Honda Uni-Cub
 

ho hum

ho hum

ho hum

ho hum

In the current prototype form, it certainly does not appear able to take the place of a segway for personal transportation, especially considering speed, distance, carrying ability, and maneuverability. The issue that immediately comes to my mind concerns what abilities it has to stop and turn quickly, evasively, or accurately.

A few excerpts from the internet :

The Uni-Cub can achieve a top speed of 10kmph, but unfortunately the prototype device only has a battery life of one hour. Honda foresees the Uni-Cub being used in places like shopping malls and exhibition halls to get from one end to the other quickly.

The amazing thing about the Uni-Cub is its ability to balance. Powered up, it twitches right and left ever so slightly to stay upright. Sit down, and you feel like you’re in an office chair mounted to a unicycle. To move forward or slide left and right, simply lean in the desired direction. Alternatively, you can move the Uni-Cub forward using the joystick, which also controls your rotation. It’s a lot harder to use than it sounds. The Uni-Cub moves in the general direction you lean, but minor inputs can quickly turn into more sideways or diagonal motion than intended. It’s easy to start slipping sideways or diagonally when all you want is a small course correction.

So it has built-in drifting-- Sounds fun!

Still, I'd like a couple of them, as office chairs. Assuming, that is, that the motion doesn't interfere with typing and mousing.

It might even force you to sit up straight, else you drift away from your work!

How big is the tire, wheel, roller, ball or what ever it rolls on. Little wheels will dump you if you run over a pencil. The 19" wheels will roll over a lot of stuff on the street.

I believe it was a larger wheel (12 inches or so) that is constructed of smaller wheels arranged laterally (1 inch or so).

This means that the pencil you may be able to roll over strait ahead of you may be okay, but if you try to roll over it while gliding sideways, it will spill you.

Couple that with the fact that several reports say that keeping the big wheel rolling and not having the little wheels roll (making a diagonal movement) is very difficult, so small imperfections in the flooring (I don't think this device is ready for out doors yet) could be a problem.

This is an interesting approach, but at the moment, it looks like that Zamboni must be in front of each and every unit, so that it has a smooth surface to navigate upon...

Wonder if the ear muffs serve as handles as well....................:D