Slashdot Mirror
Solowheel is for People Who Think a Segway is Boring (Video)
Shane Chen is an inventor who likes to make all kinds of things. For instance, he designed the frame and invented a special reflective surface for the screen you see in the background of the video below. But many of his inventions have to do with transportation, especially the kind of transportation that doubles as personal thrill ride, like a sail for paddleboats and an electric surfboard. At this year's CES, I spoke with Chen's daughter Ywanne about his latest rideable invention, which is for obvious reasons called the Solowheel. Her father's the one you can see demonstrating the device in the background; you can see trickier riding in this YouTube video. She says that of all her father's inventions, this is the one that came together most easily: his first stab at a powered unicycle just worked, and since then it's been polishing the experience and getting it to market. And "to market" isn't a dream; for about $1800, you can have an experience that's a bit more intense than a Segway. The Solowheel can climb hills of surprising steepness, as long as the rider is up for it. Coming down looks more challenging, though.
Anyone have a mirror?
Finally, Peter's wheel has gone into production at last.
This space unintentionally left blank.
Going downhill on a regular unicycle is harder than going uphill too. Up hill you just apply brute strength to climb as hard as you can. Down hill you have to brake with your legs keeping the unicycle at just the right speed so it stays under you.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
too many nerds wanting it i guess :)
Where's the video of someone with one of these on each foot?
There are going to be more people, mall cops, looking stupid in malls on their one wheel scooter with bicycle helmet.
No handlebars, no handlebars...
Zerg rush.
I just got a Solo Wheel - it's harder to learn than you'd expect by looking at the videos (way, WAY harder than learning to ride a Segway, which was pretty much instantaneous for me.) But it's an absolute blast once you do learn, and the one nice day that I've ridden around in public, I had dozens of strangers coming up to me and asking all sorts of questions.
I really want one of the RYNO Motors gadgets next - planning to ride one of those all over Burning Man.
And this thing looks like a blast as well, but those treads look dangerous as hell!
Looks like the website is down.
Get a better mic timmy. That was like voices from the fishtank. Interesting interview though and a cool toy. The young lady should lift her lips a bit more though, looks like she's trying to hide her teeth.
I love the fact that they have videos of this thing in a skate park. The thing can barely get up the ramp let alone do any tricks other than go in circles. The only exciting part of this is figuring out how to ride it.
I've been hearing about this thing for years now, and saw videos from last years CES too. I mean, here's a link to an Engadget article from early 2011 http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/15/solowheel-self-balancing-unicycle-is-as-easy-to-ride-as-it-is-to/ almost 2 years go!
Looks like the wheel that caveman guy rides around on in the comic 'B.C.'
How about a uni motorcycle? Much cooler... http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Z1YoCfm7nxU&NR=1&feature=endscreen
The "Hot Ideas Guy" that occasionally shows up at Burning Man type events has a two-wheeled, off-road skateboard that works the same way. Watching him casually ride it at high speed over broken ground is pretty amazing! The wheels are side by side in the exact middle of the skateboard, but the thing never falls over.
In other words, a Segway.
Looks like another warm-weather device. Does not help me in the snow.
Anybody?
www.solowheel.com slashdotted.
Solo server, solo core, solo thread, eh?
I can only hope they're as fun when crashing as seagways are.
HAHAHAHAHHA!
I believe in karma, which is why, when I do something bad to people, I assume they deserve it.
Now I want to cosplay as Gizmoduck with one of these. That would be some awesome cosplay.
I live in Japan and while I have a hybrid light car(K-car Japanese Standard), I try to save money by walking(when it's raining/snowing) or riding my bicycle(on sunny/cloudy days). However, honestly, I don't exactly enjoy bicycles(nothing wrong with them, just personal preferences). Motorcycles are great but I'm not comfortable with the idea to share the road with cars that weight at least 10 times more and a segway is way too overpriced(and fugly). If you lived about 5km( 3 miles) from your work, would you use it daily instead of a bicycle? How usable the Solo Wheel is for daily life? Do you consider it just a toy or an actual transportation mean for short distances?
like the Segway, it'll still be illegal in the UK!
The Inventist website has a bunch of cool inventions by this guy!
http://inventist.com/
This is the kind of transportation that doubles as a personal thrill ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1y4RRWm3xw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.C._(comic_strip)
http://johnhartstudios.com/bc/characters/title_thor.jpg
Did you see the girl awkwardly put her hand in her pocket?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfv1FhdaBBk
my sig
I wanted to see a demo of the thing, not a video of peoples' heads talking about it.
Very usable for daily life.
I own one of these and I use it 4x each day to travel 1.5km from home to work and back. Was doing this ride by bicycle for twenty years and I wanted a change.
At first it was a challenge, I had to stop to rest halfway. Now, with enough practise, it's simple, effortless.
I prefer the Solowheel to the bicycle for this distance although it takes a bit more time.
I carry the Solowheel along in the train when I have to visit customers, even if they're near the train station. It's a bit heavy for me to carry, so I ride on the platform in the train station and just walk a few steps...
Riding the Solowheel feels much more natural than the Segways, which I also considered as an alternative to the bicycle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeMSqUpWMMU reminds me so much of this game.
You are all a bunch of idots.
I am owned of Solowheel clone, it is called IPS. Quite nice thing, but due to the wet and cold winter here in Russia, i am not learned to ride yet. Segway here is cost about $ 10,000 it isvery very expensive. The Solowheel (i.e. its clone, In my case) gives to me a chance to touch innovation technologies, for the less price.