When you think of intuitive forms of transportation, the first thing that comes to your mind is probably a self-balancing, motorized unicycle. No? Well then your mind is broken. Such a device does, in fact, exist, having been built by MIT student Stephen Boyer. While the unicycle is motorized in every sense of the word, it is not exactly as self-balancing as you might expect. It has the ability to balance on the axis parallel to the direction of travel, but not perpendicular. It’ll keep you from falling backwards, but not to the side. Essentially, the balance assist makes it comparable to riding a bike.
This isn’t just some crazy project, disposed of upon completion; Boyer actually uses the thing to dart around campus. It packs a pair of 12 volt batteries that have enough juice to keep the thing going for up to 5 miles between charges. Nothing to sneeze at. It may not seem like the coolest way to get around, but that’s only because Boyer hasn’t had sufficient time to make it clear that it actually is the coolest way to get around. I’m not sure I would want one myself, but I would pay a hefty admission fee to several people racing on these and wielding baseball bats. A hefty admission fee indeed.
(via Hack a Day)
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