Slashdot Mirror
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.
So, pretty much all of them then.
For those who haven't seen Dubya's presidential tumble... see it here
Funnypics
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.
More likely he just didn't know how to ride particularly well yet. They do take some practice.
Have you ever wondered How to Take Over
The shocking part of the story: there are 23,000 Seqway's out there?
_______
2B1ASK1
When I lived in Boise, Idaho, there were 2 people that used to tool around downtown on a fairly regular basis on those things. If 2 people in Boise, Idaho own them, I can believe they've sold 23,500 of them. Surely there are at least that many people in this country with far more money than sense.
Hopefully, they'll screw up their patch and make sure everyone who rides a segway gets thrown ass-over-teakettle as soon as they get on.
Software piracy is victimless theft.
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.
It was an intelligence failure. No one could have predicted it. Any criticism of it is emboldening our enemies.
imagine what that would do for the spam/malware industry. instead of just providing you links to websites you dont want to visit, it will drive you to a store you dont want to go to.
Segways are like fat chicks. They're both fun to ride until one of your friends sees you.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
Sounds like a hidden attempt at sterilizing part of the population.
Good thing, too. That segway is such a pussy magnet, sterilization will be necessary to avoid overpopulation.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
I am really surprised that when they ship the scooter they don't also inlude a connection so that you can upgrade its software directly via USB or something along those lines.
Perhaps they are worried about proprietary software being stolen by anybody that can get their hands on one, but you'd think if you really wanted to you would be able to do that anyways.
So all in all, why wouldn't they make it so that you can update software from home?
Ahhh, well... on the other hand, I can see now where enthusiasts release a patch making the Segway capable of traveling at 25mph. Perhaps it is better just to ship the things in and be done with it.
Justin - Don't be afraid of my blog, it won't bite.
Wow... for once, a product recall that isn't issued because the products are catching on fire and/or exploding! Simply amazing.
"Let's face it, it's a good story. Accuracy would kill it."
Back tire? Wheelie?
Do you even know what a Segway is?
Stupid Segway, it is recalling scooters and trying to fix it. The right thing to do is to encourage everyone to follow "responsible disclosure" which means nobody should disclose anything about it. If and when a fix is ready, post instructions on how to fix it once a month, on a Tuesday. Then people should get the replacement parts mailed to them and they should install the "patches". That is the way to billions folks.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Personally, I think they should be congratulated, for two reasons. Firstly, as has already been mentioned, this is a pro-active recall. Secondly, two recalls in 3 years for something as complex and innovative as this is pretty good going. Why is it that a Segway recall makes front page news, whereas the thousands of other recalls that happen in most industries on a daily basis go unnoticed. I recently had to have a software upgrade on my car (BMW) and doing some research of my own suggests that BMW provide software updates on average every couple of months. This software upgrade wasn't to improve something as mundane as the radio or sat-nav, it was to fix a fault with the automatic gearbox. It happens, and I would say Segway have a better record than most.
The Segway was created to help change the way we design our cities, but it seems ended up changing the way we design our dental plans...
"Rollback across America!"
Thanks, I'll be here all week.
Leben Sie jetzt die Fragen.
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.
Just the other day the Sam's Club web page had an ad for Segway XTs. Now the ad is gone and a site search returns nothing about them. Maybe they were worried that if they ever wanted to use Wal-mart's 'Rollback pricing' slogan it might send the wrong message.
No, actually. The reason for the "voluntary recall" is that the Consumer Product Safety Commission gives manufacturers an option. They can either do a "voluntary recall", or the CPSC can do it the hard way, with injunctions, orders, fines, and bans on further sales of the product. That results in announcements like Dynacraft To Pay $1.4 Million Penalty for Failing to Report Hazard with Mountain Bicycles. "The forks, which are part of the steering column, can break apart and separate from the front wheel, causing the rider to lose control and suffer serious injuries."
Most manufacturers take the voluntary option. A few try defying the recall order. Doesn't work. "John Rasmus, of Hallstead, Pennsylvania, the owner of Pyrotek, was sentenced to 5 months in prison, 5 months home confinement and three years of supervised release."