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
 |
Motosk8 - Next Best Thing To Tele-Motor-Coasters
Motosk8 is a very special kind of personal transportation, designed by extreme sports enthusiast Tim Gendle. While not made by Acme, this device looks like something that Wile E. Coyote might try - it's an inline skate with a 22.5 cc two-stroke gas motor attached.
(From CNET Asia)
Only one skate is powered (which brings to mind a number of painful possibilities), and it weighs 12 pounds. However, you can hit 25 miles per hour by using a hand-held throttle cable assembly and brake using the standard inline drag brake.
And, what's more, if you run out of gas, you can just continue to free skate to the gas station. Try that with your Hummer. Not that you're likely to run out of gas; Motosk8 averages 100 mpg (the manufacturer doesn't state whether that is in the city or on the highway).
More than ninety years ago, Hugo Gernsback wrote about a device called a tele-motor-coaster in his excellent novel Ralph 124c 41 +:
...Ralph bade Alice sit down on a chair in the vestibule. He pressed a nearby button twice and a servant brought two pairs of what appeared to be roller-skates.Engineers will be eager to get their hands on some of that remarkable weight-reducing metal alomagnesium; see the previous article Obtaining Unobtainium At DARPATech 2004.In reality they were Tele-motor-coasters. They were made of alomagnesium and each weighed only about one and a half pounds... Between the wheels was a small electric motor - about the size of a lemon...
(Read more from Tele-Motor-Coasters)
Take a look at a brief Motosk8 video. See more complete specs for Motosk8's at Motosk8; story from Motosk8 CNETAsia Reviews via Gizmodo.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/30/2004)
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 - (" Transportation ")
Tesla Electric 'Giga Train' Operational In Germany
'...the cars are wedge-shaped at both ends.' - John Jacob Astor IV, 1894.
San Francisco Autobus
'THE autobus turned silently down the wide street...' - Stanley G. and Helen Weinbaum, 1938.
Volvo's Autonomous Truck
'They were automatic trucks such as are used for making deliveries...' - Miles J. Breuer, 1932.
Eviation Alice Electric Plane First Flight
'A white electric plane approached at great speed...' - Charles Cloukey, 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
Miss Alabama Beauty Contest Offers Different Standards
'...they moved with the ease of dandelion puffs.'
Has Musk Given Up On Full Self Driving (FSD)?
'...some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre...'
Prufrock-3 'The Monster' Ready To Launch
Just go for it.
Drones In Vast Airborne Grids
'These pods were programmed to hang in space in a hexagonal grid pattern...'
Starship Special Edition For Lunar Shuttle
Love those special edition spaceships.
Capturing Asteroids With Nets
'...the meteor caught and halted just as a small boy catches a swift ball in his cap.'
Project Hyperion - Generation Ship Designers Needed!
'We have decided that it shall be but one ship... it must contain everything needed to take us through the generations.'
AI Welfare Position At Anthropic Filled By Human
'You’re the robopsychologist of the plant, so you’re to study the robot itself...'
Marslink Proposed By SpaceX
'It was the heart of the Solar System's communication line...'
Simple Way To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'... designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
Wood-Panelled LignoSat Launched
'The Consul remembered his first glimpse of the kilometer-long treeship...'
Laser-Beam Welding In Orbital Factories
'His contract with Space Industries required him to work summers in their orbital factory.'
'Iceberg House' Of Travis Kelce Reflects Science Fiction Of Past Century
'The basement was huge... carved deep into the rock that folded up to underlie the ridge...'
Mechazilla Arms Catch A Falling Starship, But Check Out SF Landing-ARMS
'...the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded.'
A System To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
Robot Hand Separate From Robot
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
