"IT" Revealed - (Ginger)

TIME.Com ^ | 12/2/2001 | JOHN HEILEMANN

[Enlightiator]

The Time article:

"Reinventing the Wheel"

The "flash" view.

[droberts]

Sir Clive Sinclair already tried inventing something that would allow you to get round town quickly without having to use the car. It was called a C-5 and it failed miserably, but did become a collector's item.

[ambrose]

Good analogy with the computer. I can imagine what kind of comments would be around here on August 1, 1981 had Free Republic been around...

The Apple II came out in 1977.

[ambrose]

It will be fun to go around on one of those while wearing a hot wool suit on a 100 degree summer day.

[ccmay]

A person falling over creates a lot of force. Have you ever tried to catch a person falling over?

The gyros won't permit the person to fall, therefore that force has to be directed somewhere and apparently it is directed toward forward(or backward) motion revolution of the wheels.

Yes, but... there is only so much energy you can get out of a human body falling over... this is NOT some kind of perpetual motion machine.

In fact, I can tell you almost exactly how much energy you can get. The formula for potential energy is E=mgh where m is mass, h is height, and g is the gravitational constant 9.8 m*s^2. h in this case is the height of your center of mass (about bellybutton level) and m is your body mass

Assuming for a large man: mass=100kg and h=1 meter, then the potential energy is 980 joules. This is about 0.00027244 kilowatt-hours. If the electric motor in the device uses 100 W of power, i.e. the same as a bright light bulb, then this is enough energy to run it for about 10 seconds.

No matter what Kamen has invented, we can be sure he has not found a way to get more energy than this out of the force of one's falling over, unless every physicist from Newton until now has been wrong.

-ccm

[lavaroise]

Self balancing is actualy quite a complex engineering feat. Modeling the simple motion of a perfect self balancing top is quite difficult. It probably explains the price.

Note that this is a two wheeler, it probably would have been more useful but more difficult to use one wheel. (would have required big gyroscopes probably to maintain rigidity in space).

As long as the greens will forbid nuclear powered vehicles, we won't see any significant advances in transportation... ever.

[Missiekins]

Well I read it Would be affordable. Let's see, if I swear off groceries and TP I should have one by Christmas 2002. NOT.

[Shenandoah]

Naysayers! Naysayers, all!

This is a GREAT invention! Again, it responds to your every movement and runs all day on 5 cents of electricity! The practical applications for IT are mind-boggling!

[ambrose]

it responds to your every movement and runs all day

That sounds like my golden retriever.

[Don Joe]

"Yeah, this'll revolutionize the world, as if we didn't have enough Jerry Nadlers already.... The only plus I can see is for the infirm, and I wonder if this product is a good idea for old folks whose remaining muscles are on the shaky side; not to mention their reaction time. Ever see a person well past his prime attempting to drive a car? How is an old geezer (I hit 50 next year, so I'm not that far away) going to manuever this thing safely through city streets, as is shown here?"

I wouldn't mind one. I just turned 52, I've got congestive heart failure, and just walking to our garden, a distance of a hundred yards or so, leaves me out of breath, and if the temperature is in the 70s or higher, drenched in sweat. A walk to our pond -- maybe a bit under a quarter mile -- is a major endeavor -- so major, that I haven't done it in quite some time.

For someone with a bad heart, who likes the outdoors, it would be fantastic. It could put the fun back into hunting and fishing.

[Shenandoah]

My Cocker Spaniel is the opposite.

[Shenandoah]

For someone with a bad heart, who likes the outdoors, it would be fantastic. It could put the fun back into hunting and fishing.

Maybe there'll be a "mountain bike" model.

Snow tires?

[Don Joe]

"gyros are very dirt & shock sensitive."

It uses solid-state gyros. It isn't using big, high torque gyros for "brute force" to maintain level posture, it's using tiny sensor-only gyros to detect microscopic changes in angle of attack.

[DoughtyOne]

Yeah, no kidding. Nice way to show up for a date, sweaty and unshaven. And that's the babes. You know how those leftist free thinkin women are. Grin.

[Don Joe]

You forgot the cardiac stent, one of which resides in Cheney's heart. And, one of his best friends is the president's father.

[The Raven]

Oops --- it dosn't have a flywheel (my guess). I better run out and patent my version - BRB !!!

[Las Vegas Dave]

I think "it" has potential!
(Let's wait and see.)

[iranger]

Someone call Levi Strauss and tell them to start adding more material to the seat area. More fat a$$'s on the way.