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Toys Technology

Bombardier's Hot Wheel 358

Posted by timothy from the dorky-or-cool dept.
Anonymous Chris writes "Following the release of the Segway, Bombardier (the makers of such things as Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles) announce their prototype Embrio - a motorcycle-like unicycle that uses gyroscopes to balance itself and runs off hydrogen fuel cells. It also features a landing gear that automatically retracts once you reach 12 m.p.h. The story is at Forbes. You can also get more information directly from their website."
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Bombardier's Hot Wheel More

Bombardier's Hot Wheel

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  • Perfect... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @03:54AM (#7451712)
    This is just the perfect thing for everyone who already has a motorcycle, and has been routinely frustrated with their inability to donate organs.
    • Like there would be anything usable left of your organs

  • When and how much? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by HeX314 ( 570571 )
    How much is such a thing going to cost. It's hard to buy a $300,000 vehicle on a college student's budget. But one day...

    • Re:When and how much? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Ratface ( 21117 )
      Well then - get yer hair cut and get a job ;-)

      Nah - seriously, something like this would probably cost a hell of a lot - but that's why such things are playthings for the rich and famous rather than we average mortals.

      And that's the sort of lesson that the education system is building you up for - you're probably gonna always be drooling over unaffordable gadgets. It's life! Get over it :-D
      • Nah. What he _hould_ learn is not to drool and not get one, but to get a job where he _creates_ such ones, or woks with people who do, so that he gets to test someone elseses one...
    • According to their site, this is year 2025 technology. I'd be impressed if it hit the consumer market before 2005. Quarter of century? Whatever.

    • Re:When and how much? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by thogard ( 43403 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @05:51AM (#7451984) Homepage
      The Wheelman [wheelman.com.au] is much cheaper and appears to have about the same risk level. Its only $1500 for a motorized device that you stand on and doesn't have anything to hold on to. I've seen these in action and the seem to work well.

  • As seen on TV (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Froug ( 710553 )
    This reminds me of the unicycles in The Venus Wars (aka Uinasu senki).
    • In the Roads Must Roll, they travel underground on uni-wheeled scooters called tumblebugs. Seems to me that these vehicles would be great... so long as you don't commit them to traffic with SUVs driven by people talking on cellphones.

  • Fun design. What's the point? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by JanneM ( 7445 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:00AM (#7451730) Homepage
    The design is really, really cool. But other than that, I don't really see the advantage of this. It seems to give no advantage compared to a normal bike, and has quite a few disadvantages (less space, more complexity). Throwing in a fuel cell-based drivetrain could just as easily (if not easier) be done for a two-wheeled bike as well - and would incidentally be a pretty good idea (with the electric motors in the wheels, you would get rid of the chain, and could have practical two-wheel drive).

    • Really really good turning radius and compact storage, for example, you can probably fit on in an elevator and take it all the way up to your 37th floor apartment.

    • Re:Fun design. What's the point? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by tarquin_fim_bim ( 649994 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:31AM (#7451812)
      On the cited 'website' they used the word concept about a dozen times, it is exactly that, a concept. A design tool to invite discussion, and induce comment. What would you imagine the advantage of having two driven wheels on a motorcycle might be, apart from to get you to the next accident more quickly?

    • Re:Fun design. What's the point? (Score:4, Funny)

      by kinnell ( 607819 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @05:13AM (#7451903)
      The design is really, really cool. But other than that, I don't really see the advantage of this

      Loads of free publicity?

    • Personally I dont see where the fun is. I prefer bikes to cars because your more connected to the physics when cornering / braking etc... your body position is a key part of the steering and control of the thing.

      With this, the segway and any other 'actively balanced' machine this MUST be lost to a great extent - or at least diffused. I want to be able to see how fast I can push a corner without falling off - I have a good feel for that when Im dealing with road + tyres + speed + lean - add in a shitload
      • Contrariwise, fighter pilots commonly maneuver their aircraft with astounding precision, even though their actions are mediated by the flight control computer.

        Go watch the Blue Angels and tell me that they're worried about the plane not doing PRECISELY what it's told to do.
    • The point is to think creatively. One way to do this is to imagine what something would be like if you remove one of your assumptions (e.g. that a motorcycle should have two wheels).

      This kind of thinking produced the snowmobile and the jet ski; you may hate each of these things, but they're great products for their manufacturers. On the other hand, this kind of thinking can be dangerous if you become too enamored of originality for its own sake. I think the Segway is a brilliant concept, but I doubt it

  • yeah.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by temojen ( 678985 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:01AM (#7451733) Journal

    Because those segways were selling like hotcakes we thought we'd get in the market too.

