The Honda U3-X is a self-balancing motorized unicycle is a new "personal mobility" technology just announced in Tokyo. It isn't fast - less than four miles per hour - but you can't match its gliding motion. In any direction.
(Honda U3-X like Heinlein's tumblebug)
Science fiction fans may see this as being pretty close to Robert Heinlein's tumblebug from his 1940 novella The Roads Must Roll:
Gaines and Harvey mounted tumblebugs, and kept abreast of the Cadet Captain, some twenty-five yards behind the leading wave. It had been a long time since the Chief Engineer had ridden one of these silly-looking little vehicles, and he felt awkward. A tumblebug does not give a man dignity, since it is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized on a single wheel.
(Read more about (and see a picture of) Heinlein's tumblebug)
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Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.'
Deflector Plasma Screen For Drones ala Star Wars
'If the enemy persists in attacking or even intensifies their power, the density of the plasma in space will suddenly increase, causing it to reflect most of the incoming energy like a mirror.'