Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2015/11/29/pre-mutated-products-where-di.html
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What do you mean that nobody knows what to call them? What does it say on the box? And if they don’t have a name, why do you call them “hoverboards” when they don’t hover?
Perhaps somebody can explain what is so interesting about these things that they warrant numerous news stories with so little actual information.
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I call them gyroboards. That seems as good as anything, and it’s not already taken and completely inaccurate like ‘hoverboard’.
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Isn’t the original the Segway?
As such, I thought swagway was a pretty good moniker.
@oldtaku According to the article, gyroboard is somewhat inaccurate also, no?
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Except that they don’t have gyros. They use linkages between motors as an alternative to gyros and accelerometers. They’re totally different to the Stirling-engine-type balancers, including the Segway.
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I call them something no one needs unless as a prop for a video or movie.
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Internally maybe. But the segway still seems like the grandpappy to me. Are androids and iphones “totally different” because they use different operating systems? Nah, they’re both phones.
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You said that some people copied gyro design and modified it to not use gyros. So from what you wrote it sounds as if some units use a gyro and accerometer, while some others use motor linkages.
I found this an interesting article about the phenomenon of “They don’t make those anymore”, at least I know why, they’re making what’s popular today.
If I was younger, I would go there and haunt those electronics markets and start importing parts for the DIY market. Quite an opportunity there.
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“Hoverboards” is total BS, it don’t “hover”!
Imagine what a car would look like if it were made this way. Imagine prefab buildings.
Cranes.
Airplanes.
Piles of wreckage, with bodies everywhere?
The scalability and quality control of this process has yet to be demonstrated.
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This is what my son wants and I think it falls within the budget (in lieu of much else), but I because they started out with so very many modes, I have absolutely no idea which one to go to for quality/reputation/etc. iPods certainly had their limitations, but Apple wasn’t going to go away in a year so I felt comfortable adopting that platform pretty early. No idea how to choose on this thing…
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The first kickstarted one had gyros. It has totally failed in the market (so far – they apparently have some pending OEM deals). All the hoverboards you’ve ever seen and can buy in your local staores have no gyros.
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For the biologists out there: in evolutionary terms, what kind of speciation would this device represent, if we assume the Segway is its ancestor? Sympatric?
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I actually test and review these things on one of my websites, so I think I might be able to help with this naming dilemma haha. Most people either call them hoverboards, self balancing scooters, or mini-Segways (even though Segway, the company, doesn’t even make one). To me, self balancing scooter makes the most sense. That’s the label that Amazon has them listed as too, so I’m going to stick with that lol.
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Criticizing people’s boring blog obsessions kinda loses its sting when you’re doing it from a, y’know, blog comment.
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So you just assume it can’t be done? Yes, there’s a huge difference between a skyscraper and a clever scooter. But to simply assume it can’t be done seems as premature as presuming it necessarily can.
Naysayers are sometimes correct, but they’re never prophetic.
Cory has a history of imagining bottom-up design pipelines. Even if he’s naive about how they could work (a skyscraper or a jet aircraft is going to take a more sophisticated web of checks and balances than a “hoverboard”), why would you assume it’d be unfeasible?
I agree that Cory’s a dreamer. It doesn’t mean he’s completely wrong.
And before you say it, no I’m not going to take the elevator in Cory’s first crowd-sourced skyscraper. But I’ll gladly join him for the first elevator ride in a skyscraper bottom-up built by a team of trained engineers and skilled craftsmen who want to demonstrate a new way of organizing such a complex project.
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“Hover” has more than one meaning. When your boss is hovering over your shoulder before a tight deadline (It’s not a line, it has no physical property of tightness, and nobody’s dying!) she isn’t levitating.
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Hence, “yet.”
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