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Toyota Announces the Winglet, Wannabe Segway Killer
Various gadget/toy venues are writing about the Toyota Winglet, a diminutive Segway-like personal transporter. (Toyota took over Sony's robot division a year back.) It comes in three sizes and offers about a third the speed and a quarter the range of the Segway; on the upside, it charges in an hour vs. Segway's 10 hours. Wired writes: "The Winglet is the first gadget to duplicate the celebrated, and often mocked, navigation system of the Segway Transporter."
Segway was a huge commercial failure and was pretty much DOA. Does it even make sense to call something a "Segway killer"? How do you kill that which has no life?
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Wrong catagory. Quote: "about a third the speed and a quarter the range of the Segway" In other words: /Walk/. Have no delay for stairs, and no parking hassle whatsoever, Not to mention a health benefit instead of a power waste.
It's nice to see Toyota is playing with tech demostrators, but something more stupid than a Segway? Ouch.
As for either tech being for people who have trouble walking, ask any doctor -- they'll tell you those are the people who need to walk. Kamen was on to something when he was talking about devices that can climb stairs for people who really can't, but we haven't seen anything yet. It's been seven years now? C'mon Dean, hit your second wind and figure it out. That /will/ be amazing.
How about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBOT ?
I don't think you've ever been to any sort of themed fan convention. Walk 2 miles and stand up for approximately 12 hours, with a 5 minute break every hour. I'd love to see how you fare.
No matter how strong you are or how much endurance you have, standing/walking around at a con for that long is going to take a toll on you.
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
A lot of us have been disappointed in the Segway. However, having my PhD in robotics, I've been downright frustrated.
While I would agree that Dean Kamen is "inventive" and very good at marketing, his products are not at all ground breaking in terms of technology. To add insult to injury his products are way over priced.
Robotics has been able to do his Segway balance trick for many decades. "Gee, sense where center of mass has moved and move the support position under it." In fact, we've been able to do a two link version of this problem as well (Think one Segway on top of another except the top segway has no power.)
However, Kamen burns through $150M duplicating the already known and is heralded as the most visionary man on the planet. Puuhleeeease.
His iBot wheelchair is the better of his products (It, by the way only requires the same basic robotics principle as the Segway.) It is slightly more "visionary" on its application and appreciably more sophisticated in its control loops to provide stair climbing abilities. But again... the cost of this beast is $26K. Placing it quite out of reach of most people who need it.
I'm sure somebody who is a better manager at actually manufacturing a product at reasonable costs could knock these off at half the price or less and provide a greater good to the world than Kamen does by having his face plastered all over magazines. But, sadly, they can't can't because of Kamen's patents.
I hope Toyota teaches him a lesson about how to really manufacture and sell a product. But, personally, I think the the entire Segway concept is flawed. A "trick" that is cute to behold but the luster wears off fast enough that people come to their senses before actually buying something they don't really need.
I will never live for sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.
I have to disagree here. Standing on your feet all day, and traversing the length of a convention multiple times (he said spanning a quarter to two miles) will really wear you out. Its a whole different ball game than running a marathon (which I've also done). You may not be as physically exhausted at the end, but you'll still be tired, and have sore feet/legs.
That said, I think the real value of a Segway at a convention would be for people like event coordinators, whose job is to rush from one end of the grounds to the other every 5 minutes. The Segway does have some uses, its just that most are niche uses.
You don't use your hands on the small one or the middle sized one. You lock the small upright handle between your legs, leaving your hands free. Sheesh. Even the still photos show that.
Infuriate left and right