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Segway vs. Roomba
Jerry23 writes "We all knew it would happen. We just didn't know when. But Second Life's Cory Ondrejka has just blogged The Encounter: At last weekend's Accelerating Change Conference, Dean Kamen's demon seed, the Segway personal transporter, met Helen Greiner's lovechild, the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, in a climactic crash that will echo through the ages.
And I quote: "That night also had what was, for me, the highlight of the conference. I refer, of course, to the ultimate convergence of technology. The perfect connection of human and robot. The consumate collision of 21st century geek products. I am referring, of course, to the moment that a Segway ran over Roomba."
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Does anyone actually have one of those things? It doesn't look like it holds enough or has enough suction power to be of any practical use. It seems to be a conversation piece and not a practical vacuum cleaner.
While the article is somewhat interesting, the title is misleading. I expected someone to have done a Battlebots style bout between a Segway and a Roomba. Instead, all that happended was that someone riding a Segway ran over a Roomba that was going across the floor. Maybe if there'd been a video of this it'd be worth a 'funny' story entry...
Well, the author mentioned that the majority of people had the Segway mastered in about 15 seconds (which I have to admit is pretty amazing, if true).
The Roomba, OTOH, I cannot imagine is all that difficult to understand. Put it on the floor and turn it on. From what I have seen of the one at my parents' house it kinda just does its thing from there.
What I want to compare is the maintenance needs for both. That includes recharging requirements and in the case of the Roomba how many times you need to empty it's (from what I remember) very small dirt collector.
If the Segway takes 15 seconds to learn and goes for hours without a charge or required stop to perform some necessary task I would say the Segway wins.
Perhaps the Roomba has a larger collection bin than the one my parents have but I doubt it. Personally, using a regular vaccum seems like a lot less hassle to me.
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I had heard GWB is pretty athletic, and I also heard that he had crashed a Segway, but those photos suggest he made a pretty graceful recovery. No, he didn't plant the landing like an Olympic gymnast, but he lands on his feet in a stance used in most contact sports.
We have a robotic vacuum that, by all reviews, doesn't clean worth a damn versus a transport device that achieves a fast walk pace for a limited distance at a cost of several thousand dollars.
My guess is that the stories behind the devices is more interesting than the devices themselves.
I had a chance to use one and can say that's fairly accurate. I wouldn't say ldquo;mastered, but it's easy enough that it's hard to call it learning. If you get a chance, give it a try. Useful or no, it's a cool piece of technology.
That said, it's the wrong thing for most people.
Yeah, I am sure that people NEVER fall when stepping into some liquid. I am sure that all those "Slippery when wet" signs are just a paranoid conspiracy designed to scare us.
Why is Segway at fault? It is not designed to operate 100% because the physical environment is inherently unpredictable and dangerous and people are clumsy. You can design a lot of safety into a product, but people will still manage to injure or kill themselves using it.
Yes, Segway has amazing next-generation tires, designed by Michelin to have extraordinary traction on any kind of terrain, but face it, there are surfaces where even the world best wheels will fail. Like molten lava or quicksand... What, are you saying that Segway can't ride over molten lava? How impractical, noone will ever use it.
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