Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Audi Snook One-Wheel Concept Gyrocar Updated
The Audi Snook one-wheeled concept car sounds, to some of my readers, just like the gyrocar from The Ring, the 1969 novel by Piers Anthony and Robert Margroff. Frankly, the novel has more details than the vehicle concept design.
(Audi Snook)
The Audi Snook would travel about on just one single ball wheel, driven by a multi-directional engine. The car would be auto-stabilized. Concept inventor Tilmann Schootz relies on pure fiction to make it work; he says it achieves "“agility through instability, controlled by artificial intelligence."
(Audi Snook one-person and two-person interiors)
I think Anthony and Margroff, writing nearly forty years ago, did a more thorough job of describing how much fun it would be to drive.
Suddenly the pavement stopped.Jeff braked instinctively, but... only the naked supporting girder remained. He was going over the edge!
He accelerated forward, feeling the tread grip agin. The car jumped forward, skewed, straightened...
And he was on the bare girder, its eight-inch width matching the tread of his tire exactly. The gyro held him level as the lights of the city passed dizzily beneath the car...
(Read more about the gyrocar)
Update 18-Apr-2008 I thought I'd also throw in this picture of the (as far as I know) original gyroscopically balanced one-wheeled vehicle - the tumblebug from Robert Heinlein's 1940 story The Roads Must Roll. And, so you can compare styling, here's what the artist thought in 1940.
(Heinlein tumblebug from Astounding SF June 1940)
End update.
Via Audi Snook Futuristic Car Concept. Thanks to the indefatigable Moira for the tip on this story.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/17/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 6 )
Related News Stories - (" Vehicle ")
Seoul Self-Driving 42dot Bus Unveiled
'Buses without drivers moved close to the curb and stopped at intervals.' - Henry Kuttner, 1946.
Electric Jet Boats From Enevate and Sealence Collab
An interesting application for batteries; pushing a heavy boat through a fluid like water will be difficult.
Alcohol-Sensing Cars - NTSB Catches Up With Philip K. Dick (1963)
'Mr. Garden, you are in no condition to drive....' - Philip K. Dick, 1963.
Tianjin Solar Vehicle From Hanergy (2022) Looking Like Heinlein's (1940)
'When confronted by hills, or rough terrain, it did not stop, but simply slowed until the task demanded equaled its steady power output.' - Robert Heinlein, 1940.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Robot Gas Station Attendant Fills Tank - Which I Saw In 1962
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'
Cheap Paper-Based Sensors Let You Snoop For Pesticides
'...the unobtrusive inspections with tiny remote-cast snoopers.'
I Am Alarmed By Efforts To Teach AIs And Robots To Hate
'LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE.'
MXenes - Atomic-Thin Metal Sheets Now Easier To Make
'...a rolled-up sheet of a thin, dark metal strange to them.'
Do We Still Need Orbiting Factories?
'... his contract with Space Industries required him to work summers in their orbital factory complex.'
Space Weather Forecasters Surprised By Strong Solar Storm
'Space-weather men had been placed at their disposal...'
JWST Finds New World Of Turbulent Silicate Clouds
'THIS is Ceti Alpha V!'
3D Printed Cheesecake Not Quite Food Replicator Quality
With each successive print, our model needed to incorporate more structural ingredients to minimize print failures.
Spectroscopic Analysis Of DART Impact Debris Cloud (SF Prediction)
'... Wendis stared thoughtfully at the brilliant lines on the spectroscope screen.'
Modern App Provides Video Technology From Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451'
'A special spot-wavex scrambler also caused his televised image, in the area immediately about his lips, to mouth the vowels and consonants beautifully.'
Win $250K By Reading Ancient Scrolls Carbonized By Vesuvius
'... it was as if the upper part had been removed, like a cut deck of cards.'
Toy-Like Robot Well-Being Coaches Are The Best
Sumomo will get those office workers into good shape!
AI-Trained Snack App Avatar Goes On Dates For You
'... who let their handbag computers carry all the conversation.'
M-Dwarf Stars May Not Have Habitable Planets
'Thus it came about that the search for a planetiferous sun near a white dwarf star was not unduly prolonged...'
Too Soon To Doom Lunar Farside Observatories
'Earth never shone there, but life was good.'
Amitabh Bachchan Wins Personality Protection
'He led me down the Hall of Portraits to the ego-likeness of the Duke Leto Atreides.'