  • Any bets... (Score:5, Funny)

    by FullCircle ( 643323 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:01AM (#7451734)
    Any bets that front wheel was added after Segways with dead batteries started dropping people on their faces?

  • Breaking news. (Score:3, Funny)

    by illuminata ( 668963 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:03AM (#7451739) Journal
    This just in, thousands of anti-abortionists are protesting outside of Bombardier headquarters, claiming that the Embrio was meant to stay in the womb.

  • Looks like something Judge Dredd might ride (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Zog The Undeniable ( 632031 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:05AM (#7451747)
    but I can't see it being stable if you have to stop quickly. How would it resist the inertial force of a 200lb person being thrown forwards?
    • Well it does say that the brake is triggered by a trigger. Wich says button to me. Wich suggests you have the same control over the power of your braking as you have on say a gba racing game. None. So if your fat, expect braking distances that would make a 747 weep.

      On the other hand pulling a wheelie has never been easier.

      Okay I stop now.

    • I would imagine that it tilts the riders backwards early in stopping so that they are pressed against the vehicle as they slow, then tilting upright when the speed is low enough. It would take a fair amount of testing and design to allow you to come to a screeching halt, but it could probably be done.

      I imagine, though, that it would be a terribly frightening feeling to be thrown backwards as you stop suddenly.

  • Seen it, thought it was cool but.... (Score:4, Informative)

    by kidgenius ( 704962 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:05AM (#7451748)
    I saw this in PopSci about a month or two ago. Personally, I think this is friggin awesome!!!!! But, it's also dangerous as hell. You think it's hard to see a motorcycle, or hell, even a car in your blind spot? How about someone on a vehicle who's helment (if they so chose to wear one) would probably not even get higher than the side window of car. You'd be sideswiped before you got five minutes from your house.

  • One essential bit... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Max Romantschuk ( 132276 ) <max@romantschuk.fi> on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:06AM (#7451750) Homepage
    From the article: The vehicle is designed as a guess at what transportation in the year 2025 might look like.

    This might be pretty darn accurate. The thing that sets this apart from the Segway is one crucial element: Speed. If a Segway malfunctions you're not going wery fast... but with a vehicle like this you're pretty much doomed if there is a serious malfunction. At the very least the car behind you will run you over.

    Current vehicles like cars and motorcycles can be stopped safely if you run out of power/propulsion, but something like this has to have safeguards which keeps that from happening.

    Back to the whole 2025 thing: In order to make this stuff safe it requires testing, testing and some more testing. An that requires time.

    Don't get me wrong... I love the idea, but it has to be done correctly and without compromises.

  • Room for one more? (Score:5, Funny)

    by morganjharvey ( 638479 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:11AM (#7451760)
    From the manufacturers page:

    the EMBRIO uses a complex series of sensors and gyroscopes to balance one or more human passengers on a single wheel.

    Judging by the picture on the same page, I'm really rather curious where the "or more" would fit.

  • Wait a minute... (Score:3, Funny)

    by temojen ( 678985 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:13AM (#7451765) Journal

    Let me see... one wheel... rider above wheel... "a high-performance braking system,"

    Dental insurance?

  • Now can you show off and do wheelies on that? Probably not but cool idea anyway

    Rus
    • How do you propose doing a wheelie with one wheel? You are a constant wheelie.

      Unless of course you meant a burn-out. Which would be amusing to see on this unicycle machination.

  • dangerous = don't make it (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kaltkalt ( 620110 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:16AM (#7451773)
    It's so sad we've come to calling an idea "stupid" simply because it is easily conceivable as to how someone could hurt themselves with it. Whatever happened to assumption of risk? Those hoverboards in back to the future 2 (and 3) could really hurt someone if they're not careful, that doesn't mean it is something mankind should never get to voluntarily experience. Products liability is a good thing, but there has to be limitations. Wear a fucking helmet and don't cry when you get hurt. Products liability is holding us back... it's like intellectual property in that respect. It hinders innovation. Will we get sued for infringement? Will we get sued because people will hurt themselves? The bottom line is unavoidably unsafe products are too risky to develop nowadays, and that's a shame because they're quite often the coolest, most innovative, interesting things man ever makes.
    • Those hoverboards if they existed could do stuff that can't be done before , ie people boarding over any surface. This unibike (call it what you will)
      does NOTHING that can't be done already with a motorbike apart from increading the risk of the rider having a fatal accident. So yes it is a stupid idea.
      Its another classic case of designers seeing that it CAN be done without asking WHY it should be done first.

