The Japanese see themselves as pioneers all things futuristic, including transportation, and they want to keep ahead with contraptions such as Honda’s Uni-Cub. It’s a cross between a unicycle, a Segway and… a stool.

Yep, it’s a computerized stool riding on a single wheel, and according to AutoExpress’ Mat Watson, it only works if you have correct posture.

You move it around like you would a Segway, by tilting your body in a certain direction and letting the gyroscope and sensors do the rest of the work.

Sure, it will have limited uses, even once it passes its (current) beta phase, but it’s not so much a useful innovation as it is a cool and futuristic-looking one. Twenty years ago, it would have seemed fantastic, but now they want to have it ready by 2020 so as to use it during the Japan Olympics.

Videos