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How To Be A Robo-Dork

Topics: Technology | Add A CommentBy admin | August 2, 2009

It seems the Segway was just a segue into even dorkier means of personal transport


This probably wouldn’t look so
cool if it weren’t shot in Paris
with a Daft Punk soundtrack.

I rely a lot on a rather sophisticated means of bipedal transport. It’s called WALKING. I have some issues with those clunky combustion-engine monstrosities that many of you drive, so I’m always intrigued with unique new methods for personal transport. The Segway – in spite of being an engineering marvel – has always struck me as almost comical. Unfortunately, in my quest for alternative methods of personal transport, comical seems to be a recurring theme. Although the man in this video is flying a fully functional Martin Jet Pack, he looks a bit like a hamster tied to a vacuum cleaner, and this man’s dream of personal rocket-powered flight somehow gives you the feeling it’s a one-way ticket. Speaking of hamsters, how about a high-tech human-powered Habitrail™?  While the monorail racetrack in that link is actually pretty interesting, it adds an extra level of humor by not even taking you anywhere. And while Jean-Yves Blondeau (aka Rollerman) has no problem getting places in his amazing 31-wheel roller suit (see clip featured here), he’ll always look like Robocop when he gets there. On the upside, while people with mobility problems have traditionally had to rely on clunky, strictly utilitarian electric wheelchairs, Toyota is developing the i-Foot, a stylish (if a bit too Anime-influenced) bipedal alternative. Alas, my search continues. Guess I’ll just have to go shoe shopping.

Get a healthy workout on the “Human Habitrail”

See a video of the Toyota i-Foot performing a ballet here.

Rollerman gets around, but he always looks like Robocop when he gets there.