    • Re:dangerous = don't make it (Score:5, Insightful)

      by BigRedFish ( 676427 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @05:22AM (#7451928)

      Whatever happened to assumption of risk?

      Yeah, I see where you're coming from, I'm old enough to remember high-dives at public swimming pools, trampoline parks, skate parks, and all that.

      OTOH, there's one big difference between this device (or a Segway for that matter) and a similarly dangerous vehicle such as a motorcycle: unlike the motorcycle, they're defective by design.

      Motorcycles have a secondary method of stabilization when moving, as a side effect of the forks pivoting against the frame, allowing the vehicle's mass to move perpendicular to the direction of motion. This allows one to keep the bike upright even if one loses power.

      These unicycle things, and Segways (all the costs of two wheels, none of the benefits!) do not have any secondary method of stabilization should the power or on-board gyro system fail, and this too is by design. Given that a certain number of failures will inevitably occur (ya really gotta hope these gadgets age gracefully), and the result of failure is inevitably catastrophic, I would call the design defective. Anyone who's ever had to replace a malfunctioning fuel-injection sensor in their car should be rightly terrified.

      This kind of tech might be acceptable in military aircraft, where the probability of in-flight computer failure killing the pilot is small compared to the maneuvering advantage it gives the pilot in combat, which is a life-threatening situation to begin with. In consumer vehicles, however, it's an unacceptable risk if better designs exist.

      And for what? 'Cause it looks cool? There's no advantage in a unicycle design. It's a liability. Why convert to alternative fuel, just to waste it fighting gravity when you could use a known stable design and not have to? At least they had the good sense to label it a concept vehicle, but I certainly hope that intentionally unstable vehicle designs with no fault-tolerance are NOT the norm in 2050. This is one of those instances, I think, where just because you can doesn't mean you should.

  • bah (Score:2)

    by zephc ( 225327 )
    looks cheesy. Give me a monocycle [americanroadshop.com] any day. Or even an eco-conscious (pedal-powered) one [bicyclecommuter.com]

  • Excellent! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Shonufftheshogun ( 620824 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:19AM (#7451785)
    Hordes of clowns have been waiting YEARS for innovation in the unicycle industry.

  • That's T-Bob! (Score:2, Funny)

    by zonix ( 592337 )

    It has a rather striking resemblance to T-Bob from M.A.S.K. doesn't it? That's cool - now I want one. :-)

    z

  • The basic design [toonopedia.com] is very similar.
  • Just imagine what the clowns could do with all the custard pies they could carry if the unicycle they're on can balance itself!
  • From the article (emphasis mine):

    To move forward, the rider activates a trigger on the left handlebar. The landing gear retracts when the speed reaches 20 km/h. To turn, the rider leans in the desired direction. The brake is activated by a trigger on the right handlebar.

    It's somewhat interesting that the two main axes of control (hand motion and leaning) are conceptually reversed as compared to the Segway. On Segway, the hand turns and the body controls forward/backward. Here, the hand controls forw

    • Accidentally lean on a motorcycle or bicycle and you'll turn too. It's using gyroscopic progression to turn, just like a bike. When it's stationary I don't know how you'd do that though, unless it's got a flywheel spinning the same direction as the wheel does when it's moving forward (dual-use for regenerative brakeing too, perhaps).

      • Accidentally lean on a motorcycle or bicycle and you'll turn too. It's using gyroscopic progression to turn, just like a bike. When it's stationary I don't know how you'd do that though, unless it's got a flywheel spinning the same direction as the wheel does when it's moving forward (dual-use for regenerative brakeing too, perhaps).

        I presume that the device is not stabilized via direct mechanical gyroscopic precession as a motorcycle or bicycle is, because that would obviously be a rather large mechanic

        • Have a look at the Peraves Ecomobile [peraves.ch] for an interesting approach to manual stabilization (yes, it's a glorified motorcycle with landing gear that comes out when you stop.)

          I've seen a few in traffic, and they look absolutely wicked cool, and go like shit off a shovel too.
    • Think motorcyle control mechanism - they're expecting crossover from bikers, and making it intuitive to a crotch-rocket pilot makes sense.
      Bikers are already used to leaning into the corners, and using a twist-grip throttle.

  • This does have one primary flaw... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Bob Vila's Hammer ( 614758 ) * on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:49AM (#7451856) Homepage Journal
    Recreational vehicles are supposed to be tough and reliable. Reliability is very much a part of the stability and dependability of your vehicle in adverse conditions.

