Segway Getting Real-Life Tests 529
EReidJ writes: "washingtonpost.com (no registration required) has an article on real-life use of the new Segway scooters, including an update on some of the safety issues and where state laws currently are with use of the Segway. (20 states have specifically passed laws to allow the Segway on sidewalks.) Interesting read."
More info on Segway available by phone (Score:2, Informative)
It even has a feature where you can key in your ZIP code and it will give you the nearest dealer, and ETA for shipment (avg. 6 months or so). You can also call to be put on their mailing list.
Broken article link (Score:3, Informative)
Segways are too dangerous to be on the sidewalk (Score:2, Informative)
Websurfing: The Next Generation - StumbleUpon [stumbleupon.com]
Popular Science article (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Yeah but.... (Score:3, Informative)
It's actually pretty safe (Score:5, Informative)
I must say, I was impressed.
First, if you're riding a segway at it's top speed of about 14 MPH, you can stop in about 15 feet- a runner going that fast takes about 20 feet to stop.
Second, the junior engineer there, a year out of UNH, made a point of running over the senior engineers toes many times. No injury, he was walking around fine.
Third, he also made a point of running into the senior engineer a number of times. Getting hit by one of those things is no worse then getting hit by someone who weighs 75 pounds more then you do.
It turns on a dime, stops and starts quick, is highly manuevarable, and very easy to use- they let a couple of my proffessors check it out. I wouldn't have any problem sharing a sidewalk with it. It has a number of stopping, size, and manuvering advantages over roller skates and bicycles, wich aren't allowed on most sidewalks.
That being said, it looks like an amusing toy with some very good aplications, but I don't think it's going to revolutionize transportation outside of a few circles.
actually (Score:1, Informative)
This might cause people to fly off their Segways though. As an experiment, drive your car 12 MPH and then slam on the brakes. Now imagine you are standing up rather than sitting down with your seatbelt on.
Re:segway seems too big (Score:2, Informative)
So in reality, even while riding the Segway, you're still as wide as you would be walking.
Re:I crashed a Segway HT... (Score:4, Informative)
In addition to their brutal in house testing, they gave the segway to some army special forces evaluation guys, and had them beat the shit out of it.
They couldn't break it. And it turns out, the in-house brutalizing Segway did before releasing it was more brutal then the army dished out.
(From a recent visit by segway engineers to my school)
Re:How far can you lean forward? (Score:4, Informative)
This is wrong. It's the WHEELS that move the segway and keep it upright.
The gyroscopes are tiny little sensors that detect rotational accelleration. To understand this concept, imagine a toy gyroscope - the kind enclosed in with a wire frame. As you rotate the frame around the axle, the wheel inside continues to spin at the same speed. If you were to continually measure the speed of the wheel relative to the frame, you can determine which way the frame is turning and how fast.
It's not like the gyroscopic action of a motorcycle wheel keeping you upright. If that were the case, segway would have to be incredibly big, heavy, and power consuming.
The gyros in the segway are no doubt piezoelectric - I'm not sure exactly how those work, but it's the same basic idea. They're about 1 cubic inch in size.
It was turned off (Score:5, Informative)
Re:BikeRoads (Score:2, Informative)
Collision.
Bzzzt. The bicyclist is going straight and has the right of way. If you hit him, it's your fault. It's the same thing as saying "I'm in the left of 2 car lanes, and I want to make a right turn. There is another car lane to my right with a guy that wants to go straight. Collision." Obviously this is somewhat different, since an aware driver would have put himself into the right lane long before the turn, but the point remains: the vehicle/bike/whatever going straight has the right of way. Or further, what if it was a pedestrian crossing the road that you're turning right onto? Would you hit him too?
Re:Yeah but.... (Score:3, Informative)
The text, in case I'm not the only one (Score:2, Informative)
Let's see how this gets modded:
Rolling Right Along
Scooter Meets Few Obstacles, but Safety Issues Grow
By Caroline E. Mayer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 25, 2002; 10:45 AM
Segway, the high-tech scooter that's been hailed as the future of personal transportation, can travel only 12.5 miles per hour, but it has been winning access to the nation's sidewalks with lightning speed.
In the four months since the heavily touted invention was unveiled to the public, 20 states, including Virginia, have passed laws to allow the Human Transporter, as the scooter is sometimes called, to be used on sidewalks.
Similar laws are awaiting the governor's signature in Maryland and two other states, while 16 states and the District are scheduled to consider the issue by the end of the year.
Today, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works also approved on a voice vote a measure that would allow the Segway to be used on sidewalks and bike paths built with federal funds--as long as local authorities agree.
