Designer Syd Mead discusses Unipods with Mark Wilson:
Mark: I came across your Unipods concept recently, and I’ve been a bit obsessed with the illustration. It’s like a wilder Segway that straps on your back. Do you think personal wearable transport is inevitable?
Syd: The Unipod was designed as an editorial inclusion in an issue of Automobile Quarterly back in the late ’60s. The idea was transport for one. The user would insert a card into a dispenser station slot, the aperture would open, the Unipod would be moved forward, the user would step back into the device, the single wheel would extend with its foot rests on either side of the wheel hub, and the faceplate would be closed, and the user would take off to whatever destination desired.
Mark: I see Unipods as a bit dystopian, with glass that separates us from others. Was that intentional?
Syd: The glass faceplate, Mark, is to keep bird shit off your clothes or you while in transit, okay?