    In this case, instead of having 2 or 3 or 4 wheels to support a passenger in an accident or a lose of control, you only have one. I wouldn't like to be caught on an ice patch, a slick roadway, or an unsure trail off the road. The potential to lose control and have an accident must be greater with only one wheel. Of course, you could always jump off, but that is defeat in the eyes or a responsible operator, plus I wouldn't want to get in an accident in a cool(expensive) little monobike like that.
    • I wouldn't want to get in an accident in a cool(expensive) little monobike like that.

      Um, what type of vehicle do you want to get in an accident in?

    • Recreational vehicles are supposed to be tough and reliable.

      Actually, RV need to be noisy and have a nice padded seat;

      - perfect for anouncing to the world that there's another fat-assed lazy retard entering the woods.

    • I wouldn't like to be caught on an ice patch, a slick roadway, or an unsure trail off the road.

      If there is a gyroscope and a rapidly spinning wheel for stability, I can't imagine hitting a slick spot on the ice would throw you off... You're not relying on your contact patch for orientation. Likewise this is definitely not an offroad vehicle. Just look at it. Want to guess how much active suspension it has?

      What I would be more afraid of is, as another poster pointed out, a system failure. What happen

  • um (Score:3, Funny)

    by argStyopa ( 232550 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @04:57AM (#7451869) Journal
    "a guess at what transportation in the year 2025"

    By then they'll have phased out a few things like:
    - the weather
    - sand and gravel on roads
    - need to carry anything more than a briefcase or purse?

    The future is going to be WAAY cooler than I thought....

    • Scooters.

      You heard me. Scooters.

      This thing is pointless for people like me that live in a huge, sprawling metroplex (Dallas/Fort Worth) where there's easily 40 miles of commute per day. But for the same markets that eat up scooters... just think about that.
    • By then they'll have phased out a few things like:
      - the weather
      - sand and gravel on roads
      - need to carry anything more than a briefcase or purse?

      I don't really see why not. Ok, 1 is a little trickier, but certainly 2 and 3 could become true for a significant number of people in urban areas.

  • I can't wait until Maddox [xmission.com] gives this thing the sort of treatment he gave the Segway. =]

    How to Render the Segway Obsolete [xmission.com]

  • Not a Prototype (Score:3, Informative)

    by bjornte ( 536493 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @05:18AM (#7451919)
    This /. poster has misunderstood the meaning of the term "prototype". Bombardier has not announced a prototype. A prototype, from an engineering perspective, has to work. This is a design concept. Which means it is about as operational as a Star Wars X-wing.

  • Almost newsworthy (Score:3, Informative)

    by woom ( 663297 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @05:19AM (#7451923)
    If this was something more than a clay mockup and some clever writing, it might actually be news. As it is now, it's just plain stupidity let loose by a bored marketing dept.
  • Neat design.. but at a touch over 160kg, what's stopping me and a friend from waiting until you park it, then picking it up and throwing it in the back of a truck while you're not around? I mean, really, at that size, weight, and shape, it's pretty much a theft magnet.

    The Bombardier website notes that a digitally encoded learning key will start the engine, but who cares? Somebody will crack that.. 'they' always do.
  • Thanks, Slashdot, for giving me a good chuckle first thing in the morning (waddaya mean, 10:30am isn't first thing?!)

    Very amusing. It'll never work.

  • It's not a prototype, it's a concept. They've not actually made one.
  • I love watching the elderly on their Rascal scooters on the road -- god love 'em, more power to 'em, I hope I'm like that at their age. So, I was watching these two old ladies haul ass across the road the other day, and I was thinking: They need more power.

    What we need is a Rascal that can go about as fast a moped and we'll make them wear helmets. Just like riding mowers got more powerful, why not give grandma a souped up rider? No reason not to let them enjoy the benefits of technology :-) I think th

  • Segway parallel is interesting.... (Score:4, Funny)

    by TygerFish ( 176957 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @05:53AM (#7451989)
    In a sense, you can call the Bombardier concept vehicle the perfect followup to the segway in the sense that the Bombardier concept vehicle and the Segway are both big sellers in an alternative universe.

    In this alternative universe--where mechanical complexity is viewed as the most esthetically pleasing art form--the Segway's problems are completely negated by the fact that it is an expensive, non-functional item.

    In quantum anomaly MH-16607G, the fact that the Segway is too complex to be functional and robust enough for it to be a commercial product in our universe is one of it's greatest selling points and, in quantum anomaly MH-16607G, the Bombardier concept vehicle is a brilliant product, available today as an empty shell that opens to reveal a seven-hundred and sixty page bound volume of Rube Goldberg cartoons which give the owner some clue as to how the thing might be made to work decades ahead in the future.

