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Rollerspheres

 the balls of your feet
  (+6)
(+6) 		  [vote for,
against]

Forget roller skates.

Rollerspheres (AKA Skateballs) have 2 (or 3?) inline rubberized spheres set into the sole of the shoes, approximately golf- to tennis-ball sized. This way they can roll in any direction. A pair of hydraulic handbrakes (one for each skate) helps you to overcome inertia in starting and stopping.

Roll sideways, diagonally, spin, all at the same time! Go nuts, kids.

—nihilo, Jul 13 2006

roller shoes exist, but not in-line ones http://www.rollerus...qjoYCFRt3FQodjEYnhg
[xandram, Jul 13 2006]

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       Let's hope the brakes don't fail - because it seems they are the only thing allowing the user to stop/change direction/be alive at time of removal.
—fridge duck, Jul 13 2006
   

       Ah yes, just like driving. But similarly, obstacles are usually good at stopping one.
—nihilo, Jul 13 2006
   

       For some reason, I thought they already made shoes like this. But if they don't, cool! Go for it!   

       P.S. If the spheres are set pretty deep into the soles, like Heelys, you can brake or stop merely my tilting the shoes so the edges touch the ground, and possibly even walk relatively normally.
—DrCurry, Jul 13 2006
   

       How would you turn? Pushing off sideways would cause your direction to change, but it would be tricky to get your body to actually rotate correctly so you could see where you were going.   

       Another problem: pushing off with one foot would start you rotating from the beginning, as it would be also tricky to align your center of mass and your other foot so that you would roll face forward.   

       Experiment this way. Sit or kneel in a rolling office chair and try to move about coherently by pushing off with only one foot or with a pole or something. It seems too difficult to me to be much fun.   

       Clever, but no buns for you.
—Agamemnon, Jul 13 2006
   

       You would turn by alternating between slightly braking with one foot, then the other, to give you traction.   

       Pushing off with one foot would not cause you to rotate if your pushoff skate were completely braked. The spheres are set in a line, not in a mere point, so there is no pivot axis, thus initial rotation would be eschewed.
—nihilo, Jul 13 2006
   

       Yes, but how will the ball roll freely in any direction? How will you overcome all the friction between the ball and the housing? Maybe little tiny ball bearings all over between ball and housing, and a lip on the sole to keep the bearings from falling out. Or something.
—daseva, Jul 13 2006
   

       Neat,   

       You could have a set of normal inline wheels angle outward on either side of the spheres. Then when you lean into a turn the'll work just like in-line skates. But when you're upright you could still spin around like a mainac.
—vaccumac, Jul 16 2006
   

       This is, of course, a stepping-off point for wearable computing. Mousing while walking will lead to some odd trajectories.
—normzone, Jul 16 2006
   

       I had this idea today. It's a doozy and would be amazing to watch. [+]
—theleopard, Aug 04 2007
   


 

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