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And by the way is 'segue' not 'segway'

No way of being sure. He MIGHT have been referring to students using a Segway to get to their classes in programming & logic design.

I'm not sure why early exposure to Boolean Algebra and Binary Arithmetic would lead students to be more likely to ride segways, but I'm willing to hear his reasoning.

1. This was on his own estate. I do not know how large his estate was, but I think it is fair to assume that he knew where the river and bluff were.

2. Segways max out at 12.5mph. I don't really think that counts as "high speed."

It's the first step in the process of changing urban transportation. As many have stated, the Segway was simply a "so what" sort of innovation. Kinda neat, but what do you really do with it. The development of the PUMA (Personal Urban Mobility & Accessibility) http://www.segway.com/puma has quite a bit more potential, particularly in urban environments. Put several thousand of these in a major metropoitan area and make drivers leave their car at the gate, so to speak. Set up some sort of credit/debit/ID card access so you can just park-it-and-leave-it, and then pick up another one when you need it. It has enough oomph to get it onto the steets, has weather protection, is extremely nimble and maneuverable, and (most importantly) puts you in a seated position LOWER than the pedestrians, to remove any hint of superiority.

This effectively makes it nearly impossible for a newcomer to break into the field.

What if the newcomer develops a new method of transportation? Hovercraft, jetpack, skycar, Segway?

One of the benefits of the patent system is that it forces people to keep coming up with new ideas. Especially the newcomer.

I think the Kindle will be to traditional books as this device is to walking.

It is called Segway. I think pricing was the reason behind the product not becoming more popular.

Official site: http://www.segway.com/
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway

First to "dynamically balancing itself"? I thought Segway http://www.segway.com/ [segway.com] was the first.

The Segway, having wheels, is not generally considered to be "bipedal". Though in the video the "bully bot" looks to be a Segway with arms and a camera head.

The bipedal bot really needs to have arms to flail about for balance. Now that would be funny. It can bring you a beer, but don't open it right away...

First to "dynamically balancing itself"?

I thought Segway http://www.segway.com/ was the first.

Seriously, why would the ban Segway exports?

Because Dean Kamen had the audacity to open his manufacturing plant in Bedford, New Hampshire (source)?

Everyone knows that the U.S. Feral Government has been actively encouraging the growth of the trade deficit for decades, in the name of screwing average american workers. Banning the export of the few things that Americans still manufacture (Segways, Harleys, Cadillacs and, apparently, personal watercraft) is yet another way of sticking it to 'the masses'. Apple shouldn't have a problem with selling Kim Jong Il his Ipods, because they can just ship a box over the border from their contract builder in China.

Not only that, but we already have a solution to the urban transportation problem!

Agreed. Not only are the the electric scooters that follow the standard scooter design foldable, lighter, and much cheaper, when the batteries run down they're still usable as a conventional scooter.

When the batteries on the Segway run down you've got a 70 lb brick.

I just read Code Name Ginger, which doesn't really ever throw the hard punches, but as I read the book I wondered two things:

1. What was the honest reaction of all the guys hired in total secrecy when the discovered what the project was? During the interview process, nobody will tell you what it is. So you move yourself and your family out to New Hampshire, where you're pretty much committed to the job 'cause Kamen's company is the only high tech employer around, and you discover you're working on a scooter. The pay is okay, but, really, was the culture such that you could then say "what are you guys thinking and how do we turn this into a real product?", or are you then stuck building out someone else's vision?

2. How could they miss that the people they showed it to who thought it was cool were all people with obscene amounts of disposable income? Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and John Doerr get together to look at the project, and even in a crowd with those kinds of financial resources one out of three calls "bullshit". Kinda. Surely even with Kamen's pathological secrecy complex there was someone else outside the company they could have found for some honest reaction.

I'm also shocked and amazed at the "it's better to build a manufacturing process from scratch than show anyone else our product" mindset. If you think that you've got one great idea, you're deluding yourself. If, on the other hand, you think you can continually out-innovate and don't need to constantly remind yourself of the novelty of your one great idea by keeping it secret, then you've got a chance in the marketplace.

Unfortunately, there's so much money in the front end of this process that there's no way they can let anyone else take the patented bits and run with it, the royalties the investors will expect are going to be far too high for anyone else to take a derivative product to market, so while there are some interesting things that I can foresee coming out of balancing on two wheels, it's only going to be sometime after the patents run out that we actually see interesting products.

Actually, the first time I saw a Segway was for a Navy EOD (Explosive Ordinace Disposal) team that was in town for the Rose Festival. They had big knobbly 'offroad' tires on it, and the big saddle bags for tools and such. I think it was the X2. They also had one of the remote-control robots but had the Segway mounted on the back of their truck too. I guess it helps you to move when you're covered in kevlar.

Actually, the Segway would probobly make a great base for robotics experiments. It's certainly easier and more stable than bipedal robots.

