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"One can see the free software movement as a precusor for a "free hardware" or "free wetware" movement--one that will provide free libraries of designs for biological or nanotechnological products that replicators can be programmed to churn out."
- Charles Stross
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| Gyrocar (Gyro) | ||
| A gyroscopically stabilized car; a one-wheeled vehicle. |
| The car was standing at less than a fifteen degree angle, tilting west... a gyrocar was both compass and clock. It held its position without regard to the motion of the planet, which meant that it leaned to the west - when parked - at a rate of fifteen degrees per hour, unless set on its side with the gyro oriented east-west. et Earth spin, fashioning day and night - the gyro was indifferent.
He gunned the wheeldrive, grabbed the steering bar, and slapped the reverse button. Dry sticks crackled under the single tire as it bounced over the side embankment, and the gyro vibrated against the stress of uneven terrain. |
| Technovelgy from The Ring,
by Piers Anthony (w/R. Margroff). Published by Macdonald in 1969 Additional resources -
|
Here's how they worked:
Compare to the gyrocar from Two Boys in a Gyrocar the story of a New York to Paris motor race (1911) by Kenneth Brown, the Gyro-Hat from An Experiment in Gyro-Hats (1926) by Ellis Parker Butler, the tumblebug from The Roads Must Roll (1940) by Robert Heinlein, the Two-Wheeled Ground Car from First Lensman (1950) by E.E. 'Doc' Smith, the Gyro Two-Wheeled Truck from The Sign of the Tiger (1958) by Alan Nourse (w/Meyer) and the smart bike from Distraction (1998) by Bruce Sterling.
"The law makes me report every powerpak I take from a gyromotor," Ed said. "You know, those gyropaks are special, not like the wheel motors. They keep that gyro going all the time, so the car won't fall."
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Ring
More Ideas
and Technology by Piers Anthony (w/R. Margroff)
Tech news articles related to The Ring
Tech news articles related to works by Piers Anthony (w/R. Margroff)
Gyrocar (Gyro)-related
news articles:
- Audi Snook One-Wheel Concept Gyrocar Updated
| Leader-Follower Autonomous Vehicle Technology |
| Inmotion Electric Unicycle In Combat |
| Congress Considers Automatic Emergency Braking, One Hundred Years Too Late |
| The 'Last Mile' In China Crowded With Delivery Robots |
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't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
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