    In the America of MH-16607G, the Bombardier concept vehicle outsells the segway three two one.

    • one of it's greatest selling points
      Hopefully in your alternate universe, "it's" no longer means "it is" (or "it has"), and your sentence parses correctly.

      As it is, it's "its", as in, "It's likely that when this thing hits a patch of ice its rider will end up in the hospital."

      Normally I don't nitpick, but like a flaw in an otherwise attractive painting it catches the discerning eye. Of course, it's only relevant if you're looking for karma...

  • Beauty, eh (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Phantasmo ( 586700 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @06:14AM (#7452023)
    Oh, this is great, eh. Bombadier invents the anti-snowmobile.

    Well, that's not entirely true... it's got a lot in common with the snowmobile:
    It's useful for a whole two months out of the year, it kills half the people who ride it, and only costs a bit more than thirty years' infinite travel on the TTC [toronto.on.ca].
  • How do you turn the damn thing? They mention leaning but that at least on bikes works only at speed. Leaning a bike/bicycle/moped or indeed unicycle while going slow only leads to falling over.

    And how much leaning would it allow? How would it know the difference between turning and falling over?

    For those that don't know uni-cycles are turned rather forcibly by pulling a kind of jump twist with your body when standing still or very close to it. Usefull for showing off, hardly something you want to do while

  • That thing looks super-cool... but here's a question. How do you do a wheelie with that? What would it be like to see a motorcross event with all those things in it? Woah!
  • In 1937 Joseph-Armand Bombardier took out his first patent on the snowmobile, which looked a bit like some science fiction car with treads and skis...later he build a smaller version, and that was the brith of the SkiDoo, and thus a phenomninom was born.

    ttyl
    Farrell
  • This is clearly a cool concept vehicle, who cares if you can go from zero to dead in less than 2ns?!?

    I will buy one of these as son as they go GA.

    Live a bit for christ's sake!
  • This looks very similar to the monobike on the cover of Against a Dark Background [iainbanks.net] by Ian Banks?

    Now if they could come up with something like that I'd be impressed :)

  • ...20 yards in front of you a bus pulls out in front of you and stops.

    You JAM on the brakes.

    What happens?
  • "We need a bombadier!"

    Hmm, I kinda miss Tribes II... haven't been able to get it to run without crashing my Linux box hard ever since I upgraded to the GATOS project's XFree86 4.3.0 release on my ATi Radeon 7500 AiW. I should probably bug them about that...
  • I didn't see a reference to this so far in the discussion. For what it's worth, the Embrio isn't the first motorized unicycle concept. I rememeber seeing a picture of a Popular Mechanics magazine which had a motorized unicycle on the cover - probably 1950s era IIRC.

    The thing about this unicycle was, the rider sits inside the wheel, over the engine, rather than above the wheel. The obvious disadvantage is that there is no visibility ahead of the driver where the wheel blocks his or her sight. Maybe wit

  • Having just read through quite a number of trolls interspersed with very many people shocked and highly suspicious that a vehicle with one wheel could actually work, and at the same time pointing to the Segway as somehow being Much Better(TM), I think I should point out a few things.

    All those who think it is somehow unnatural for a vehicle to have one wheel (it's actually very much like a motorcycle at speeds below 12mph) have never seen anyone ride a unicycle. The ability to stay upright on a bicycle is d
  • The Segway weighs like 70 lbs, and it's designed so it can be folded up and put in the trunk of a car, or brought inside with you. This weighs "only" 360 lbs, obviously not something that you could put in your car, or carry up stairs. Instead, you'll have to find a place to park it, and put some kind of bike chain on it. No idea how expensive it will be, but I'd bet you'd want a pretty big chain. In any case, it's not even in the same league as the Segway as far as convenience/utility.
  • ..if they include all encompassing airbags so when you hit a rock and go flying, you can bounce and tumble across the landscape like the Mars rover.. and walk away.

  • Battle Angel Alita (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Mu*puppy ( 464254 ) on Wednesday November 12, 2003 @01:26PM (#7455004)
    Anyone else notice how much this thing looks like a first gen. model of Alita's 'Tuned' cycle [geocities.com]?

    Just a random musing from an anime/manga fan... :)

    (oh yeah, and to pre-empt the usual replies, you 'anime iz just pr0n and/or anime fans are freaks/faggots/pedophiles/whatever' trolls can all just fsck yourselves. Have a nice day.)

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