Daniel Wood | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Occupation | Inventor, Entrepreneur |
| Employer | CEO, Focus Designs |
| Known for | Inventor of self-balancing unicycle |
Daniel Wood is an American inventor and entrepreneur, best known for creating the first commercially available self-balancing unicycle. [1] He is currently the founder and CEO of Focus Designs. He is also the Director of Control Systems at Future Motion as well as an advisory council member at RYNO Motors. [2]
Wood's early career began with U.S. Digital, a manufacturer of optical encoders based in Washington. He dropped out of high school and became a self-taught engineer, leading to his job at U.S. Digital. [1] After a layoff from the company, it was difficult for him to find work due to not having a degree which most engineering jobs required. [3] Competing in a difficult job market without a degree caused Wood to pursue his hobby which led to the creation of the self-balancing unicycle. [3] Wood had previously invented a device called the Gimpy, a Segway-like device that was remote controlled. Wood used parts of this invention to help create the self-balancing unicycle. [4] Despite there being self-balancing unicycles and concept vehicles built by hobbyists prior to Wood's invention, he is attributed as the first to make one available commercially.
Wood is the founder of Focus Designs, a company that distributes the self-balancing unicycle that Wood invented. [1] He spent more than two years developing the technology. Despite electric unicycles being produced before Wood's product, his vehicle was attributed as the first to combine a gyroscope with a one wheeled vehicle to assist with rider's forward and reverse balance. [1] In 2012, Wood appeared on an episode of the Shark Tank where he pitched his idea to potential investors. He was offered $300,000 for a 30% stake in the company, an offer that he eventually turned down. [5] [6]
Dean Lawrence Kamen is an American engineer, inventor, and businessman. He is known for his invention of the Segway and iBOT, as well as founding the non-profit organization FIRST with Woodie Flowers. Kamen holds over 1,000 patents.
Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more specialized fields of engineering, each with a more specific emphasis on particular areas of applied mathematics, applied science, and types of application. See glossary of engineering.
The Segway is a two-wheeled, self-balancing personal transporter invented by Dean Kamen and brought to market in 2001 as the Segway HT, subsequently as the Segway PT, and manufactured by Segway Inc. HT is an initialism for "human transporter" and PT for "personal transporter."
A unicycle is a vehicle that touches the ground with only one wheel. The most common variation has a frame with a saddle, and has a pedal-driven direct drive. A two speed hub is commercially available for faster unicycling. Unicycling is practiced professionally in circuses, by street performers, in festivals, and as a hobby. Unicycles have also been used to create new sports such as unicycle hockey. In recent years, unicycles have also been used in mountain unicycling, an activity similar to mountain biking or trials.
An electric unicycle is a self-balancing personal transporter with a single wheel. The rider controls speed by leaning forwards or backwards, and steers by leaning and twisting the unit side to side. The self-balancing mechanism uses gyroscopes and accelerometers. In 2020, suspension models were introduced by three major manufacturers Begode, Kingsong and Inmotion
Granville Tailer Woods was an inventor who held more than 50 patents in the U.S. He was the first African American mechanical and electrical engineer after the Civil War. Self-taught, he concentrated most of his work on trains and streetcars. One of his notable inventions was a device he called the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph, a variation of induction telegraph which relied on ambient static electricity from existing telegraph lines to send messages between train stations and moving trains. His work assured a safer and better public transportation system for the cities of the United States.
A velocipede is a human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle.
A monowheel, or uniwheel, is a one-wheeled single-track vehicle similar to a unicycle. Instead of sitting above the wheel as in a unicycle, the rider sits either within the wheel or next to it. The wheel is a ring, usually driven by smaller wheels pressing against its inner rim. Most are single-passenger vehicles, though multi-passenger models have been built.
