Slashdot Mirror
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 Killer
You can't kill what's already dead.
buy a bicycle. As much range as you have energy for, fits almost the same places a segway does, doesn't use gas, cheaper, and get this, is actual exercise. Something most people in the places that can afford one of these things can use more of.
Monstar L
More maneuverable, more chic (or at least slightly more stylish), and much more portable...
This seems much more like a resurrection of the concept behind the Segway rather than a Segway killer. I actually want this to take off.
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
Toyota's got a lot of catching up to do - the Segway has already taken the world by storm.
#DeleteChrome
if elected, pledge to make it their highest priority to fall off one.
I would like it to have larger wheels!
I mean, I don't have to take a very big bump in the road to fall with these.
I was severely disappointed with the Segway. I hear about the "revolution in personal transportation" PR they had going, and I expected one of three things:
* jetpacks
* hovercars / flying cars
* teleporters
And instead, I get a golfcart cut in half with a gyroscope and scooter handlebars added. What a fucking disappointment.
Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
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?
I came here for a good argument
It has a range of 5km. But it's so small I can probably use it to drive from my car to grocery store on opposite side of parking lot.
This could be the answer to that ubiquitous American dilemma: How can I get from one end of Walmart's parking lot to the other without getting any actual excercise?
I am going to go out on a limb and state that the Segway has almost no real legitimate use.
A bike is way more agile, and is able to cover a much wider assortment of areas.
A bike is able to travel just as fast with little effort, and can travel faster if you want to put that much power into it.
A bike doesn't need batteries.
There are health benefits from this thing called "exercise."
Now if you are talking about a battery powered vehicle that can travel on a road and get you back and forth to work, sign me up. Otherwise its simply a toy.
IOW, it's twelve times as useless!
That's so kids can become fat and lazy before they're old enough to play videogames and browse slashdot.
With its aging population and far more emphasis on walking than driving, Japan is the perfect market for this device.
The lower speed makes it less likely to be a nuisance/danger on the ubiquitous and heavily trafficked sidewalks and walking paths.
Also, even the largest model will fit comfortably on most trains and subway lines, making it useful for shopping/errand runs that include a segment on a mass transit system.
Those two features alone give it a fighting chance.
laughing takes energy
rewriting history since 2109
These vertical hold-on-to column on these things should be got rid of. Then the rider can ride like a skateboard.
It reminds me of that scene in Back to the Future X where Michael J. Fox rips the handlebars off the 50's scooter turning it into a rad 80s skateboard. Same needs to be done here.
Is this one Bush proof?
Table-ized A.I.
I'd think that a comparatively cheap electric-powered motorized bicycle (targeted at college students and the like) would do a lot better than something dorky-looking like this.
I thought the Segway was the Segway killer...
- "That's just the kind of fuzzy-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten."
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.
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
The amount of sweat you will emit is highly correlated with the amount of training.
Right there you show your ignorance. Try riding a bike ANYWHERE in a humid climate and tell me how dry you stay. Or just a plain hot climate -- try riding your bike 5 miles to work when it's 90F outside.
Report back when your education is complete.
Infuriate left and right
As a handicapped "mobility impaired" person I would very much like to have something similar to this: small, light, easy to use, and, I assume, reliable.
While I'm no longer in the wheelchair I spent three years in, I am limited in how far I can walk, even with assistance - after about 200 feet I've hit my limit. :o(
Something like this unit just might extend my range enough to be able to get around in a mall, or even a larger store while standing.
That would be much better than a wheelchair in a number of ways... Since it puts weight on the legs, it helps to maintain skeletal strength, being lighter than the typical powered wheelchair or motorized scooter mobility aid (which can weigh up to 600 pounds including occupant) it could be safer for others as well as easier to transport, and instead of rolling about with my face at crotch level, I'd be eye-to-eye with other humans.
If the cost ends up reasonable, I'll be looking into one once it makes it's debut.
--Tomas
I used to live in Florida too, and biking there was much more feasable. We had maybe a month or two where it was in the 80's in the morning, but the rest of the year it was beautiful. All the streets there had bike lanes too! Then I moved to Oklahoma. Suddenly, unless you work at a stables or a distillery or something, there's also the issue of body odor. Without showers at work, riding a bike here is hopeless all but about 3 months of the year.
Something that requires no exercise but has no climate control (like a Segway or scooter) is still only doable here in the middle of the continental US about 6 months out of the year. I've found that if its over 90F, I sweat like a pig just being out in the sun for more than about 10 minutes (Today its forcast to get to 105). In the Winter, we spend about 3 months under freezing in the mornings. For those "good" months in the Spring and Fall we tend to get torrential downpours. Oh, and *no* streets here have bike lanes. Half don't even have shoulders or sidewalks.