Actually, the first time I saw a Segway was for a Navy EOD (Explosive Ordinace Disposal) team that was in town for the Rose Festival. They had big knobbly 'offroad' tires on it, and the big saddle bags for tools and such. I think it was the X2. They also had one of the remote-control robots but had the Segway mounted on the back of their truck too. I guess it helps you to move when you're covered in kevlar.

Actually, the Segway would probobly make a great base for robotics experiments. It's certainly easier and more stable than bipedal robots.

I've been waiting for a Segway knockoff to appear so I could actually afford a similar device.

You're going to have to wait a long time:

http://www.delphion.com/details?&pn=US05971091__

I do like the Centaur and I can't find them anymore but there was another segway like thing for handicapped people that was like a wheelchair that grew so that the person was at eye level. That looked like it kicked ass for people confined to a wheelchair.

First of all.. If this thing stepped on your foot you'd be in some serious pain.
Second.. If this thing tipped over it'd not only hurt the rider, but also whomever was unfortunate enough to be under it.

I'm guessing this will go over like a lead balloon. Of course, that's what I said about the segway. (That website still cracks me up. Our police on campus putt along in these stupid things. It's a fact: The only thing less intimidating than a cop on a bicycle is a cop on a segway.)

Brushless motors are more complex

and require an array of active electronics inside them to produce the AC and modulating magnetic field they need to operate.

Most brushless motors are lower torque than their brushed counterparts. (majority, I know there will be exceptions)

Brushed motors are more mechanical in nature and suffer from the usual mechanical issues, but they are less prone to failure than brushless.

Also, traveling through space and landing on a planet that may not have a protective magnetic field, active (transistor based) electronics must be carefully protected against emi that can disable or damage them.

This stuff isn't rocket science. Even things like scooters, Segways and electric cars use similar technology.

The technology of brushless was available when the rovers were designed, and I can't imagine NASA not seriously considering them.

A great segway

Ooh. I get to be grammar Nazi and IP lawyer at the same time.

The word you're looking for is segue, not Segway.

Oh come on... how can he claim innovation is dead? There are tons of innovative products that have flooded the marketplace.

Time to add AOL to the list of great moments in pricing failures.

Except that neither are Segways.

The one on the left is the Concept Centaur, a product Segway has committed to build, but it is not a Segway. It is a 4-wheel all-terrain vehicle that incorporate dynamic stabilization technology:

http://www.segway.com/products/centaur/

The on the right is the iBot, which is made by a company called Independence Technology, which is owned by J&J. This is the company that DEKA licensed the dynamic stabilization technology to for handicapped applications, and the iBot is the product.

Copies of the trailers:

http://www4.segway.com/10mph-low.mov
http://www4.segway.com/10mph-med.mov

Copies of the trailers:

http://www4.segway.com/10mph-low.mov
http://www4.segway.com/10mph-med.mov

I prefer to be carried by a Segway.

Building the suit with a large number of control points and still able to handle 500-1000 lbs for at least an hour or two, that will the interesting part

Think this is the best one around...http://www.segway.com/

I'm pretty sure at this point, nobody knows how to spell segue anymore.

The bottom looks a bit different, so it's not directly what they show on the Segway RMP page. The robot also looks to have a left/right tilt feature which would be independant of the base... though it doesn't lean too much, so it might not be a significant difference.

Are there any other english-language references to this thing? It must actually be news for a change, there appear to be only a handful of references to this thing in Google's cache, all on news websites.

Hmm. I'm ALL for stuff like this, but I'm feeling a little gun shy after the last quiet thing into which he pumped a lot of money.

• Danger's hiptop.
• Motorola's RAZR cellphone.
• Segway
• and, inevitably, the iPod.

(Yes, the Segway is still being sold.)

here.

You can want one, but you ain't getting one. From Segway's Centaur page:
At present time, Segway LLC has no plans to manufacture the Centaur.

http://origin.www.segway.com/centaur/

Ride securly on 4 wheels, but chuck the occasional wheelie to look cool.

Just wait untill there are gangs of partially disabled senior citizens roving around in packs forcing everyone else off the sidewalk, not caring who or what they run into and/or over. And then there's the Segway Centar which can only lead to who knows what kind of shenanigans.

Last time I tried to ride my Ducati into an elevator (like they do Here) the receptionist had a few not very nice things to say....

I'm afraid you are entirely incorrect: http://www.segway.com/segway/. The "Segway HT" (Human Transporter) is the real name. The media started calling it just "it" to try to emphasize its uniqueness and indescribability. I bet Segway had a hand in that.

HT stands for Human Transporter.

The Segway site (http://www.segway.com/) is promoting a $1000 "customer cash" certificate that brings the price to $3000 for a p-series model (the smaller one). They're clearing out inventory to both generate funds and space for an upcoming cost-reduced second-generation model.

There's an interesting (one month old) article in the Economist about how Segway isn't doing as well as the makers expect.

