[geeks] "IT" / Segway.

[Kyle Webb]

At 11:49 AM 12/3/2001 -0600, you wrote:
>About "IT", "Ginger", "Segway", etc..
>
>(see www.segway.com)
>
>Okay.. Who else is dissapointed?  Neat gyro features, but too heavy
>(thats probably all battery weight) and overpriced...


I didn't expect a whole lot for the first thing out. Just something to look 
neat, reassure investors, and get people used to the idea. I think that the 
scooter itself isn't what will cause any big changes, but the tech that 
goes with it. Before, stabilized platforms were the domain of the military 
(for gun laying), spacecraft and such. Needless to say, they were 
expensive. What Kamen has done has brought the price down to something 
reasonable, and shown a useful demonstrator app for the tech. As a follow 
on, imagine this combined with a lift platform for construction workers, or 
other who need a stable platform to work from in confined spaces. Current 
work lifts can be hard to maneuver in tight quarters. This could be like 
ultrastable stilts for someone working on a high ceiling. Drywall 
plasterers already use stilts at times, but they are unstable, and kinda 
dangerous.
The impact of this isn't from the current toy, but from the followons as 
people start thinking in terms of what problems affordable stable platform 
tech can solve for them in industrial or work environments.
One other possibility, is to use it for more conventional automotive 
applications with an enclosed passenger space. If you can use two 
independent wheels, rather than four with two axles/suspension units you 
might be able to save as much as a quarter to one third the weight of a car 
without sacrificing strength of the passenger compartment (i.e. 
crashworthiness). To do that, you'd probably need to be running a hybrid 
engine system with electric motors to drive the wheels, but there are 
already hybrids out running on the road. (I dunno if I'd like it tho. I 
still like ocean liners for automobiles. My fave car was a 78 Lincoln.)

Kyle L. Webb