The Segway looks like a rotary lawn mower, but is powered by a battery, stabilized by gyroscopes and has 10 computers that keep it balanced. The rider stands on a platform over its single axle and steers with a set of handlebars, leaning forward to move ahead and leaning back to slow down.
Its inventor, Dean Kamen, is an engineering legend with more than 150 patents, many for medical devices such as the infusion pump that allows diabetics to lead more normal lives, a wheelchair that climbs stairs and a heart stent now used by Vice President Cheney. Kamen was selected to receive the prestigious $500,000 Lemelson-MIT prize for inventors last night.
While Segway is being tested--and heartily applauded--by the Postal Service, the Atlanta police force and General Electric Co., a small but growing number of medical experts, traffic engineers, consumer advocates and community activists are concerned about their use on sidewalks.
"I'm not against Segway devices--they're phenomenally innovative and exciting--but I'm concerned that if we allow [them] onto sidewalks, this will be a major injury waiting to happen," said Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio.
"These weigh 69 to 95 pounds, depending on the model, can carry a person up to 250 pounds plus cargo up to 75 pounds. With that much mass, even traveling at 12.5 miles an hour, the virtual laws of physics say they won't be able to stop on a dime."
Charles Trainor, chief traffic engineer for Philadelphia, is equally concerned. "Our sidewalks are pretty crowded now, even without a Segway, and some of our center-city streets aren't wide enough" to accommodate pedestrians and the new scooter, he said.
The District's acting director of transportation, Dan Tangherlini, said, "We'll certainly have to look at all the safety and traffic concerns that are raised. But we look at anything that moves people out of their vehicles and has a potential to reduce congestion as a good thing."
The scooter "is not intended to be used on public roads and highways," said Brian C. Toohey, Segway's vice president for international and regulatory affairs. If it were, it would need turn signals and rear-view mirrors among other features, he said. Rather, "we believe it is primarily a consumer product that should be used on sidewalks."
Toohey concedes that it was unusual for the company to seek regulatory approval--both from U.S. regulators and from state legislatures--before selling the product to the public. "We're simply being proactive and had quite a lot of success," he said. "What we've done is show the product, demonstrate it, and let them [the legislators] experience it. When we've done that, people get big smiles on their faces, and they become very supportive."
Toohey said the company spent less than $1 million to hire lobbyists and get the state approvals passed.
But a coalition of consumer advocates asked the Senate committee to delay a vote on its bill until hearings could be held to weigh the safety issues. "Why are Segways different from bikes, Rollerblades and scooters, which are not permitted on sidewalks in many cities?" the groups asked.
The measure was introduced by Sen. Robert C. Smith, Republican of New Hampshire, where Segway LLC is headquartered. Committee aides said no hearing was needed because the legislation only involves a technical change to complement laws already passed by the states.
Erik Smulson, spokesman for the committee, said it is not unusual for it to vote on bills without holding hearings. Smith said safety issues are the responsibility of the Senate Commerce Committee, not his panel.
Originally known by the code names "It" and "Ginger," the Segway was touted by supporters as a more important development than the personal computer, the Internet, or even the car.
Before the product was publicly unveiled, the company requested--and received--letters from federal safety regulators about how it would be regulated. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that since it would be considered similar to a motorized wheelchair, NHTSA would not regulate it. But the Consumer Product Safety Commission's attorney concluded that the Segway could be considered a consumer product and thus subject to his panel's jurisdiction.
Segway asked the CPSC to review the scooter, and the agency suggested that the handlebars, which were turned up, be reversed so they wouldn't catch the straps of women's purses. It also urged Segway to enclose the wheels so toes and fingers couldn't be caught in the spokes. Both were done.
Ronald Medford, the staff member who made these suggestions, has taken a government-approved sabbatical to work for Kamen's firm, DEKA Research & Development Corp., which created Segway. Medford is the "in-house critic and adviser, having nothing to do with sales and marketing, but only telling us what to do to make products safe," said Gary Bridge, Segway's senior vice president of marketing.
To avoid conflict of interest, Bridge said, the government continues to pay Medford's salary ($138,200 a year) and Medford has promised to recuse himself from any product decisions involving DEKA and Segway when he returns to the CPSC later this year.
Video of Segway on snow and ice (Score:4, Informative)
It looks pretty stable, amazingly enough. For the bucks, I'm sticking with my bike.
Re:My first thought was the snow. (Score:2, Informative)
See the site (Score:3, Informative)
Re:My first thought was the snow. (Score:2, Informative)
The big issue here, as I see it, is sometimes the snow is not completely removable. When it's warmer, the snow tends to clump and is easy to scrape off entirely, but otherwise, you're generally not able to get rid of all of it.