I'm not one bit surprised. For me the thing is an amazing solution to a non-existent problem. Can someone explain to me how is this better from a bike?

I mean for the price of Segway I can buy the same bike Lance Armstrong rides, or nearly any mountain bike. (actually I just checked the price and Trek 5.9 is slightly more pricey then the Segway). Anyway, I do easily average 20mph when I cycle around London. The Segawy has a top speed of 12mph. Oh yes and my bike does not need recharging.

And the nice thing about subsidies, from the government's point of view, is that it makes an easy segway to regulation and monitoring.

Sounds like the perfect opportunity to use a Segway!

-asoap

Did you seriously just misspell segue as segway?

No, it was correct as written.

"I agree, its a fad, but for some of us, it was our segway into learning more about technology, programming, and how to pick up women..."

-

How many joggers, skateboarders, or skaters add an extra 83 lbs. of metal on you when they hit you?

Bikers are about the only thing that come close but you would have to be rideing one monster of a bike for it to reach 83 lbs! Not to mention the size of the person who could propel the thing. So that's not even a valid compairison.

According to this, max segway speed is about 12.5 mph (20 km/h). Sidewalk speed is about 8 mph (12.9 km/h).

On my blades, my last trip on even ground was about 18.2km/h. That puts the segway at a little over me when maxed, but probably fairly under at sidewalk speed. I'm sure I'm not the fastest blader around...

The point being, the safety issues with the segway aren't so much centric to speed as they probably are to weight and carelessness. The added weight of the machine could be somewhat of a danger, but only when you've got a careless driver... which makes a segway not much more dangerous than a nut on rollerblades.

one word: Segway

What happens if oil production grows less and less while demand skyrockets? Electric means of travel then reign, especailly small, efficient ones like the Segway!!!

And to think people laughed at people buidling cities around these devices.

you are forced to stand up on it.

It does charge it. On this Segway page (under the San Francisco section), it says the HT has regenerative braking. Thus, pulling it around charges it to. My neighbor occasionally takes one home from his office (at Amazon.com) and one day he was walking home with a dead Segway. It had ran out of battery on the way back. However, by pulling it around and down the hill, it slowly gains energy back. Plus, if you wait a little while, he says it magically finds some more energy (just a little) hidden away :). So, as long as you are not /too/ far away, you can still get some use out of it.

How many tech companies (which were media darlings) imploded during the Dot-Bomb? Apple wasn't among them and they've been "Dying Since 1976". Hell, even one of the latest tech poster-children ( Segway) is sucking rocks. Apple has a core (no pun intended) market and a loyal customer base.

These analysts have an intangible they can't convert to numbers on the spreadsheet: customer loyalty. No user I've ever met has the same passion for Dell, Compaq or Microsoft.

disclaimer: I'm an Apple fanboy; bought a ][+ in 1981 (which still works!) and a variety of Macs along the way.

The last time we were informed of an amazing gyroscopic technology, it was about as amazing as a grandma in a bathtub.

The car is mine, and while on my private property I should be able to do whatever I like with it.

That's why there's Segway and an increasing variety of Slo-Go mobility devices.

Cars are for responsible drivers the government can designate and trust. Consider, a car irresponsibly driven can be a flying missile, is often used by terrorists as weapons (ever hear of a car bomb?), can potentially outrun officers of the law, are used by pedophiles and other criminals to abduct persons, and in general is much more responsibility than most citizens are equipped to handle. Timothy McVey drove a car to flee the scene, and drove a truck to destroy innocent citizens. We don't let people own grenades or missiles, and owning a car or truck has become nearly as dangerous.

Unlike developing EU measures to restrict car ownership to by fiat (forcing the masses to take public transportation), early US national and municipal studies recognized that US citizens were unlikely to abandon transportation forms that restricted their liberty. Hence the Federal subsidies and purchasing support for Segway and similar low-speed, low-risk mobility devices (aka "Slo-Go").

With a Segway (or comperable Slo-Go mobility device), drunk driving consequences are reduced to a few bruises or possibly a broken bone. Death to innocent parties in a collision? Absolutely not. Road rage at 10 mph? Equally limited consequences.

Fleeing law enforcement (in autos) in a Segway would only be a few minutes of absolute amusement for the officer involved, before the fleeing party was apprehended. Road wear and a variety of other issues with big vehicles would all be eliminated.

Congressional studies suggested an initial step in the next five years to dramatically hike auto registration/ownership taxes beyond the reach of many, creating a market preference shift for slow-go devices. Blanket auto ownership restrictions would probably meet extreme initial resistance, so punitive taxes gradually increased would be the most effective way of shifting ownership and encouraging the growth of the slow-go market.

The car experiment has been a collosal 100-year failure. Transition to Slo-Go is the only proper way for letting the masses drive. If you agree, be sure to check out the leading Slo-Go website EVWorld.com