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Segway Recalling 23,000 Scooters
DocJohn writes, "For the second time in 3 years, Segway has announced a recall of all Segway Personal Transporters. The problem described is that the Segway 'can unexpectedly apply reverse torque to the wheels, which can cause a rider to fall. This can occur when the device is tilted back by the Speed Limiter and the rider comes off and then back onto the device within a short period of time.' A software update is needed to fix the problem." This AP story mentions President Bush's 2003 stumble on a Segway without speculating on whether the cause was the software glitch behind the current recall.
Funnypics
Yes, they do. Apparently, however -- and I got this from someone who actually works at Segway -- he hadn't been given formal training, and stepped on it when it hadn't yet been powered up. No gyros spinning, DAMN hard to balance. (I actually made the same mistake -- you WILL go down when 100 lbs. with a very low center of balance is disagreeing with you.)
This doesn't surprise me. It's just another example of how easily programmers fall into the trap of common "use cases" when writing software. Too often, programs are written on the assumption on a simple linear chain of events driven by a use case. In the Segway example, it would appear that the people who wrote the control logic for the scooter assumed that people would get on the machine from a full stop and get off the machine at a full stop. Remounting the machine during the stopping process violated this assumption and exposed a fault in the control logic. I see this type of problem all the time on e-commerce sites (even Amazon.com has the problem) when the buyer attempts to unroll part of a transaction to change something or check an alternative path in the buy/ship/bill/confirm cycle.
The point: always assume the user might do anything at any point in time.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Not to nitpick, but the gyros don't spin -- they're solid state.
The AP didn't mention that when President Bush fell off the Segway, he had not yet turned it on. Makes a big difference in performance, that.
Bush fell off of the unit because it wasn't turned on in the first place. He never keyed the unit to power, nor switched it to what's called "Balance Mode" - most of the introductory material highlights this extremely well. He took it out of the box and then stood on it. You're also supposed to charge it before use to condition the batteries, which he also failed to do.
Also, "reverse torque" wouldn't cause him to fall -forward- unless he managed to have corrected it and somehow caused a wheel to spin out on flat, regular asphalt, which is nigh impossible.
I'm honestly not too concerned with this recall - it seems like it happened when people first started to learn how to use the units, where they would get freaked out by the unit tilting back to warn them of the unit's speed limitations, and then stepped off. Jump right back on, and bad things -can- happen, apparently.
-Jordan
Small EVs (either NEVs which are more car-like, or electric motorcycles, more traditional electric bicycles or scooters, especially folding ones which allow convenient interface with public transit, etc.) make perfect sense in Northern California.
The Segway is not, as I see it, really among the kind of small EVs that make good sense here, though. An appropriate choice of more traditional small EVs for the particular users will give a lot better utility for the price (and in many cases both better overall utility and lower price) for most users.
The Segway doesn't have an advantage in speed or range of comparably priced (or often, far cheaper) alternatives, its main selling point is its maneuverability which the company says makes it ideal for use in areas designed for pedestrian use like sidewalks. But while it would be great on sidewalks dedicated to pedestrian use, its not all that pedestrian friendly on sidewalks, which is why city governments are often disinclined to make their cities less pedestrian friendly than they already are by allowing them to be used there. And, anyway, many Northern California cities aren't all that pedestrian friendly to start with, but have roads where powered bicycles, motorcycles, and traditional scooters are more easily accomodated.
So? Consumers don't care how much it costs to make a product, they care how much utility you get out of it.
Comparable to a number of similarly priced, more traditional electric vehicles. The Segway, even with the improvement, offers nothing particularly special in this regard.
Yes, and folding electric scooters or bicycles (though they tend to have less independent range) generally make more sense, since they have all thoseadvantages you describe of a Segway, plus are a lot easier to interface with public transit, plus are often far less expensive. Whereas slighly larger, non-folding electric scooters, bicycles, or motorcycles at or under the Segway's price range also offer similar benefits (though, especially in the latter case, may be more demanding when it comes to storage space), with comparable (or, particularly for electric motorcycles, better) speed, comparable independent range, and often better adaptability to useful accessories, like cargo trailers to allow you to do significant grocery shopping with your electric vehicle.
There are niches in, largely, business and government use where Segways make sense, which is where they've mostly been adopted so far. Aside from that, they are mostly inexpensive toys.