I have seen the future. It will involve a lot less walking or, at the very least, an increase in "walking-optional" activities. It arrived last week in a box the size of a small filing cabinet with the word "Honda" emblazoned on the side. Inside was a "Uni-Cub," the world's first "omni-directional driving wheel system."
For the uninitiated, an "omni-directional driving wheel system" is essentially a motorized unicycle that you steer by shifting your weight. It's intended for people with mobility challenges. For instance, an arthritis sufferer could use the Uni-Cub at the airport – where travellers are often forced to make marches just slightly longer than the one Napoleon made out of Russia – or at the museum, where your legs often tire long before your lust for culture.
Five years ago, Honda began developing the Uni-Cub in Japan, where they are now manufactured and available privately for lease. They're also used in public spaces such as the Miraikan, Tokyo's National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. There are only two Uni-Cubs in North America and last week Honda North America Inc. representative Eric Mauk brought one to The Globe and Mail's offices so I could test drive it.
There isn't much of a learning curve with the Uni-Cub. You sit down, lean forward and off you go. The posture used when riding the Uni-Cub is similar to the one employed in another seated activity, one usually performed in privacy. Put simply: Riding a Uni-Cub feels like you're riding a motorized toilet. Note to Honda: Consider inventing a mobile toilet – working name "Uni-Pot." You're welcome.
It's also about as easy to use. After 30 seconds of seated navigation, most Globe test drivers had the hang of it. Perhaps my glutes are more finely developed than most because my backside became the Ayrton Senna of Uni-Cub riders and I was zooming down office corridors and rounding corners with skill. It's much safer than riding a unicycle indoors. "If you get in trouble on the Uni-Cub," says Mauk, "all you need to do is stand up."
Think of the Uni-Cub as the high-tech version of the old office chair/fire extinguisher combo.
It weighs 25 kilograms and riders must weigh less than 220 pounds. Mauk says it can hit a maximum speed of about 6 kilometres an hour. That doesn't sound like much, but when you're perched on one it feels like you're flying. The Uni-Cub is powered by a lithium-ion battery that gives 1.5 hours of use a charge. It runs on two large-diameter motor-powered metal wheels, which are covered by smaller-diameter wheels that run laterally across its surface. The motors rotate the wheels forward and backward. Horizontal and diagonal movement occurs when the wheels turn in opposite directions.
The Uni-Cub and other personal mobility solutions are intended to meet the needs of our aging population. They'll help people stay engaged and get more out of life. But like any technological advance, they'll also be appropriated by people who will pervert their purpose. Ping-Pong balls, for instance, were not designed for binge drinking games; helium was intended to inflate balloons, not mess with vocal chords; the Internet was not intended to be a cesspool of porn, online shaming, vicarious thrills and bizarre political screeds, but … well, you get the idea.
That means that along with being popular at museums and airports, the Uni-Cub is sure to be a hit at frat parties, popular with anyone who owns a "compound," and a favourite with people who have a note from their doctor but actually just don't like walking. So here's to the Uni-Cub! My future backside awaits.
Globe Drive's Jordan Chittley took the Uni-Cub for a spin during the Detroit Auto Show:
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