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Segway HT Starts Selling
Ninja Master Gara writes "The much-hyped "IT", Dean Kamen's Segway Human Transporter, started selling Monday with a no-refund deposit of $495 on the $4,950 people mover for deliveries starting March 2003 on first come first serve basis.
"The Segway Human Transporter is one of the most famous and anticipated product introductions of all time," Jeff Bezos, chief executive and founder of Amazon.com, said in heralding the availability of the vehicles on the online retailer's site." It's also the most overhyped and overpriced toy ever, and I'm kicking myself for posting it since that just contributes to the problem.
Never mind I found it
0 07EPJ6/104-2780283-4735950
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00
How did this get labeled off topic? Anyway, I think it is relevant, so...
It has gyroscopes inside so it can tell what it's orientation is, when the rider leans in any direction he applies a torque to the machine using his weight. This torque is the control input for the vehicle, and onboard computer translates that into different voltages for the two motors (one on each side). The same computers (with the gyroscopes, again) makes sure the machine 'keeps it's balance'. It is really an overpriced simple control system with a couple motors and some gyros...
"I'll have a Guinness, no wait, make that a Coors Light" -Grad student I work with, who shall remain anonymous...
Well, the C5 was touted as a car/bicycle replacement, which it failed as because it is so low to the ground that driving it in traffic was terrifying. The segway is a walking replacement, and so has a better chance.
Anyhow, there has to be an early adopter on all nifty technology.
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
Seriously, if I lived in a big city, or a touristy area, I would be tempted to buy one right away and charge to rent it. I can see a lot of people ponying up 20 bucks to try one out.
Dean Kamen's super advanced robotic wheelchair is far more impressive (a lot of the technology behind the Segway comes from it). It is 4 wheel drive, can stand a person upright so that the wheelchair bound can look "norms" in the eyes, climbs stairs with ease, is faster than a Segway, and is as compact a normal non-folding wheelchair.
And he has been working on a true compact Stirling Engine using modern materials for quite some time. Supposedly is quite close to getting it working affordably. Such a device could do wonders for the energy problems of today (not to mention providing electric power even in the most remote areas).
This is also the guy that invented several key medical devices used in much of modern cardiovascular and vascular medicine. Things such as a blood pump that due to the design of the turbine blades within it does not damage blood cells as they pass through the device.
Dean is also the founder of the US FIRST program designed to get children of the US (and other countries) interested in science and invention at an early age. The US FIRST robotics competition has inspired some very interesting advances in robotics.
Once more unto the breach dear friends...
Some people cannot legally drive a car for various reasons (usually medical - I'm not talking about having had your licence revoked!), either that or they have absolutely no desire to drive a car.
Some of those who cannot drive a car are not capable of riding a bicycle either, for example because they do not have a sufficient sense of balance.
For these people, the Segway could be a viable alternative for "Faster than Foot" transportation - if only it were a little cheaper!
Disclaimer: I meant what I thought, not what I wrote! What? You can't read my Mind? Oh dear!
I think that's what my box will be saying after posting this...
I got to ride one of them last August -- it was pretty wild.
http://sethbuckley.com/gallery/Segway
help fill in hidden movie endings @ End of the Credits
In the UK it would be classed as a Motorbike (Catergory L1e) (the motor power being over 200w). This means that it has the same legal requirements as this class of Motorbikes:
I'm no expert but I'd guess this means:
- Road tax
- Insurance
- Number Plate (what do you do with that?)
- Lights?
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
The English C5 was a plastic electric car. The design ignored the fact that plastic develops cracks when flexed often. It was quirky in the English tradition. It died immediately after introduction.
No. The Segway balances itself. All you need to do is hold on to the handlebars and lean forwards to accelerate, or move your hands to turn.
As a result I see these all the time.. average is about 2-3 a day. Now a lot of you are saying what's the point, they're stupid, use a bike, use a car.. For Manchester they are very well suited. We have this long strip downtown.. going from one end to the other is a pain by car (lots of traffic, lights, no parking) going by bike sucks since you can't bike on the sidewalk (unsafe, and I'll get to that later) and if you only have 30mins for lunch then you probably can't walk to your favorite lunch place and back in that time (Even more so now that Capri burnt down).
The Segway is great for this task and that's what most people use them for, going to work further then 2-3 miles but not to far, getting lunch, and doing in city things.
As far as the safety thing.. I don't care how good you are on a bike you can't stop on a dime if you'er going at a good speed.. Until you actually see it in person you can't fully understand, but I saw a guy (from Deka) going down the side walk at probably 8-10mph.. he got to the intersection and STOPED, on a dime, because you have to lean back to make it stop you are already adjusting your center of balance, if you stopped that quickly on a bike you would either flip over the handle bars or wipe out. This is why a segway is safer.
You go to your friends house and he lives up a flight of stairs? you get off, stand next to your segway, it a button on it and it will walk itself up the stairs (you can't be on it because of the extream angle it's at)
Over all they're cool, I would get one and use it to get to work (about 7-8 miles) rather then drive my car. I would have never used it when I was living in Goffstown (next town over, small town) since there wasn't anything of interest for about 20 miles around me.. And if I lived in the building above where I worked, or a few blocks away, sure I would probably walk rather then use this, but not if I was 3 miles or more away.
With all this being said, I still can't wait to see how they are in the snow :)
Free Mac Mini
I guess I'm the only person here who doesn't think the Segway has been overhyped.
This is an incredible product that realistically could change have a big impact on the way cities are planned and the way lives are lived.
The grumps who are wailing "what about us poor schmoes on the sidewalks" haven't taken a close look at the thing or thought about it very hard.
