me a break!
eikimartinson.com
Come on.. how often do you see a good imaginary plane joke? Mod it up!
Scott.
"While the Segway tops out at 6 mph"
Last time I road a segway, it topped out, way faster than 6mph. Don't know where they got they're info, but I think it tops out at 12-25mph.
Don't Vote for Norm Dicks! http://www.nodicks2008.com Another nutless dirtbag that voted for the FISA bill!
Directly from the site:
...
Technology will be used to harness the laws of physics,
I really couldn't read on after that point. Of course, if the sentence had read "disobey the laws of physics" I might have been equally perturbed.
Seriously though, don't they run ad-copy past anybody besides other adwriters?
That was about what I was thinking. And the way to shift the weight back is to accelerate.
So to brake, the vehicle first hits the gas to shift the rider backwards, then hits the brakes. Fun thing is that the heavier you are, the faster the thing can come to a stop...
Musicians don't die. They just decompose.
If I ever saw someone stupid enough to ride one (near me) I would push the ridiculous contraption over! Electric bikes are the way to go, at least you can peddle as well which is better than becoming a fat slob due to the lack of exercise. Segways contribute to morbidly obese! By the way, what is the weight limit for a Segway? 500lbs?
It's pretty simple when you think about it. Rather than braking rapidly and just pitching the rider off the front, it would be fairly easy to put together an algorithm to keep the rider physically planted over the CG of the wheel by leaning her or him backwards.
So when the rider slams on the brakes, the ABS system takes over and also leans the rider backward to counter the deceleration.