[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-9mYCXNshQ&fmt=18]
Focus Design sent us a video of their self balancing unicycle (looks like they’re taking on Focus Features too). The electric machine moves at 8MPH and lasts 1.5hrs on a single charge. It only weighs 24.6lbs. They say that new riders only need about 2hrs. practice. They’re building ten units to start for $1500 each.
Electric unicycles are nothing new to our community. We’ve long been fans of [Trevor Blackwell]’s electric unicycle. [Trevor] spent several months learning how to ride a regular unicycle before he could properly debug the electric version. There are several other designs out there: The Einrand-Fahrzeug has a wide wheel to make balancing easier. The eniCycle includes a steering mechanism. The Uniquecycle has a brushless motor in hub for a compact design. We did a roundup back in July that covers these plus many other motorized unicycle concepts.
God… I have seen some pretty useless expensive stuff before but this one takes the cake!
IN BEFORE SEGWAY TAKEOFF.
Looks like the trundelbugs from The Roads Must Roll. OMG Heinlein was right!!!!
so if you hop off, will it still stand upright? that’d be the only thing that makes it worth it to me :P
I want one, now maybe I can one-up Randal Munroe.
The price seems a little steep but I would be willing to dish out that much for one. I wonder if anyone has released an entirely open-source version with decent documentation and schematics. If not looks like I might have myself a project for the next month or so.
I like the enicycle a bit more, the design seems a little cleaner.
On a side note, does anyone happen to know the name of the song in this video. Sounds like a nice adition to my ambient mixes.
This takes away the fun and glory of unicycles.
the song, albeit seems to be a remix, is probably my favorite ambient song period.
the album leaf- micro melodies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2NhrVVaG_k
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Album+Leaf/_/Micro+Melodies
the album versions a bit cleaner of course.
Thanks, I should have known. I have their album, I knew I have heard something like this before.
Boring… don’t need it to be self balancing ;)
The Segway patent of Dean Kamen does also cover one wheeled designs. While making something like this for personal amusement might be OK, making and selling them commercially might not be.
The enicycle looks a lot better to ride as it has an ingenious steering mechanism in addition to the forwards/backwards self-balancing.
Check out the video of Adam Savage riding the SBU (self-balancing unicycle) for the first time: http://focusdesigns.com/2009/12/21/adam-savage-sbu/
SBU (Self Balancing Unicycle) V2.0 is released.
http://focusdesigns.com/design/