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Inmotion Electric Unicycle In Combat
For obvious reasons, I'm unable to resist any stories about single-wheel vehicles. It might seem like something from a sci-fi movie...
This tiny vehicle gives soldiers a huge advantage on the field. pic.twitter.com/UgpoMAbY0G
— Science Postcard (@Sciencepostcard) December 8, 2025
...or a sci-fi novel. Fans of science fiction Grandmaster Robert Heinein's 1940 classic The Roads Must Roll recall the tumblebug:
Gaines and Harvey mounted tumblebugs, and kept abreast of the Cadet Captain, some twenty-five yards behind the leading wave. It had been a long time since the Chief Engineer had ridden one of these silly-looking little vehicles, and he felt awkward. A tumblebug does not give a man dignity, since it is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized on a single wheel.
(Read more about Robert Heinlein's Tumblebug.)
Here's what they thought it would look like in 1940:
((Tumblebug illustration from 'The Roads Must Roll' by Robert Heinlein)
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/3/2025)
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Related News Stories - (" Vehicle ")
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'Jason had been guiding the caravan of cars as usual...' - Gordon R. Dickson, 1954.
Inmotion Electric Unicycle In Combat
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized...' - Robert Heinlein, 1940.
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'The greatest problem of all was the elimination of the human element of braking together with its inevitable time lag.' - Bernhard Brown, 1934.
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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.
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