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 ")
Elon Musk Says Robotaxis Will Be Ready This August, 2024
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Cheap Drunk Driver Detection From UofM
"Look, I can drive... Start, darn it!" - Philip K. Dick, 1963.
More Like A Tumblebug Than A Motorcycle
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized on a single wheel...'- Robert Heinlein, 1940.
Tesla Camera-Only Vision Predicted In 1930's SF
'By its means, the machine can see.' - Miles J. Breuer, 1930.
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
SpaceX Wants A Moonbase Alpha
'And he had been sent with troops, supplies and bombs to command Russia's most trusted post, the Moonbase.'
Vast Apartment Living Will Get Even More Vast
'What is your population', I asked. 'About eighty millions.'
NASA Wants Self-Driving Or Remote-Controlled Vehicles For Lunar Astronauts
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street of Hydropole. Robot-guided, insulated from noise and cold...'
Elon Musk Says Robotaxis Will Be Ready This August, 2024
'The car had no steering wheel, and no one drove!'
Moonwalkers AI-Controlled Electric Shoes
Now that's power walking that Hugo Gernsback would have approved.
Steve Jobs: 'Capture The Next Aristotle - With AI'
'It was disturbing to think of the Flatline as a construct...'
No Tips! Robotic Food Delivery In Phoenix
'...he rewired the delivery robot so that it would serve him midnight snacks.'
Electric Catamaran 'Explorer Eco 40m' Has 'Solar Skin'
'On went the electric-yacht faster and still faster.'
Orbital Mechanics, The Liftoff, The Turnover, The Retrograde Burn
'...the huge vessel had spun, with a sickening lurch, through a complete half-circle, the instant the power was reversed.'
Harvest Power From Tears And Blinking With Smart Contact Lens
'...he realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it.'
Europa Clipper Plate Carries A Special Message
'...a universal cryptogram — yet it is one which can be interpreted by any intelligent creature on any planet in the Solar System!'
Micro-Robots Are Smallest, Fully Functional
'With a whir, the Scarab shot from the concealing shadows of the corner where it had hidden itself.'
AI Enhances Images Your Brain Sees
'I could have sworn the psychomat showed pictures almost as sharp and detailed as reality itself'
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.'
DIY Robotic Hand Made After Loss Of Fingers
'I made them... with the fine work of the watchmaker...'
