Picture from Time mag of Segway.
Posted on 12/02/2001 5:00:19 PM PST by Timm
Golf carts can't climb stairs.
Oh.
I never thought of that.
Very funny, especially to the millions trapped in wheelchairs by an inability to walk because of emphysema and congestive heart failure. They could die laughing.
Good to know the Post Office and National Park Service have such deep pockets.
Considering the wild claims he is making, I think it's safe to say that he would parade any advance in batteries that the segway (sic) has presently.
I have my doubts, but this thing seems to be designed to meet these problems, most specifically, it does not seem to have a counterweight, that is the invention.
The comment in the article that getting hit by the scooter would be like getting hit by a pedestrian, sounds silly. Suppose it is only 20 lb. Imagine getting hit by a pedestrian on skates. Even moving at walking speeds, that is going to be a significant impact.
Since we're talking walking speed, I don't see how the impact of a 150 pound person with one of these things would be worse than the impact of a 290 pound plus person without one.
In any case, it certainly seems worth checking out.
Now you've done it, I haven't had dinner yet.
Picture from Time mag of Segway.
Not all mass marketed gadgets, with high tech materials or design, decrease in price. Of the ones that do, not all of them decrease in anything like the way computers, VCR's, or DVD's have done. Electric wheelchairs, electric assist devices, motorcycles, mopeds/scooters, telescopes, binoculars, guns, and even high end bicycles have not dropped drastically in price in the past ten years.
In any event, before the inventor can hope for the prices to drop, he's going to have to find some demand for the thing as it is. The comparisons to IBM's misjudgment about personal computers require more than just the fact that this invention is dismissed. They require that the skeptic be wrong.
Yet, the problems with widespread adoption of this scooter as a "people mover" have been mentioned by many posters already. Most of these problems aren't specific to this device, and have been the pitfall of other purported car substitutes. Weather, range, carrying capacity, and discomfort are problems for mopeds, bicycles, and scooters you can fall off of. We have plenty of experience with these other devices. So far, huge numbers of people haven't gotten on them, and city planners are still shy about banning cars. There's no obvious reason to think these new scooters will be different.
Always glad to help out a fellow Freeper!!
If this thing means that mailmen walking a route can carry more mail, it could pay for itself.
the National Parks Service
I, for one would love to rent one of these things for a few dollars in order to walk through Yosemite Park, or walk down a Grand Canyon trail. These things could make the parks profitable.
Which you will note has also cornered approximately 0% of the market. Quite fascinating technologically, but which nobody can afford.
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