Barelling down the sidewalk at 17mph is like running full-bore. Whether you are traveling that speed on foot or on a seque it is still poor social ettiquette. People don't drive their cars 80mph down 25mph residential streets. Why will they start to careen down sidewalks?
I could see cities bolstering their bike-police force. It's no problem for a reasonably healthly person to bike at least 17mph. They'll help enforce safe sidewalk laws.
Well, that's looking at the social aspects of the machine.
Looking at it as a geek I'm in total-fucking-awe of what they've done. They've simulated the inner-ear for all intents and purposes. The machine is rugged, polution free (ignoring manufacturing wastes), and it is really reasonably priced. I'm willing to bet in a year or so these will be available for ~$2000. That's only slightly higher than the price of a decent road, mountain, or commuter bike.
I saw Dean Kamen a couple weeks back. He was up in North Dakota for one of our Technology Conferences. He focused more on his pet project of more, better science and math education but he did have a seque along. I came away convinced the seque could be a year-round commuter vehicle in our larger cities. If it's good enough for North Dakota in the winter it's damn well good enough for the rest of the country year round.
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
15 (really 10) miles of charge
Doesn't seem very far to me. I think I'd be endlessly charging the thing.
Payload: 250 lbs
Geez, there is a significant portion of the population that weighs in excess of 250 lbs. I guess it's just not for us, er them, huh?
NiMH batteries
The website states they get 300-500 full charges before needing replacing. That's only about a year and a half or so before an expensive part needs replacement if you're using it daily (and for the price you'd better be).
Insurance
I didn't find anything involving insurance. How would a device like this be underwritten? Personal property? Auto? What?
Pricetag
Besides, the price tag is WAY too high (even if it were 1/10 of what it is now I would be unlikely to buy).
Yep, there is another C5. Specifically, Sir Clive Sinclair's (he of the ZX Spectrum 1980's computer fame) failed electric vechicle. The Segway and the Sinclair C5 have been compared to each other quite a bit here in Britain....
I would suggest that you look at the various links that show "How a Segway works".
The gyros are made of micro machined silicon and weigh a fraction of a gram. They also don't spin but vibrate instead. They are used only as measurement devices with the balancing being produced by driving the wheels via a feedback mechanism.
These people designed the sensor (and I used to work there though not on this project)
wot no sig
I agree that they're overpriced (at least for now), but I live in Manchester, NH, where Segway is headquartered and we see people using them every day - all Segway employees, but still, it seems like a great way to get around town. Also, rode one last year and it was neat as all hell.
I saw one at Epcot here at Disney in Orlando. The guy was not demoing but actually using it to deliver packages. At one store he had to get off and go inside, but first stood next to it with his hand in front of the handle bar to keep bumping it back because it was trying to leave him. After a few seconds it finally stopped.
Even the Seg is too big and fast for a crowded sidewalk. "Just like being hit by a pedestrian" doesn't begin to convey the kinetic energy behind a 320 lb lump hitting you at 12 mph. Roll right over most people.
I believe the same active control system used to balance the Segway is also used to cushion any impact with other objects/people/Segways. They've demonstrated this a few times on TV with Segways bumping into people or into each other at speed. The Segway(s) stop on a dime (or even deflect/bounce off) without upsetting the balance of either party. They also have soft tires for similar safety reasons.
So the comment "just like being hit by a pedestrian" is proportedly accurate as long as the contact isn't due to system failure or the wheels leaving the ground (in which case the effective kinetic energy would suddenly become as described). This is actually one of the major features of the device - it probably wouldn't have been produced if this wasn't true.
My next sig will be ready soon, but friends can beat the rush!
The gyroscopes do not contain rotating masses in the conventional sense. They are solid state "vibrating ring" gyros that use the coriolis effect to measure rotational speed (from here). Its the powerful motors that keep the balance, not the mass in the gyroscopes, they are simply the sensors.
Jeff
stty erase ^H
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ch ronicle/archive/2002/11/19/BA152460.DTL
I was wrong he was right. Paragraph 4. I skimed and made a mistake. Sorry:)
Of course now I wonder why we have to pass laws to allow things. I thought we were free minus the laws/restrictions.
How Stirling Engines Work
On the November 13 edition of 60 minutes, Kamen showed a working stirling engine, and talked about how the three initial uses Deka was focusing on were water purification and cheap power source for third world countries, and an engine for the Segway.
Flout 'em and scout 'em,
and scout 'em and flout 'em;
Thought is free. - Shakespeare [The Tempest]
Before you jump to any conclusions, please read Dan Bricklin's commentary based on his real life experience in riding a segway:
Thoughts before riding one
Impressions after riding a Segway HT: part 1
Impressions after riding a Segway HT: part 2 Especially note the sections "Isn't it just like a bicycle or a scooter?" and "How does a Segway fit in among regular walking and standing people?"
It's a lot easier to get a coal plant to upgrade/maintain emmissions control equipment than to get a million cars to upgrade their catylitic converters. Even if it is worse for the environment now, centralizing where the power comes from does make sense.
-no broken link
Considering marathoners go about 12 MPH, and sprinters go about about 20 MPH and they are both legal on the sidewalk
Lay off the crack. A marathon time of 4:30, which is damn hard, averages out to around 5.5-6 MPH. A 4 minute mile (which is at the world-class freakishly-trained level) is still only 15 MPH.
I've paced myself at a brisk walk and it's about 3.75 to 4 MPH. Believe me, this is still MUCH faster than most of the pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk. If it's moderately busy (or there is any sort of incline involved), you can forget about being able to even walk briskly, let alone jog or sprint.
If a thing traveled at 10MPH on the sidewalks, it would be going 3 to 5 times faster than 99% of the foot traffic.