"It" Gets Around (Segway/Ginger)

ABC News ^ | 12/3/01 | Antonio Mora

[MissAmericanPie]

This has got to be the height of laziness.

[keithtoo]

I can see the Trial Lawyers lining up behind this vehicle waiting for someone to fall off.

Did someone say $$$ Lawsuit City $$$ ???

[Harp]

The only way that this can work in practice is for the "rider" to expend as much energy "rocking" the device as it would require to walk or run the same distance while the mini-battery supplies the power to balance this silly, wheeled "pogo stick"; I hope the people who have committed to purchase this have the good sense to demand guarantees of performance.

It's like when you get a wheelbarrow tilted up just high enough and it takes off on its own. The genius of the device is that is able to correct for all tilting that goes too far one way or another.

This is the real thing. It's impact is significant in the short term and it's just going to get bigger. If people can't see that, they're blind.

[Liberty's Pen]

..just about anything is possible...

Yeah...but does it come with snow chains?

[sam_paine]

I think the issue of balance is addressed by several high speed gyros...

What I read was that they're solid state attitude feedback sensors, not mechanical gyros. The way it works is it accelerates the wheels in the direction you lean, forward or back, so you continuously "fall" against the angular acceleration of the wheels.

Which again brings me to my, and aparently Voltage's concern...what if you break the nice control loop with a rock or pothole??

It's just another inherently unstable platform, like the F-117 or B-2, that has been "made to fly" with the magic of DSP's in a feedback loop. Problem is, this thing only has $100Million in firmware, not Billion$ like the others.

[Flint]

Better find out how much the damn thing weighs. When the battery goes dead you have to throw it over your sholder and walk back home!

[spycatcher]

Time mag says it has 10 microprocessors, "aviation-grade" gyros, a bevy of sensors and an accelerometer

[spycatcher]

They say it runs on snow and ice, but not sure how deep or how steep respectively

[1 FELLOW FREEPER]

A classic Rube Goldberg invention....a 3000.00 people mover which replaces a more efficient and versatile 1600.00 scooter........................ROTFLMAO

[Shermy]

Our friend who treads the earth is, yet again, ahead of us.

[DouglasKC]

se·gue
intr.v. se·gued, se·gue·ing, se·gues
1. Music. To make a transition directly from one section or theme to another.
2. To move smoothly and unhesitatingly from one state, condition, situation, or element to another: “Daylight segued into dusk” (Susan Dworski).

The real question should be: What is this going to segue into?

[Toidylop]

Have you heard the last transportation revolution? I could've had a Yugo!!!

[Harp]

"They say it runs on snow and ice, but not sure how deep or how steep respectively" Speaking of steep, how well will this thing do up and down hills? That't another thing they didn't demonstrate this morning.

[spycatcher]

It went up a small incline then froze in place and spun around in the middle of the grade. Pretty sweet

[P-Marlowe]

It looks like a walker for yuppies. This piece of crap is nothing but a Pet Rock on wheels. A media driven fad. PT Barnum was wrong. A sucker is not born every minute. There's several born every second.

[_Jim]

Kamen is too used to selling medical devices where price is no object. Three grand will buy a nice used motorcycle.

Therein lies a BIG market (medical devices) ...

Apparently NOBODY here on FR has a 'mobility/walking problem' -

- like my Mom - from polio many years ag and my Dad who has had to have knee replacement surgery ...

[_Jim]

what if you break the nice control loop with a rock or pothole??

Geez ... the answer is obvious - more control input 'til the loop error is once again within limits ....

[_Jim]

This sounds like excessive hype to me. I can see some practical uses for it such as making it easier to get around in very large places such as automotive assembly plants.

And again, YOU have no mobility problems (I'll wager) ...

OLD PEOPLE are going to love this.

[_Jim]

I see an AWFUL lot of people thinking comfortably WITHIN the box.

Congratulations.

You will be left in the dust (once again) along with heaps of buggy whips, wooden wagons, point-and-condenser fired internal-cablooey carbon-based-fuel steel framed 'barges' ...

[COL. FLAGG]

A media driven fad

I don't think so. I saw this thing in person today and it is indeed VERY COOL !! It is one of those things that really impresses you when you see it operating in person. Seeing Segway operate on video doesn't really do it justice. When adults get on it they become like joyful little kids with a new toy. IT is fun.

Ultimately, it will have to come down in price (say $1500 to $2000) to gain wide popularity but I predict it will and we will see these things all over the place in about five years.