Motorised roller skates, from cartoon to reality

By Ken Wysocky
 
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/464_261/images/live/p0/23/rl/p023rlwb.jpg
 
Once the province of comic books and children’s cartoons, rocket skates are no longer novelty props for Wile E Coyote and Batman. Acton, a California-based alternative-transport startup, has spun fictional straw into factual gold with its R RocketSkates, electric-powered footwear for city dwellers.
 
The brainchild of company founder and chief technical officer Peter Treadway, the RocketSkates take square aim at urban residents who too often find themselves at the intersection of too-close-to-drive and too-far-to-walk.
 
“In the late 1950s, people were predicting things like flying cars, jet packs and rocket skates,” Treadway says. “Well, one down and two to go.” (Actually, the flying car is a reality, courtesy of flights of fancy like the PAL-V One, Aeromobil and Terrafugia. But it’s hard to pick nits with the progenitor of something as novel as wearable transportation.)
 
Full Article. Wow they're so cool!