{"id":526862,"date":"2010-04-13T15:24:20","date_gmt":"2010-04-13T19:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.discovermagazine.com\/discoblog\/?p=8527"},"modified":"2010-04-13T15:24:20","modified_gmt":"2010-04-13T19:24:20","slug":"it%e2%80%99s-a-robot-unicycle-or-a-segway-split-in-half-actually-we-don%e2%80%99t-know-what-the-heck-this-is-discoblog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/526862","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a Robot Unicycle! Or a Segway Split in Half? Actually We Don\u2019t Know What the Heck This Is | Discoblog"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"embeddedvideo\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"640\" height=\"385\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/-dTy50T9fGQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Ever wonder what might be the perfect vehicle to get around from point A to point B without getting out of your seat?<\/p>\n<p>Introducing Honda&#8217;s U3-X Personal Mobility Vehicle&#8211;a vehicle that looks like a cross between a Segway and an electric wheelchair. Shaped like a figure 8, the device is omni-directional\u2014it can move forwards, backwards, or even sideways. All you have to do is plop yourself on the device&#8217;s cushioned leather seat and then as <a rel=\"nofollow\"  href=\"http:\/\/www.pcmag.com\/article2\/0,2817,2362334,00.asp\"><em>PC Mag&#8217;s<\/em><\/a> Lance Ulanoff describes, some smart tech does the rest:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Since the U3-X balances itself (a trick learned from <a rel=\"nofollow\"  href=\"http:\/\/www.pcmag.com\/article2\/0,2817,849588,00.asp\">Honda&#8217;s ASIMO robot<\/a>), you can simply hold the handle and roll it along. Its lithium-ion battery holds an hour charge and features a rather unique omni-directional wheel system (called an Omni Traction Drive System) that can roll forward on the full-size wheel or sideways on dozens of little wheels that sit inside the larger wheel. Balancing is provided by accelerometers and sensors that detect the rider&#8217;s center of gravity and make constant adjustments to keep the U3-X and rider in perfect balance. Riding is simply a matter of leaning, slightly, in the direction you want to go.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It&#8217;s also a portable fella, weighing 22 pounds, which can be packed up neatly and stowed away in a car or under the desk.<\/p>\n<p>But don&#8217;t expect to see the Personal Mobility Vehicle zipping across offices anytime soon, as it is still in prototype stage and not available in the market.<\/p>\n<p>Bloggers, meanwhile, have already jumped on the prototype, pointing out that Ducktales&#8217; fans would recognize Honda&#8217;s offering to be similar to GizmoDuck&#8217;s armor.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8547\" title=\"gizmoduck\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.discovermagazine.com\/discoblog\/files\/2010\/04\/gizmoduck1.jpg\" alt=\"gizmoduck\" width=\"225\" height=\"358\" align=\"left\"\/><br \/>\nHere&#8217;s Honda&#8217;s own, more extensive, and sort of odd, video teaser (which is just begging for some spoof captioning):<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"embeddedvideo\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"640\" height=\"385\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/xWP-QtIX-qk&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\"  href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/wGMWOiOymhb5st2EUrGj4okgy24\/0\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/wGMWOiOymhb5st2EUrGj4okgy24\/0\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap><\/a><br \/>\n<a rel=\"nofollow\"  href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/wGMWOiOymhb5st2EUrGj4okgy24\/1\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/wGMWOiOymhb5st2EUrGj4okgy24\/1\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/DiscoverMag\/~4\/4UkjdUz7aNY\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ever wonder what might be the perfect vehicle to get around from point A to point B without getting out of your seat? Introducing Honda&#8217;s U3-X Personal Mobility Vehicle&#8211;a vehicle that looks like a cross between a Segway and an electric wheelchair. Shaped like a figure 8, the device is omni-directional\u2014it can move forwards, backwards, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":641,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-526862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/641"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}