The Onewheel Pint Is The Fun Machine From The Future You Need To Experience

Source: Bill Roberson - Forbes

The world is experiencing a minor (or perhaps major) revolution in how people get around.

It’s something tech watchers like to call the “mobility segment,” which formerly referred to things like electric wheelchairs and other devices for people who had sadly lost the ability to walk, bike or drive.

Now, thanks to rapid developments in battery technology, motion sensors and other factors, “mobility” applies to everyone, and we are seeing new mobility devices arrive and quickly evolve: electric cars, electric motorcycles, electric skateboards, electric scooters, electric unicycles, even the often derided (but still wildly popular) “hoverboards.” But one new mobility device really does stand out.

Five years ago, while working with another publication at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), I met up with Jack Mudd, then part of a small team at a new company called Onewheel, who wanted to demonstrate something that seemed impossible: A self-balancing skateboard-like device that had… one big wheel in the middle. It looked unlike anything I’d seen before, and appeared to be an improbable device to master. It was called, of course, the Onewheel, and it looked like an ER visit waiting to happen.

But with decades of skateboarding in my checkered past, I gave it a go, and after a few minutes of baby steps (baby rolls?) with Jack’s patient assistance, I was Onewheeling all over a local college campus. It was an enlightening and amazing experience. And it was also great fun.

Five years later, Onewheel is a successful venture and their newest device is a slightly smaller version of the Onewheel called the Pint. It’s the same idea as the original (and later variations), just smaller, updated and more convenient.

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