The dandy horse, a derogatory term for what was first called a Laufmaschine, then a vélocipède or draisienne, and then a pedestrian curricle or hobby-horse, is a human-powered vehicle that, being the first means of transport to make use of the two-wheeler principle, is regarded as the forerunner of the bicycle. A dandy horse is powered by the rider's feet on the ground instead of the pedals of later bicycles. It was invented by Karl Drais in 1817, and then patented by him in France in February 1818 using the term vélocipède. It is also known as a Draisine, and as a draisienne (French: [drɛzjɛn] in French and English. In English, it is also sometimes still known as a velocipede, but that term now also has a broader meaning.
Ma Jun, courtesy name Deheng, was a Chinese mechanical engineer, inventor, and politician who lived in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. His most notable invention was that of the south-pointing chariot, a directional compass vehicle which actually had no magnetic function, but was operated by use of differential gears. It is because of this revolutionary device that Ma Jun is known as one of the most brilliant mechanical engineers and inventors of his day. The device was re-invented by many after Ma Jun, including the astronomer and mathematician Zu Chongzhi (429–500). In the later medieval dynastic periods, Ma Jun's south-pointing chariot was combined in a single device with the distance-measuring odometer.
The history of the motorcycle begins in the second half of the 19th century. Motorcycles are descended from the "safety bicycle," a bicycle with front and rear wheels of the same size and a pedal crank mechanism to drive the rear wheel. Despite some early landmarks in its development, the motorcycle lacks a rigid pedigree that can be traced back to a single idea or machine. Instead, the idea seems to have occurred to numerous engineers and inventors around Europe at around the same time.
The Uno is a novel self-balancing electric motorcycle using two wheels side by side. The Uno III adds a third wheel that allows it to transform into a tricycle.
Ben Gulak is a Ukrainian Canadian inventor best known for creating the Uno, an eco-friendly, electric-powered vehicle that bears a resemblance to a motorized unicycle. The vehicle had its first public unveiling in 2008, and was awarded a Top-10 prize on Popular Science's list of 2008 Invention Awards. Gulak founded the Massachusetts-based company BPG Motors, which has also developed a design for the DTV Shredder, a portable all-terrain vehicle with the handlebars of a Segway and treads similar to those of a tank.
The Honda U3-X is an experimental self-balancing one-wheeled personal transporter shown in 2009.
A timeline of United States inventions (1890–1945) encompasses the ingenuity and innovative advancements of the United States within a historical context, dating from the Progressive Era to the end of World War II, which have been achieved by inventors who are either native-born or naturalized citizens of the United States. Copyright protection secures a person's right to his or her first-to-invent claim of the original invention in question, highlighted in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution which gives the following enumerated power to the United States Congress:
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
Segway Inc. is an American manufacturer of two-wheeled personal transporters, chiefly through its Segway PT and Segway miniPro product lines. Founded by inventor Dean Kamen in 1999, the company's name is a homophone of the word "segue".
Focus Designs is an American based designer and distributor of self-balancing unicycles. It is known as the first company to build and release the first commercially available self-balancing unicycle. The company appeared in a 2012 episode of the Shark Tank where it was offered funding from the Sharks.
Shane Chen is a Chinese-American inventor and entrepreneur based in Camas, WA USA. He is best known for inventing the self-balancing hoverboard.
A personal transporter is a class of compact, mostly recent, motorised micromobility vehicle for transporting an individual at speeds that do not normally exceed 25 km/h (16 mph). They include electric skateboards, kick scooters, self-balancing unicycles and Segways, as well as gasoline-fueled motorised scooters or skateboards, typically using two-stroke engines of less than 49 cc (3.0 cu in) displacement. Many newer versions use recent advances in vehicle battery and motor-control technologies. They are growing in popularity, and legislators are in the process of determining how these devices should be classified, regulated and accommodated during a period of rapid innovation.
Micromobility refers to a range of small, lightweight vehicles operating at speeds typically below 25 km/h (15 mph) and driven by users personally. Micromobility devices include bicycles, e-bikes, electric scooters, electric skateboards, shared bicycles, and electric pedal assisted (pedelec) bicycles.