EUC History?

[Nostris]

So....what was the very first EUC? Where was it made! Who invented it? And When?  I’m curious how when and where they came about. I guess they must have evolved from the Segway, but probably I’m wrong. 

[houseofjob]

1 hour ago, Nostris said:

So....what was the very first EUC? Where was it made! Who invented it? And When?  I’m curious how when and where they came about. I guess they must have evolved from the Segway, but probably I’m wrong. 

Depends on your definition of "first EUC" 

• 1st EUC (non-self balancing, seated) | 1930's
  • hand and pedal powered, seated monowheels date back to the 19th century, but the addition of electric power dates back to the 1930's
• 1st EUC (self balancing, seated) | 2004
  • as you surmised, the 2001 Dean Kaman / Segway gyroscopic innovation first unlocked the possibility of electric self-balancing unicycles, but the earliest reported was one made in 2004 by Trevor Blackwell of Anybots / Y-Combinator fame.
• 1st Commercially Available EUC (self balancing, seated) | 2009
  • the first commercially available seated EUC was the focus designs SBU (v1), invented by founder Daniel Wood and released in 2009.
• 1st EUC (self balancing, seatless) | 2011
  • in 2011, Inventist releases the original SoloWheel, by founder Shane Chen.

[Nostris]

37 minutes ago, houseofjob said:

Depends on your definition of "first EUC" 

• 1st EUC (non-self balancing, seated) | 1930's
  • hand and pedal powered, seated monowheels date back to the 19th century, but the addition of electric power dates back to the 1930's
• 1st EUC (self balancing, seated) | 2004
  • as you surmised, the 2001 Dean Kaman / Segway gyroscopic innovation first unlocked the possibility of electric self-balancing unicycles, but the earliest reported was one made in 2004 by Trevor Blackwell of Anybots / Y-Combinator fame.
• 1st Commercially Available EUC (self balancing, seated) | 2009
  • the first commercially available seated EUC was the focus designs SBU (v1), invented by founder Daniel Wood and released in 2009.
• 1st EUC (self balancing, seatless) | 2011
  • in 2011, Inventist releases the original SoloWheel, by founder Shane Chen.

Thanks...interesting. I know there was some guy back in the 1930’s who invented one wheeled self balancing..by gyroscope, vehicles. I thought the euc as we know it, must have come out of Segway. It was the idea of a device that you stood up on. Seated is the obvious way to go initially...but standing, that needed a bit of lateral thinking. So, Shane Chen I guess was probably that person! 

[Tawpie]

Dean Kamen (founder of Segway) does have a patent for a self balancing one wheeled vehicle that predates Shane Chen’s, but Dean envisioned binding your legs to the pedals. Chen took the binders off and created today’s EUC. He also created the market for power pads, jump pads and studded pedals.