Over in the startup section of CES, we found Onewheel, the world’s first self-balancing electric skateboard. All you need to do is step on the board and it will adjust itself automatically to your movements. Leaning forward accelerates the motor and leaning backward slows it down. The motor knows what to do because it receives info about your leaning angle from a processor inside the wheel’s hub, which in turn receives data from gyro and accelerometer sensors.
Top cruising speed is about 12 miles per hour and the battery lasts for 4 to 6 miles on one charge (it takes 2 hours to recharge with a standard charger and 20 minutes with a fast charger). The Onewheel teams says newbies can learn in a couple minutes since the hard part–balancing–is done for you.. At 25 pounds, the skateboard seems a little too heavy to carry around casually, but we like that there’s only one moving part–the wheel–so there aren’t any gears or chains to mess with.
Onewheel is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter with an asking price of $1,299. Set to ship in September.
No innate balance necessary
