Call it the Orbmobile, call it a GOV (Gyromatic Orbular Vehicle), call it a whole lot of fun, but whatever you call it, make sure you have the proper registration papers.

Picture a ball about ten feet high. This is my estimate for the space required to contain both the hardware and the driver, who is the only passenger in order to maintain stability. On the outside of the car, rubber bumper rings the aproximate thickness and construction of a car tire (obviously somewhat larger in diameter) encircle the ball's x, y, and z hemispheres.

Oother designs include the ball being covered with round rubber spots or having progressively larger rings radiating outward from a spot, getting larger, and then radiating back to a spot opposite the starting spot. It wouldn't matter; the only point is to keep the surface of the ball touching the ground. Basically tires, except that they aren't mechanized in any way.

The ball itself is constructed from "super-light" substance--an extremely hard, transparent carbon/plastic. This stuff actually exists, it's been proposed as one of the compenents in super-light cars.

On the inside of the sphere, the driver (and the electric engine) is suspended in a harness that is attached to a cuboid skeleton that touches the sphere in eight places (much like the Rubik's Cubic Car) The top four points are only ball bearings (big ones), meant to hold the integrity of the structure and roll freely across the inside of the ball. The bottom four wheels are configured like a car's.

The result? A human hamster ball that requires no actual effort. Careful with the parking, you have to know where your door is at all times.
-- Eugene, Aug 29 2003

Zorb http://www.zorb.com/
Those crazy Kiwi's will do just about anything, but what can you expect from a nation who gave us Sir Edmund Hillary... [RayfordSteele, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

I was thinking along the same lines when I read Rubik's car.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 29 2003


When do we get the Pyramix car and the Rubik's Snake car?
-- DeathNinja, Aug 29 2003


I think the same company that's producing the Orbular Auto is doing those next, Death.
-- Eugene, Aug 29 2003


I've seen the zorb. Great stuff. *defending my idea's integrity: The Zorb ain't motorized, though!*
-- Eugene, Aug 29 2003


Is "orbular" a real word?
-- BJS, Jun 03 2006



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