Segways go on sale. No need to walk ever again

BikeBiz.co.uk ^ | 11/18/2002 | By Carlton Reid

[man from mars]

As revealed on US breakfast telly this morning, Dean Kamen's Segway< is on sale from today via the Amazon 'early adoptors' club. Delivery is US-only and your $4950 machine actually ships in March at the earliest (although in a bid for even more publicity, 30 consumers will be hand-picked to receive their Segways before Christmas).

[meyer]

they will be outselling Macs within 4 years.

I'm not sure whether to call that an achievement or not. :^)

[meyer]

I work for the U.S. Postal Service, and I guarantee that the carriers are worried. An average carrier can only walk several miles an hour with his cart. A carrier on a walking route could complete his rounds in at least half the time. These things go much faster and I have already been tested for postal use in my district. Even if they have to purchase several new ones a year, remember an average carrier is making yearly ten times what it costs for a new Segway. I see more potential for commercial use than other uses.

Wait until one of these carriers flattens someone's toddler. Frankly, I see a huge liability here if they're riding these things up and down the sidewalks and people's driveways at speed. The same liability, in fact, that prevents carriers from using bicycles. The range issue needs to be solved as well. Along with the health issues of carrying a bag full of junk mail while navigating on the Segway.

If there's any benefit I can see to one of these, it is the same benefit that kids of all ages enjoy with wheeled toys - they will probably be fun to learn to ride. But like many faddish toys, they will more often than not end up sitting in the corner of the basement with the bowflex after 6 months of ownership. YMMV, of course.

[js1138]

That was my intent.

[Nam Vet]

"If you go to their site you can watch a film of one riding over ice and snow. ."

Are the snow tires studded?

Nam Vet

[js1138]

Actually, no. They appear to have no tread at all.

[falfa]

I can see it now, "Dude, Where's My Segway?"

[LibKill]

My legs are not up for a marathon, but they serve me well enough.

For long distances, my Chevy Pickup will outrun this battery-powered whatzit, and carry 4 people and cargo.

No sale.

[cookcounty]

If you go to their site you can watch a film of one riding over ice and snow."

Does it show how to get the ice and salt particles out of the tread before going indoors?

[cookcounty]

"If you go to their site you can watch a film of one riding over ice and snow."

Nice, but in the real world of Chicago, it will need to negotiate ice-covered curbs, semi-shoveled walkways littered with ice chunks and lots of salt spray in the works.

[Radioactive]

Not to mention, they have free marketing on the Simpsons.


It's also been on SouthPark. BUT---I can't go into detail about how it was represented on Southpark. Lets just say that there was a way of riding it that was a little bit queer!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

When will the first pedestrian be run over by a Segway, and when will the first lawsuit be filed?

I'm surprised that we haven't heard of some enterprising insurance company offering Segway insurance policies to protect owners from exposure to litigation by those parties that get injured in a "collision" with one.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Oh, well now we can have some fun!

[Young Werther]

What's with the Segway? I'd much rather be in a Rascal Race. Why should George Castanza have all the fun?

$1,495 plus shipping and handling and all three wheel Companions come with a basket for carrying "stuff"!

[supercat]

One possibility is to exert the force necessary to keep the person upright without moving forward or bckward.

How would the device do this? The only ways the device has to 'exert the force necessary to keep the person upright' are to either (1) have the motors apply torque to the frame try to keep the thing upright; since the motors connect the frame to the wheels, this torque applied to the wheels will cause them to turn if the vehicle is on level ground; (2) move the machine (by applying torque as above) move the wheels such that they are again under effective center of gravity (adjusting the COJ for outside force vectors such as wind).

That the machine can quickly and effectively provide the required movements to stay upright in an 'aparently' stable fashion is very impressive. But staying upright requires that it be able to move.

The circumstance is somewhat akin to trying to balance a broom (bristle end up) on your hand, though the torque behaviors are a bit different. The key observation is that trying to balance the broom on your hand requires that you move your hand. If you're skillful you won't have to move your hand as much as if you're not, but you'll still have to move it. If you stop moving your hand the broom will almost certainly fall.

[discostu]

Don't confuse criticism of practicality with techno-phobia. While it's true somebody has had something bad to say about every invention, that ain't me. I work in tech, I love tech, advances in technology excite me. Unless they're garbage. Segway is garbage, just look at your list of places you think it'll have a future:
University - do you really want a shifting load of books on something that responds to body tilt, not a lot of storage on that thing unless you get the 9G model, so your books go on your back just like walking, and shifting when you tilt wrong
Congested downtown - the thing is around twice as wide as a normal person, not a solution to over crowding
Gold course - same problem as university, that bag of golf clubs will really suck
Hospital - combination of the problems listed above: too wide and lack of carrying capacity

Over all not a good invention, too much technology for the task at hand.

[js1138]

If you're skillful you won't have to move your hand as much as if you're not, but you'll still have to move it.

My understanding is the machine is very skilful. If you are shoved by the wind or another person, you may have to move your feet to maintain your balance, but you don't have to walk backwards. The question -- which I can't answer -- is whether the machine can distinguish the need to maintain balance from the intention to move in some direction. I'm betting it can.

[js1138]

See you and raise you one.

[ArrogantBustard]

Nice, but in the real world of Chicago Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, Rochester, Buffalo, etc.

[johnny7]

I heard you could put chains on them. With the ski-adapter attached in front, you'll look like a first-class jerk. HA!

[uncbuck]

Hey man, sorry, I didn't mean the comment as an insult, or anything like that. What I maeant by it was, wouldn't it be better to get a motorised wheel chair, at least you get to sit down.