ABCNEWS' Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer joined inventor Dean Kamen for a ride on his new invention — the Segway Human Transporter. (ABCNEWS.com)
Posted on 12/03/2001 4:17:56 PM PST by spycatcher
ABCNEWS' Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer joined inventor Dean Kamen for a ride on his new invention — the Segway Human Transporter. (ABCNEWS.com)
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'IT' Gets Around
Mysterious Invention Moves People  N E W Y O R K, Dec. 3
— After nearly a year of speculation, Dean Kamen's mysterious machine — IT — was revealed on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. |
While Kamen's invention, the Segway Human Transporter, does move people, it doesn't leave the ground — and it's powered by a battery. The inventor revealed his two-wheeled personal transportation device, intended for a single standing rider, today on Good Morning America. "This is the world's first self-balancing human transporter," Kamen said. "You stand on this Segway Human Transporter and you think forward and then you go forward. If you think backward, you go backward." The transporter, which can go up to 12 miles an hour, looks more like a lawn mower than a scooter and has no brakes. It is designed to mimic the human body's ability to maintain its balance; riders control the speed and direction of the device simply by shifting their weight and using a manual turning mechanism on one of the handlebars. "All of the knowledge that went into knowing how to walk is transferred to this machine," Kamen said. "When you stand on this machine, it kind of walks for you. It just does it smoothly and gracefully." The 65-pound device, also known by its former code name, "Ginger," looks simple, but its inner workings are intricate. Tilt sensors monitor the rider's center of gravity more than 100 times a second, and are able to signal both the direction and the speed to the device's electric motor and wheels.
Kamen says the Segway can take its rider up to 15 miles on a six-hour charge from a regular wall socket. He bills it as an environmentally friendly alternative to cars, and expects that in the future the devices will replace the car in urban centers. The first models are expected to be available to consumers in about a year at a price of about $3,000, said Kamen. Source of Endless Speculation Kamen already has a series of high-profile inventions under his belt. He created a dialysis machine that is the size of a briefcase, a portable insulin pump and a wheelchair that climbs stairs, called iBot, which he had code-named "Fred." Word of IT first leaked out in January when the media learned that a publisher had paid a $250,000 advance for a book about a device by Kamen the editor said could transform our lives, our cities and our thinking. That sparked off a media frenzy — and the guessing game. But the high-powered innovators and thinkers Kamen showed his invention to — including technology heavyweights Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos and Apple CEO Steve Jobs — remained tight-lipped. Bob Metcalf, a computer engineer who helped create the building blocks for the Internet, revealed a few details to ABCNEWS about Kamen's invention nearly a year before IT was revealed. "I've seen it, and it is… more important than pantyhose and it's more important than the Internet," said Metcalf in an interview in January. He said that on a scale of one to 10 — one being mundane and 10 being revolutionary — he would rank Kamen's invention "in the high nines." He implied that the device would contain a computer chip, that it may have to do with transportation, and that people would probably want to own more than one. Kamen, who kept his invention a secret in the face of mass speculation, said his silence was not part of a plan to build public interest. When information about his invention was leaked, he still had to file hundreds of patent claims. "We always work on our confidential projects confidentially," Kamen said. "Unfortunately, somebody in their excitement let the world know what we were working on a year ago and we weren't ready." The United States Postal Service and the National Park Service have plans to field test a number of the personal transportation devices next year. "We've got a quarter of a million letter carriers out on the street," said John Nolan, the deputy postmaster general, "and we've got the opportunity to increase efficiency reduce the wear and tear on their bodies and improve the environment all the same time." But will it transform lives, cities and even thinking, as first hyped in the media? Futurists who considered themselves skeptics were initially impressed. "This is a marvelous first device," said Paul Saffo, the director of the Institute for the Future. "It remains open to see if it's going to grow up and go out into the world at large, but it's clearly gotten far enough to be practical in places like warehouses and industrial campuses." There does seem to be a clear consensus: It is a bold attempt to not just reinvent the wheel but to reinvent the ways wheels can be used. ABCNEWS' Antonio Mora contributed to this report. |
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Not to mention bruised knuckles knees and shins. I'll stick with my GMC 3/4 ton pick up truck. By the way, if the damn thing is so safe, why are the riders wearing helmets?
Visualize a man with his legs blown off at the thigh. A Kamen prosthesis could allow this man to roll around standing six feet tall again. Hands free.
