Centaur - a Four-wheeled Segway

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Centaur - a Four-wheeled Segway

Posted by michael on Tuesday October 12, 2004 @08:12AM from the you-can't-afford-it dept.

Mr. Protocol writes "Segway, the folks who brought you the two-wheeled wonder called the IT, have a new concept vehicle up on their website. Called Centaur, it's a four-wheeled version of the IT that pulls stable wheelies by acting like a two-wheeled IT. The movie (Windows Media or Quicktime) shows someone having far too much fun riding one."

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/.'ed by HavokDevNull · 2004-10-12 08:16 · Score: 1, Informative

Posted as AC to not Karma whore

Use Mirrordot.org
http://www.mirrordot.org/stories/d7 903342e513d1a61 633a0ff9e266f35/index.html

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Direct link to high-speed video... by swordboy · 2004-10-12 08:18 · Score: 4, Informative

Sorry about the Windows Media...

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Re:Awesome by gasp · 2004-10-12 08:26 · Score: 4, Informative

Looks like there's plenty of time to revise the design... Quote from the article:

"When will it be available?
At present time, Segway LLC has no plans to manufacture the Centaur."
Re:Saw a wheelchair version of this a few years ag by DarkBlackFox · 2004-10-12 08:39 · Score: 2, Informative

You're probably thinking of the Ibot wheelchair, which debuted before the Segway, but still invented by Dean Kamen and DEKA. Same/Similar technology, but differant company. The Centaur is a concept thrown out by Segway engineers which they thought would be fun to build. It's more of a "hey this might be cool" kind of thing they built for the heck of it, they have no plans to market/manufacture these things. The Ibot on the other hand, is a product that will be marketed eventually.
Re:What's the point? by Shky · 2004-10-12 08:42 · Score: 5, Informative

Parent is of course refering to the iBot, Dean Kamen's wheelchair which allows the user to go up and down stairs, as well as going up on the back wheels to be eye-level with people.

It's pretty amazing, and like parent said, actually has a purpose. It allows people in wheelchairs to not be confined to one level of a house, or require assistance to reach things above them.

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A lot more information about the Centaur at Popsci by DocJohn · 2004-10-12 08:51 · Score: 3, Informative

See the article about Concept Centaur in next month's Popular Science magazine for more information and photos:

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/generaltech/article/0 ,20967,710982,00.html

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Re:So... by martingunnarsson · 2004-10-12 08:55 · Score: 2, Informative

Segway polo can be played quite well with the two-wheeled model.

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Martin
Sinclair C5 - Ahead of its Time by turgid · 2004-10-12 08:57 · Score: 3, Informative

In my day, these things were going to be the next big thing. They were so ahead of their time, that French car maker Citroen saw fit to name one of their newer models after it.

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Re:unicycle by Mazem · 2004-10-12 09:22 · Score: 2, Informative

Now, a powered, unicycle segway. Woot.

Someone already made one. Its called the Eunicycle. Apparently operation is rather intuitive as well since all you have to do to turn is lean.
HT, not IT by cocotoni · 2004-10-12 09:29 · Score: 2, Informative

The Segway product is Segway HT not IT.
HT stands for Human Transporter.
This quicktime version by Anonymous Coward · 2004-10-12 10:55 · Score: 1, Informative

http://origin.www.segway.com/video/centaur_qt.html