Apparently, I’m behind the times. A friend e-mailed me this link earlier today and I had never heard a word about this, but it seems that there has been news on this since mid-2009. Honda, the Japanese car company that makes car with brakes that work, has been working on a number of other devices that they plan on introducing to the public. One of these devices is Asimo, a robot that’s 100 times more bad-ass than Uncle Paulie’s robot from Rocky IV. Asimo has gotten a lot of media coverage over the past couple of years, but one of Honda’s other inventions seems to have gotten considerably less press…the U3-X Personal Mobility Unit. Is this device cool? Abso-friggin-lutely! It can balance itself and moves in the direction that you lean. However, I have a couple of issues with this.
First, if you watch the video below, you’ll see two skinny girls using the U3-X. Let’s be honest Honda, this isn’t really the crowd you’re targeting, is it? I bet someone at Honda saw Wall-E and thought, “People really are getting fat…I bet they’d love a small, stylish device to get them around.” Second, you’ll notice about 3/4 of the way through the clip, the caption mentions that the U3-X leaves both hands free to carry stuff. Can’t argue that point Honda…oh wait, yes I can. Usually, when I WALK, I have both hands free. That’s right, don’t we already all own Personal Mobility Units? They’re called legs. Lastly, what’s with the subtitles? The girls are clearly talking…do they sound like Fran Drescher or something?
If you haven’t seen this before, I recommend watching it. Like I said above, the U3-X is definitely cool. Necessary? Not so much.
Most Popular