Remember the U3-X Mobility Robot from Honda we blogged about last year? Well, the auto-unicycle is still a prototype, but Honda has just released a new (and pretty interesting) promo video on its official YouTube channel. The company says the U3-X can run continuously for one hour on a single (lithium-ion) battery charge and can be recharged via a conventional 120-volt power outlet.

The prototype weighs just 22 pounds, can stand by itself and features a foldable seat and retractable footrests. But its main bullet point is the omni-directional driving wheel system, which, according to Honda, is the only one of its kind. It allows U3-X drivers not only to move forward and back but also sideways and diagonally, setting it apart from vaguely similar products like the Segway or Toyota’s Winglet (which is also still just a prototype).

Here’s the promo video (in English, 3:39 min):

Here’s a U3-X video (made by CNN) from last year:

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I know of only one person who would be able to build this thing – my buddy Paul – but I would totally grab a beer and watch him solder everything together and then ride around on this thing like a little freak. Heck, if you try to build this, tell me and we’ll come by and film you riding it. Seriously.

The instructions are pretty complex and you need quite a few parts, including a powerful motor and a go kart wheel.

It uses an Arduino board and an motor controller to handle the self-righting systems and requires a pretty heavy motor and battery. The self balancing circuit is right here

Let’s be frank here, Erik Lanuza’s Taurus concept, an electric-powered self-balancing motorcycle with a slightly different wheel configuration, is basically a modified Segway. But since you straddle the Taurus like you would a racing bike, instead of awkwardly standing and leaning, he’s managed to make riding the Taurus look about 1,000 times cooler than riding a Segway. And even though it’s just a concept design, I can’t imagine it would be that difficult to modify the Segway to operate like this. So instead of an awkward personal transporter, they’d have the slick Vespa for the 21st century on their hands.

[ AtCrux - Taurus – Safe and zero emission urban transportation concept ] VIA [ Jalopnik ]

Toshiba is a huge company, but it’s not necessarily known as a maker of robots. Their “Wheelie” for indoor use is an autonomous, 2-wheeled robot, which is still in prototype stage and somehow reminiscent of a Segway in its basic design.

Technical details are scare right now, but the main purpose of the robot is to one day help families out with daily chores, for example by serving food. For that you need to place plates and glasses on top of the little guy’s head and he will do the rest by himself. And the way Wheelie can balance out differences in height is pretty impressive (skip to 1.50 in the video below).

Here’s a demo clip:

Via Plastic Pals

Originally posted at Geneva Auto Show 2010