I'm also quite convinced he allready has a design that will climb stairs. imho
Why such a high tech solution for something easily solved by adding another wheel? If he's using it as a proof of concept for his gyro system for another more appropriate use, it's fine by me, it sure seems to work well. To pay $3000 for it, seems to me to be a waste of money. With the addition of another wheel, he could eliminate the electronic and mechanical complexity and use the power consumed by the gyro systems to extend its range, not to mention, lower the cost and weight. If someone gave me one, I'd ride it for a while and since I'm a guy I'd take it apart to see how he's accomplishing the balancing act and the supposedly low power consumption, then I'd sell it to get some aluminum heads for my old Vette.
Allow me to go out on a limb and state that in its present form, It won't change the world although the application of its gyro technology might. Sure I'd like to have it at an airport or a mall but they could just as easily rent an electric skateboard type of transportation, too. Yet they don't. If they have a passenger with special needs, they always accommodate them with a manual wheelchair pushed by a no doubt unionized employee unless you get lucky and they stick you on one of those little electric cars. I was just at the mall and the only two things they had that were rent-able were Larks and manual wheelchairs.
It will be interesting to see how these work out for the post office, maybe now my mail will arrive before 17:00 :)
Riiiiiiiight, but I applaud your SciFi enthusiasm. How's that Java-based Artificial Intelligence Freeper Post and Cubist Art Interpretation simulation going, HAL? I mean, PAL?
- Sam "Not A Luddite" Paine
More like the realities of chemistry and physics have been the limiting factors.
Batteries will never be greatly improved no matter how much wishing goes on.
This piece of metal and guano does 15 miles on an overnite charge? I can drive my Jeep 15 miles on the Diehard in it now (of course, the starter burns out)
This has to be one of the most impractical, dumbest inventions I come across since I met a guy working on an asparagas harvester.
The people in DoD who procure new technology for our highest tech soldiers are interested. Does that really bother you? Lighten up Francis.
To minimize injury from the beating they're going to take from the schoolyard bully for being such dorks???
I don't think I need one. It would probably be fun to try for a few minutes, but I don't think I would enjoy spending a lot of time on one of those.
Truer words were never spoken.
Ever heard of a caster? (And not a fly fisher.)
That how it works? Personal attack if I dont agree or point out a discrepancy in your posting?
:o)
I am sure we would all like to see a revolutionary invention but the billing went from the replacement for the automobile [tree hugger's dream] to bigger than the internet [Oh yeah!].
Like I said...no doubt the technology will be exploited by minds that can think a little more outside of the box than Kaymen(sp?) and he will get paid....but it simply in and of itself isnt that big a deal.
To opine on and on about imagined applications, and to misrepresent that the US Special Forces[who flesh out their own gear...anyone prior military would know that.] would seem to me to be a little too attached to an idea [that isnt even yours].
Because she's a show-off and an idiot, and they figured it out after she'd been on it ten seconds.
The first thing she did after toodling around for a few dozen feet was to yell out how do I make this stop! -- in utter panic -- and then let go of the handlebars. I guess she thought it was like a lawnmower, since it looked like one. Let go of a (modern) lawnmower, and it stops.
Well, the scooter didn't stop, and when she started trying to balance on it (in panic) by her feet alone, it sensed her movement, and then it went into some kind of panic mode too. You could see the vertical post and handlebars doing a rapid back and forth oscillation, reminiscent of an Airbus taking off from JFK :) as the thing tried to jiggle around to keep her upright.
I think it was after that when the "shadow" started following her around, and there was a time or two that he had to grab her. She wanted to show off by lifting one foot, and the scooter of course sensed the imbalance, and tried to compensate, and she about went flying -- off it.
I could just imagine the sinking feeling in Kamen's gut as he watched that idiot push the thing to its limits and beyond while trying trying to be the center of attention. Can you imagine the bad press if she'd managed to run over more than one foot, or into someone, or into a brick wall, or, get thrown off it?
I expect that for any future demos they'll make damn sure that all "participants" get the riot act read to 'em before they're let near the things.
Good point. I didn't think of that one.
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Is this "IT?" A two-wheeled, battery powered transportation device, known as the Segway Human Transporter, is displayed at a studio in New York on Dec. 3. (Peter Morgan/Reuters)