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Cripes!!
It doesn’t look particularly robust, although it’s hard to tell what type of material is used.
Just what the advanced nations need – even less exercise.
God forbid you walk down a hallway under your own power. Wall-E here we come..
Why?
I see visions of fat lazy people everywhere riding these things. At least they are quite a bit smaller than the scooters that the “so called” handicapped people ride around the grocery stores clogging up the aisles.
Next step, actual legs you can strap on and do the walking for you.
Nice find Marc!
Obviously, it’s for the skinny, 100% fat free Japanese public. And I think that’s a great thing because nerdy, segway polo made my eyes bleed.
# 6 SB
No – it makes you young thin and attractive, didn’t you see the ad?
It’s not like a promotional video would lie to you
It’s a unicycle! I think it useless to the masses!
Kind of unsettling that some people actually prefer riding this thing to just walking. It could, however, be a good option (albeit some modifications would probably be necessary) for the handicapped.
I noticed the two girls probably weigh 80 lbs and are very small
Technologically amazing. But it’s a complete dorkfest.
It takes a lot less room than a wheelchair.
That is remarkable technology!
As suggested by others here, as shown it’s probably not satisfactory for those over about 100 pounds. As also mentioned, there is the question of where/why one would use it. Incredible nonetheless.
It’s most likely for Japan’s aging demographics. They are going to have huge issues with their increasing elderly population, hence the development of domestic robots and “unique” mobility devices.
I go with #3. I’m not getting anything like enough exercise as it is. This thing isn’t going to work on dirt. On the other hand it might beat the crap out of a wheel chair.
They should test it with some wal-mart shopper-sized people. The chicks in the video look less than 100 lbs.
This unit is hardly beyond a segway… Try riding this thing across a bumpy street, or gravel… It needs to be a lot more robust…
Good attribuutes: no footprint, high tech styling.
Poor attributes: awkward sitting posture, no speed, no standing posture, small battery volume = lousy range.
Version 2 will have to evolve.
Actually I did a google for it… looks like Engadget had a hands on… regardless of whether or not you think it’s actually good for people to have, you do need to admit that the technology may lead to some very interesting things… remember at the end of the day, Honda builds lots of R&D stuff but doesn’t bring half of it to direct market (most of it leads to innovations in their vehicles or consumer products (read lawnmowers)).
So this could be something that could lead towards self driven lawnmowers or even cars without steering wheels… who knows – but it’s great that a company is investing money in to R&D to at least find new things..
Oh yea, and here’s that website for engadget
Just what my fat ass needs, another reason to sit down. My ass is big enough already. No thanks, I’ll take the stairs.
I am sure that someone can Hummer-ize it enough to make it appealing to fat lazy Americans. Just use a big low pressure knobby tire, a metal chassis with a Caterpillar paint scheme and some big bore 8 cylinder sound effects. Yeehaw!
Of course there was a study that came out recently implicating sitting with a whole range of health issues, since humans aren’t actually evolved for extended sitting.
I’m considering changing some of my habits at work to see if I can sit as little as possible.
It’s the SegStool!
Almost as good as legs.
I do love this sort of thing from a technical perspective. Innovation is progress (most of the time).
Groovy! A vibrator on wheels. “Vibeway”? “Segrator”?
Forget the sitting, riding, balancing, lazy-enhancing technology. The most exciting part of that video for me was the omnidirectional wheel technology. Just thinking about the potential applications of that make me giddy.
Interesting, isn’t it, the number of people who jump to the Lazyness Excuse for denigrating the idea. It’s the same lame thinking that leads them to point to the Segway and accuse the riders of having the deadly sin of sloth all over them.
But if you told those same folks you could give them a machine that would AMPLIFY THEIR LEGS, they’d glow forever.
Both of these ideas are amplifiers. This one works to expand your seated moments, the Seg works to amplify your standing moments.
I was zipping along on a Segway when a man seated at the controls of his full-size Hummer rounded a corner and shouted “Lazy!” at me.
Needless to say, the infinite irony of the moment was completely lost on him.
Later that week I met a man permanently on crutches and let him ride the thing. A huge epiphany for him. Suddenly he realized his mobility was not as lost as he had thought.
What’s worse, being inappropriately called lazy simply because your chair or welcome mat can move under power, or actually harboring phenomenally lazy thought processes?
Wow, when will my car be able to drive like this…. This would be great for CES because it is a long way to the Circle Bar….
Nice toy.
Will never be anything other than that.
People with mobility issues that cannot stand without assistance and/or lean easily would have no use for it as a wheelchair. Even Hoveround is not fully functional for all mobility products.
The fact is going to have to be realised that humans need to find an organic solution to the situation not an inorganic one.
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Man, you guys are missing the big picture.
Self-balancing technology this advanced (or at least, at this prototype level) is the first key step towards having AWESOME WALKING BATTLE TANKS!!!
Today its a crappy little unicycle. Tomorrow it’s a 100 ton nuclear equipped death machine.
The future is now!